Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland has unveiled a manned electric aircraft named Astro, and its campus police department hopes to use it for public safety, from campus monitoring to storm recovery and emergency supply delivery. Astro takes off and lands vertically, so no runway is required, which could prove valuable across a Suncoast region where hurricanes regularly put roads underwater. The university is still awaiting final FAA approval and has not set a timeline for operations.
Florida Poly is calling it the first program in the nation to integrate a manned electric aircraft into law enforcement. Astro will also serve as a research and learning tool for the school’s new aerospace engineering degree program. The aircraft was built by California-based Jetson, which moved Florida Poly’s order ahead of a three-year waiting list, and school officials say advanced air mobility is a technology on the rise that they’d rather be proactive about than reactive.
The story also caught fire on social media after the Bradenton Police Department posted a humorous response asking who has the right-of-way at 500 feet. The question is a fair one, since the rules of the sky are still being written. Would you want a drone-like electric aircraft patrolling your campus or neighborhood? Let us know what you think.
