Nearly thirty hobbyists received a crash course on the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or Drones, at the Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus in Salina on Saturday.

The course was presented by faculty, and students,  from the K-State Unmanned Aircraft Systems program. It included a two-hour classroom ground school session, followed by an hour-long one-on-one flights session with a K-State drone expert.

With drones a popular gift this past holiday season, K-State decided for the first time to offer a course for novice drone owners.

According to Reuters, experts have said 700,000 to 1 million unmanned aircraft were expected to be given as gifts in the United States last Christmas alone.

The goal of the course on Saturday was to make sure that drone owners are safe and that they know the rules, including FAA registration rules.

K-State Polytechnic has one of the best Unmanned Aircraft Systems programs in the country. It was the second college to offer a degree in the UAS field of study. The Salina campus is the only location in the country that has a large, enclosed, outdoor facility for flight training and research. The K-State UAS Pavilion measures 300-feet-long, by 200-feet-wide, and is 50-feet-tall.

Organizers of the event Saturday had hoped for fifteen people. There were fifteen, and then some. Twenty-six people attended. The youngest was a 10-year-old boy attending with his father, while the oldest class members were in their 70s.

The course included a classroom ground school, followed by a flight session with a K-State drone expert.

There were a wide variety of drones at the event.

Copyright © Alpha Media, 2016.  All Rights Reserved. No part of this story or website may be reproduced without Alpha Media’s express consent.