The first round of the new, upcoming Aerial International Race of Unmanned Systems (AIRUS) was held Saturday November 14th at the courtyard of the Harvey R. “Bum” Bright Building.

The competition involved more than 15 entrants, out of which a few select number of those will qualify for the second round of qualifying. The pilots raced a quadcopter unmanned aerial system (UAS) around a track in a flight simulator, competing to achieve the largest number of consecutively completed gates.

The entrants, most of which had never flown a quadcopter or tried out the simulator, were given 5 minutes of practice time, followed by 5 minutes of race time in which they passed through gates around a race track in the correct order.

The next round of qualifying will be held on Saturday, November 21st. Keep checking for updates!