DALLAS, Texas — With historic planes as a backdrop, the deal was made official inside the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas.
Monday, the Department of Labor entered into an agreement with a North Texas-based aviation company, RMS Aerospace.
The new program will offer first-of-its-kind training to drone pilots in the civilian world. Dallas County Community College will facilitate the training, and the program will be geared toward veterans, many of which never imagined their experience could transition into the civilian world.
"The goal of the apprenticeship is nothing less than to train the nation's first crop of professional standardized and ethical drone operators for our industry," said Russell Julian, CEO of RMS Aerospace.
The training will start this fall at a time that many companies, from Amazon to Uber, have predicted a future that involves remotely piloted aircraft.
Ashley Mathis, a former member of the Air Force, was on a team that operated the predator drone, a remotely piloted aircraft used by the United States that can carry weaponry and reconnaissance equipment
"This gets you back in the drone world and getting that certification that you need without having to pay for it out of pocket or some other kind of methods," Mathis said. "And it's exactly what I want to do; it's kind of what my calling is."
This fall, two groups of 10 people will be chosen to take part in the apprentice program.