Femi qualifies as a drone pilot!

While our students learn a great range of skills and knowledge studying for their degrees, they can also opt to undertake additional short courses, adding to their CVs. From farm health and safety management to tractor driving, there is a great opportunity to boost your skill set alongside your degree that matters.

Femi Adekoya is one such student, having taken some time while studying his MSc Integrated Pest Management to work towards being a qualified drone pilot. Drones can be used for a variety of different tasks from identifying the locations of weeds out in a field; locating the habitats of nesting animals to monitor their wellbeing; or even aiding in times of emergency such as flooding where getting close to a situation could be dangerous. The variety makes this a very useful skill across many disciplines.

Femi's qualification means he can carry out commerical operations with small aircraft under 20kg. With his ambition to help others in the agricultural industry, Femi envisions the flying the drone to be a useful tool in improving the efficiency of agriculture and, in turn, food security. Likewise, he hopes there may be ways that technology can help reduce the carbon foot print in agriculture and contribute to environmental sustainability.

I am very proud to tell you, I just got qualified for a PfCO (Permission for Commercial Operation) license by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
Meaning that as of today, I am a fully qualified professional drone pilot.
This was brought to me by @HarperAdamsUni & @theUAVHUB pic.twitter.com/7xkZgQqj7G

— Femi Adekoya (@Femi_Farmer) August 20, 2020

Encouraged by Jack to give the course a go, Femi is delighted with his success. To find out more about our short courses on offer, click here.