LETU Avaiation Dean to Testify in Austin

LONGVIEW — The Dean of the School of Aeronautical Science at LeTourneau University, Fred Ritchey, will testify today before the Texas Senate Committee on Higher Education in Austin. He will testify in support of H.B. 2167 by Representative Wayne Smith of Baytown and State Senator Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, relating to certain images captured by unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV). Currently, public institutions of higher education in Texas have the authority to operate UAV’s and capture images for research purposes.

HB 2167 would add private and independent institutions of higher education to this existing authority. Ritchey also will testify that the research purposes be expanded to include training of UAV pilots. LETU is launching a new program in the fall to train professional pilots of UAVs to be leaders in the unmanned aircraft industry, focusing on operations, maintenance and electronics. UAVs have a myriad of applications including oil and gas pipeline inspections, power line right-of-way inspections, package delivery, border security, wildlife conservation, film/television entertainment and emergency first response. The projected growth for the unmanned aircraft industry is estimated in the billions of dollars over the next five years.