World’s largest drone visits campus
photo or infographic by Marina Wilson
SEEING IS BELIEVING. Students crowd around the Scorpion drone during a morning demo.
As the students left class, they were just expecting a basic drone demo. They have seen drones fly before. At the football games or in their neighborhood, a small machine about the size of a notebook will buzz by and snap a picture or video.
Then as they walked up to the crowd in the field by the CTE building, they saw the massive piece of technology before them. This was no everyday drone. It was something like they had never seen. It was something out of a sci-fi movie.
The world’s largest drone visited campus recently. It was part of a demonstration for several CTE classes.
“The name of the drone is the Scorpion,” CTE teacher Jonathon Evans said. “As of right now it’s the largest unmanned drone in the world.”
The drone weighs about 730 pounds, with a tow capacity of 1000 pounds. Full Throttle Aerial Systems owns the drone.
“Full Throttle is a company that I myself work for,” Evans said. “I invited them to do a presentation about how drones can be used in a professional setting. My AV production and commercial photography classes all attended.”
Other CTE classes also attended the demo and learned about how their prospective careers could take advantage of technology like the drone.
“I saw the drone with my law class,” sophomore Breean Theiss said. “They talked about the military, maybe using drones like this for unmanned missions.”
“There are many purposes for a drone this size, the United State military is considering it for everything from mission scouting to stealth missions,” Evans said. “AT&T is interested in the Scorpion for custom satellites for national disasters so that customers can still have cell phone service incase of an emergency. Space X also seems to want to get behind the project for experimenting with a one-passenger carrier drone.”
A drone this size is not common and requires special skills and certifications to operate. A pilot’s license is required to operate the Scorpion.
“The drone was so big,” sophomore Jerry Johnston said. “I would love to drive something like that someday. It was bigger than a man.”
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