A hands-on program, which includes unmanned aerial systems technology, is attracting a great deal of attention, both around the state and among the students at the high school.

Brain Wachs has been teaching the Natural Resource Education Program for the past three years at CCHS. The new class is a branch of this program, and Wachs offered the first class this school year.

“All of my classes are interconnected,” said Wachs.

His entire program centers around the Natural Resource Education Program as the hub, which is really one big umbrella. He has several classes that branch off of the main hub, such as Anatomy and his class on Unmanned Aerial Systems Technology.

“He expects a lot more of us..We have to practice time management and we have to practice how to handle stress. It is very difficult to manage everything, but I really enjoy it,” said Karlie Grasle, a student in Anatomy and Physiology.

The Unmanned Aerial Systems Technology Class works with Aerosight Innovations, and Dave Skala, the owner and president of the company. The company provides an unmanned remote control helicopter, along with a laptop, software, and the resources to use digital imaging technology to fly over areas that would otherwise be inaccessible or difficult to view from above.

Skala said that he met Wachs, when he was testing out his remote control helicopter in his neighborhood, while doing a presentation for the Forest Service. Skala has a business that provides video drone aircraft to acquire aerial photography and imaging, and airborne media presentations.

They found out they were neighbors, and they talked about the technology Skala was using, and he soon realized that Wachs’ class was doing some natural resource projects in mapping, using Google Earth. Before long, they had worked out a partnership that would benefit both parties, and the class at the high school was formed.

“One of our hang-ups (in Aerosight Innovations) has been that we may have the ability to do things, and we may have the technology, or at least the ability to get a hold of the technology, but until we kind of prove the concepts for civilian uses, we are always at this problem,” explained Skala. “So when I ran into Brian, he said that he was really into Graphic Information System mapping, and doing things for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. I though it might be good opportunity to talk to him a little bit to see if somehow he and I could partner up, even it was Aerosight volunteering, to experiment in the field.”

Several applications for the technology have been used in the class this year, including a fly-over for Stearn’s Dam for Trout Unlimited to map the area. A groups of students from the class also attended a Department of Education regional meeting in Tillamook at the Department of Forestry Museum. Four miles away, there was a mud-slide that had occurred and the Dept. of Forestry asked the group if they could map the location, so that the engineers could use their photos to monitor what was happening. The students used the footage and maps for their presentation at the conference.

The Oregon Department of Education has since become involved with the program, providing funding, and has also provided recognition and growth for both parties.

“I have maybe 50,000 or 60,000 hits on Aerosight (on the website),” said Skala. “I get inquiries from governments, from agencies, Baltimore, Md. Mayor’s office has called me, and I’ve had the Canadian Government call me. Right now, we are working on a joint venture experiment in Africa, helping locate poachers, and an invite to Peru to map out temples.”

Wachs uses the applications and opportunities such as these to promote learning for his students.

“I am not going to stand up there and tell them the answers,” continued Wachs. “I will give them the resources necessary to find the answers themselves. I am facilitating them, not teaching them, because we have learned from the past that if we just stand up there and tell them the answers they aren’t going to remember any of it. They can’t make a connection — but teaching them in this way and facilitating what it is they are doing, and giving them enough information to figure it out themselves, then they are the ones that start to come up with the answers, and I just steer them.”

Grasle said that the students also learn how to write and apply for grants that are related to projects that students are involved in.

Wachs said that they don’t get paid until the project is finished. Students learn how to articulate verbally and in writing, when writing the grant. They work with professionals and agencies to partner together to do something good for their community in something that they have designed.

“These kids are learning to really write and do math,” said Wachs. “They use computers to do something that really matters.”

As for the aerial technology, Skala said that the helicopter is not made to fly too far away - usually within one mile of line of sight. It weighs less than four pounds, and has a GPS lock, as well as a homing device, so that if the students lose a visual of the helicopter, they can reset it to come back to its original position.

“Flying is the easy part”, said Wachs. He explained that students must work in a team of three - one is the pilot, who mans the remote control, the mission commander uses the laptop to guide the pilot, and the back-up pilot is there to help make sure that everything is running should anything go wrong, or anyone needs an extra pair of hands.

Wachs said that he makes sure that they have real protocols and technical documents from the Bureau of Land Management. The curriculum is currently being developed by Heliocentric Educational Consulting, LLC (Brian Wachs) and Western Scenery, LLC.

“We are currently using it at Crook County High School and will be ready to implement it at requested locations next semester,” said Wachs.

“The class has pushed my basic knowledge and study habits, with extensive research and hands-on work,” said CCHS senior Gabe Alvarez, of one of Wach’s classes. “I like the hands-on style of teaching. It allows you to learn in different ways, and I think it helps you learn faster, because you are doing things that are beneficial for you in the future.”

“His style of teaching is definitely different. I like it, because it pushes me.”

Live aerial imaging was first used in Central Oregon in the mid 1990’s, when a Redmond pilot and a Prineville resident developed a way to downlink live video images to the ground from an ultra-light aircraft. The aircraft had a video camera that was positioned to pick up images as it was flying over a given area, and the images were downlinked to the ground, so that the person manning the laptop could see live images from the aircraft. The aircraft was also manned, however.

To contact Aerosight Innovations, call Dave Skala, 541-408-7019, or go to info@aerosight.com