2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have emerged as an essential component within the evolving landscape of smart cities and advanced air mobility. Their rapid integration across industries—spanning agriculture, logistics, emergency response, and environmental monitoring—demonstrates the transformative potential of this technology. As UAS operations become increasingly embedded in commercial and public domains, there is a parallel need to prepare a new generation of pilots capable of navigating complex operational environments while adhering to evolving regulatory and safety standards.
This paper establishes a framework for developing a Virtual Reality (VR)-based UAS pilot training model that integrates accessibility, affordability, and safety within aviation education. The framework addresses a critical gap in current training paradigms, which often require significant physical resources, specialized facilities, and access to aircraft—barriers that limit institutional capacity and student participation, particularly at the K–12 and undergraduate levels. VR technology offers a unique opportunity to simulate realistic drone operation scenarios providing a cost-effective, immersive approach to UAS training, enabling K-12 and higher education institutions with limited resources to offer hands-on experience to a broader range of students without the need for physical drones. This approach enables learners to practice essential skills and safety protocols, fundamental flight maneuvers, and situational awareness in a virtual setting, mitigating the risks and costs associated with inexperience.
This paper highlights the development of the proposed VR-based drone maneuvering learning framework and its direct alignment with the FAA Part 107 Remote Pitot Certificate curriculum, supplementing the Part 107 lessons with hands-on VR drone flying experience. Overall, this paper aims to contribute to the growing discourse on technology-enhanced aviation education – it provides an overview of the first steps taken to advance drone education and hands-on drone maneuvering experience that is immersive and engaging for learners, aligned with industry requirements, and scalable for specific operational environment and application.