Wick High School pupils visit airport to see enormous cargo delivery drone
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Wick John O'Groats Airport invited local school pupils to witness a test flight at its airfield of the largest unmanned air vehicle (UAV) in Europe.
Wick High School's (WHS) computing science and technical departments saw the cutting-edge VTOL (vertical take off and landing) drones being tested by ARC Aerosystems. The prototype cargo delivery drone a is currently the largest commercial VTOL UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) in Europe.
During the visit pupils were shown the development and testing process that the aircraft has gone through. After an initial question and answer session with the team, pupils were then taken to the hangar where they were shown a 50 per cent size prototype of the cargo drone.
Computing science teacher Chris Aitken said: "It was such an inspiring visit for both the pupils and teachers. Being able to see the current prototype was actually more valuable than seeing the finished product because the pupils could understand the development process so much better.
"They could actually spot some of the components that they use in school, such as servo motors for the wing flaps and the high power propeller motors. Having this cutting edge technology available for us to see in Wick is just fantastic and I really can't wait to take the pupils back to see things progress."
Mr Aitken thanked Dougie Cook and ARC Aerosystems for inviting them along. You can find out more about the company at: arcaerosystems.com/
A WHS spokesperson said: "We are very grateful to Wick Airport and HIAL for offering this unique opportunity to our pupils, who were very inspired by the trip, and we look forward to following the progress of ARC Aerosystems."
