Skygear Solutions’ Training Director and COO, Joe Warwick, recently completed a four-day Unmanned Aircraft training program for public safety officers at the Bucks County Police and Safety Training Facility (Pennsylvania). Joe has been offering small group, private training for public safety agencies for a little more than four years and the class size is slowly but surely growing over time.
Joe Warwick and Daniel Herbert, Skygear’s present Managing Director, have been on-boarding local and State level government agencies’ UAS programs for the last several years together. From test preparation for obtaining remote pilot certificates to equipment provision, policy development, and UAS flight training, Skygear has contributed heavily to the creation of and development of fully operational drone programs, which serve the public good. South Eastern Pennsylvania Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SEPAUAS) is Joe’s public safety branding, partnered with Skygear Solutions, Inc.
Two early projects between Joe and Daniel were the Wilmington, Delaware Police Department and the Bensalem, Pennsylvania Police Department – both groups were early adopters of UAS and their initiative and ambition have proven them as examples nationwide. Skygear Solutions is fortunate to have been involved in the creation of both of those agencies’ UAS programs.
For more than fifteen years, the “Physics and Flight” STEM Summer Camp has been running for children ages 12-15 years old in Bucks County, PA. Joe Warwick created this Camp and is heavily involved in it every year. For the last 30 years, Joe also taught High School Physics while maintaining his passion for flying remotely piloted aircraft as a hobby. His succession into an educational role within the public safety realm came quite naturally, considering his extensive background with the technology and with teaching.
Presently, Joe offers training programs for up to 20 students in his classes. Philadelphia SWAT, SEPTA PD, Homeland Security, Bucks County Detectives, and several other local departments have taken advantage of this offering across the last few years. The four-day course focuses upon provision of a turnkey solution to create a fully function sUAS unit. This includes Part 107 test preparation, introduction to flight, tactical training, UAS Call-Out Matrix (workflow with Command Post), UAS policy development, and custom airspace management for each individual jurisdiction. Joe commonly incorporates guest speakers such as officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and individuals from the County District Attorney’s Office. The DA’s office typically provides key insights regarding what they seek from data gathered with UAS, commonly used now for fatal auto accidents and other crime scene evidence collection.
During NO FLY weather days, a fleet of smaller drones (the “Tello”) is utilized to continue flight training indoors, helping to fine tune flight movement skills. The curriculum is a methodically developed, linear set of exercises and studies, which is combined with personal experience as well as methods from his former students, now practicing in the field. The majority of students have been police; however, numerous fire and emergency management agents have also attended.
Joe Warwick remains on call with several agencies, offering unique UAS services in crisis situations. Skygear’s goal is to continue the development of UAS equipment and training in a manner which helps improve public safety and allows people who work in this sector a means of performing their work more safely and efficiently.
In this present time of social unrest and instability, unmanned aircraft are perfectly suited to work as tools to mitigate difficult scenarios in the field. Having a presence in a sensitive location without physically having bodies present and at risk is invaluable. The motivation to ensure drones are used to increase public safety is quite high these days.
In addition to hands-on and in-person UAS Flight Training, Warwick has patented drone equipment for SWAT applications, specifically for hostage and barricade situations. Skygear’s ability to deploy this equipment and utilize the experiences of our staff, including Joe Warwick, puts us in a position to use our resources in the best ways possible to assist public entities in their efforts to protect citizens.
If you have any questions or would like to reach out to Joe Warwick directly, please feel free to do so using the following contact information:
Email: Joseph.Warwick@SkygearSolutions.com
Phone: (844) SKY-GEAR, ext. 705
