By Jennifer Ferrero, APR
Big Bend Community College (BBCC) is an aviation institution. It has been an aviation training center for 50 years, one of the oldest in the country, and is now host to UAS Pilot Training and Technical Management Programs. Byron Noel, Unmanned Systems Operations Coordinator, for BBCC said that while Moses Lake, Wash. may seem remote, it is a hub for many big businesses such as Dell, Microsoft, Amazon, BMW Carbon, Boeing, Mitsubishi, Genie Power Lifts, Titan and REC Silicon.
Now, Big Bend is becoming a hub of unmanned systems training in Washington. They are currently offering Professional UAS Remote Pilot Training in the form of a Certificate of Accomplishment, and a Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Technical Management Degree.
But Noel said, “The crux of the program is for people to be able to do something useful. You won’t go out and get a job as a drone pilot without some industry knowledge or background.”
From his perspective the value of becoming a drone pilot or having an education in UAS is that it is a tool for use with a new skill-set. He said that people already working fields such as:
- agronomy,
- construction,
- architectural planning,
- real estate,
- cinematography,
- natural resource management,
- mining,
- infrastructure inspection,
- wind turbines,
- law enforcement,
- and fire and police departments
- mechatronics and sensor technologies,
- system troubleshooting,
- programming,
- data collection and management,
- flight operations and mission planning,
- and the analysis of data collection and management,
- data analysis and information using global positioning system (GIS) and geographical information.”




