FAQ's
Q: How does Drones in School define Middle School and High School students?
A: We have two divisions in our program, Middle School- Grades 6-8 (All students on the team must be 15 years old or younger on May 1st of the current season) and High School- Grades 9-12 (All students on the team must be 19 years old or younger on May 1st of the current season). A Middle School Student may “play up” and compete as a High School Student. If you belong to an organization or location that does not use the traditional grade structure of 6-8 and 9-12, if your students meet the age requirements, they can compete in that division.
Q:
How many students is a good number to be on a team?
A: Teams involve two to six students. Each student fills one or more of the following roles: Project
Manager, Manufacturing Engineer, Design Engineer, Drone Technician, Graphic Designer, and
Marketing Coordinator. A team may also have one additional student member who serves as an
assistant to one or more of the roles. This gives each team a maximum roster of seven named
students.
Q:
How do you decide what team member would be good for the different jobs on the team?
A: We recommend identifying your Project Manager after introducing the Project Management Skills for Life® unit from our curriculum. Typically, one student will gravitate to the Project Management role more than the rest of the team. If more than one team member wants the role, consider allowing the students to vote to determine their PM. From that point, work with your PM and the team to let them determine who is best for each of the remaining roles.
Q:
Are there any packages for startups?
A: Depending on your drone experience, you could build drones from scratch based on the specs in our Season Guide, or you can begin with one of our approved packages that aligns with our curriculum.
You might want to look at our Team Startup Packages. These packages have been put together to help get a new team up and running.
Q: For the Simulator Races using Velocidrone, can two pilots from the same team use the same license or does each student that is planning to fly the course need their own license?
A: There are two options for Velocidrone licenses.
- Assign one Velocidrone license per team and add that one account name as your pilot on RACES. Any pilot on that team would "fly" on that "team account," and the fastest time recorded will be the time for the team.
- Purchase a Velocidrone license for each pilot and list each account as a team pilot on RACES. The fastest pilot's time would be the one that counts for your team.
The only advantage of option "2" is that each pilot nickname will be listed on the overall pilot leaderboard, and the fastest pilot nickname will be listed on the team leaderboard. If option "1" is used, just the one "team account" pilot nickname will be listed on the pilot leaderboard and the team leaderboard.
Q:
Are teachers or students required to have a certificate as an unmanned aircraft pilot, like a Part 107 license?
A:
No FAA licensing is required. Our program is restricted to indoor flying and the FAA Part 107 license requirement for commercial UAS only applies to drones flying outdoors.
From the FAA (https://www.faa.gov/faq)
- Q: Do the FAA rules and regulations apply to a commercial UAS or drone operations conducted indoors ONLY?
- A: No, Part 107 would not apply to operations conducted indoors. FAA rules and regulations apply to operations conducted outdoors in the National Airspace System (NAS).
Q:
What happens if the payload is damaged during a race?
A: The payload must stay intact and be undamaged at the end of each race. Damaging the payload would have the same effect as losing the payload, and you would forfeit that race.
