Marshall University Opens “Bill Noe Flight School” To Help Prepare Students for Careers in the Drone Industry
© Marshall.edu
In 1974, Arville Cline graduated from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Today he is the CFO/COO of Metatron Unmanned Solutions based out of Charleston, West Virginia. Partnering with French aviation manufacturer Drone Volt, Metatron provides commercial drones and supporting technology throughout the United States and the rest of the world. The success that Avrille has found with Metatron is something he attributes directly to his alma mater. “As a small-town guy that was given the opportunity to develop a career, I hold a personally developed obligation to a university that afforded me the educational tools to pursue a career that created a life for myself and those I love,” Arville said. “So, ‘We are Marshall’ is more than just a chant for me.”
In the wake of the COVID19 pandemic, Metatron found that they had a surplus of new drones, but a smaller consumer market. So, the company shifted its priorities from sales and production to education and recruitment. Arville saw this as an opportunity to strengthen the educational branch of Metatron with Marshall University. “After discussion with other members of Metatron, and with their approval, I decided that the means to step through the open door of giving back to the university was now available,” he said. This new partnership came at a perfect time for Marshall University.
On Tuesday, August 10, 2021, Marshall University officially opened the Bill Noe Flight School within the Yeager Airport in Charleston. The facility is named after Marshall University alumni Bill Noe, who will serve as the Executive Aviation Specialist for the school. The program has a state of the art classroom and a 12,000 square foot hangar to be an FAA Part 141 Pilot School. Bryan Branham, director and chief instructor of the Bill Noe Flight School, expects the facility to enroll close to 200 students when fully operational, certifying around 50 commercial pilots a year. And while the flight school was founded to be specifically geared towards manned aircraft, Bryan recognizes the program would be incomplete if it didn’t address the largest growing field of aviation, drones.
As an R2 (High Research Activity) institution, Marshall has several drone research and engineering programs. In the spring of 2020, Dr. Cong Pu and Dr. Haroon Malik of the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences were both awarded EPSCoR Seed Grants from the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium to be used in novel drone applications. The university even has a dedicated Unmanned Vehicle Laboratory. But now, with the Bill Noe Flight School, Marshall University has the space to provide FAA Part 107 drone instruction as well.
To supplement the drone curriculum, Metatron donated 5 brand new commercial drones, along with supporting equipment, to the Bill Now Flight School. The donation, worth $93,000, will see that the flight school has the means of preparing students for one of the many careers utilizing drone technology. “I was privileged to deliver to Bryan Branham at the Marshall aviation school an inventory of brand-new commercial-use drones. It was a banner moment in my life to be able to augment the ongoing aviation education plans of Marshall and to embrace a deep gratitude for the relationship I have with the members of Metatron,” Arville said. “I hope this will help assist the aviation school in fast-tracking its long-range plans of unmanned craft training and certification.”
|