Recently, I had the chance to attend Beaufort County Community College’s Drone Assembly Workshop. From their course description:
This is an immersive three-day course where students will build, test, and fly their own FPV-style UAVs. This course is ideal for those who have completed our online UAS Components and Systems course or have some basic familiarity with electronics or robotics. This hands-on workshop takes participants through the full assembly process, from selecting components to configuring flight systems. Students will gain practical skills in wiring, soldering, tuning, and troubleshooting, culminating in real-world flight testing. Whether you’re looking to deepen your technical understanding or enhance your piloting capabilities, this workshop provides a fast-paced, skill-building experience in drone construction and operation.
I took this class after completing their UAS Components and Systems course (as recommended). From that course description:
This course provides an in-depth examination of drone anatomy, components, and functions and is designed for individuals looking to build a strong foundation in drone technology. Over six weeks, students will gain knowledge of drone systems including structure, propulsion, flight controls, sensors, and payloads. In addition, operations, troubleshooting, and an introduction to regulatory and safety protocols will be covered. Finally, students will design a custom drone, select components, and develop a plan for assembly and operation.
Couple of edits to the above descriptions, as the current courses differ slightly – the Drone Assembly Workshop is 2 days long, not 3, and the UAS Components and Systems course is 4 weeks, not 6.
These two courses are an excellent introduction to drone technology. Now, I took these classes well after getting my Part 107 certification, which I achieved last summer. You can definitely get your license without this level of involvement. However, I think that more knowledge is a very beneficial thing, and these classes deliver.
UAS Components and Systems
The UAS Components and Systems course is online-only. It draws heavily from publicly available information, such as Oscar Liang’s drone site. While you could certainly read a lot of the information for yourself, the greatest benefit is the weekly class meetings. The ability to ask questions and interact with the instructor, vice simply reading articles, is the primary reason I decided to take the course instead of just self-teaching. It provided an excellent overview of drone systems and how they interact. The instructor, Trent, has extensive experience in the drone world, including building and flying his own FPV drones. This background really enabled him to get into the intricacies of the systems and component choice. The final exercise of the course requires that you put together a theoretical “build.” You select every component on the drone, ensure it will all function together, and then submit for review. If you like nerding out on specs, it’s definitely a fun time.
Day 1
After working through the theoretical piece, I was excited to get into the hands-on side. I love to read articles and watch informational videos, but what really cements learning for me is physically doing the task. We kicked off the assembly workshop with about 2 hours of soldering on practice boards. I’ve attempted soldering before, with somewhat mixed results. But as with the systems course, the difference is having someone there to critique and guide. We worked through applying solder to pads, soldering wires, and removing solder through both the solder sucker and copper wick. Once we felt comfortable with our nascent soldering skills, we moved into drone assembly.
In the interest of transparency, the kits we used were no-solder kits. Now, before you argue that we didn’t really “build” the drones, there’s a logistical reason for the no-solder kits. We have two days to put together the kits, program them, fly them, and then take them apart so the next class can use them. If we were required to solder and then un-solder everything, that would take significant time from the class as well as adding a lot of wear on the parts. So the kits make a lot more sense when the bigger objective of the class is drone knowledge, not soldering skills. After the kits were assembled, we used the included programming software (a slightly dumbed-down version of Betaflight) to set failsafes, confirm radio controls, confirm motor rotation, and ensure the drones were ready to fly. That concluded Day 1.
Day 2
I was really looking forward to lots of flying on Day 2, but the weather had other plans. Bands of rain moved through the area fairly consistently, which prevented more than about an hour or two of actual flight time. However, Trent provided some ad hoc training, breaking out the Lift Off simulator, his own drones, and the full version of Betaflight. This allowed us to still get some “stick time” and really get more in-depth on customizing drone controls beyond the kit software. While I didn’t get as much live flight time as I would have liked, the time spent in Betaflight and in the simulator were still extremely useful. I did get enough flight time to know that flying FPV is a very different animal than flying an off-the-shelf drone like my Atom 2.
Side note: the Ukrainians say you need 60 hours to be proficient. Food for thought.
Conclusion
Overall, really glad I took this class. The hands-on learning really enhanced the theoretical work from the previous class and also helped me prioritize my approach to FPV drones. Hint: my first purchases will be a controller and a simulator. If you’re in the Washington, NC, area, the price ($77) is a steal. Even with paying for a hotel, I still felt like I got my money’s worth and look forward to taking some more classes this summer.
