‘Fly Like a Girl’
Recent South Fayette grad receives FAA drone pilot license
Gourisree Prasanth has always been interested in aviation.
She comes by it naturally, as her grandmother and uncle work for the Indian Space Research Organization, the space agency of India.
“When I was a kid I was always watching launches,” she said.
Now, she can generate her own launches. The recent graduate of South Fayette High School is the first student of the Fly Like a Girl (FLAG) Drone Academy to receive a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) drone pilot license.
“I just looked at it as an opportunity to learn something new,” Prasanth said. “This drone academy came up and it seemed really interesting. This was something I never tried before. It was challenging, but it was a good challenge. It was really rewarding to be the first one.”
FLAG is a partnership of the South Fayette, Baldwin-Whitehall, Beaver Area, Ambridge, McKeesport Area, West Allegheny and Elizabeth Forward school districts created to attract more females to aviation.
Dr. Kristin Deichler, South Fayette assistant superintendent, explained that FLAG is the result of a collaborative effort between her, Dr. Janeen Peretin, director of communication, innovation and advancement at Baldwin-Whitehall, and Emily Sanders, Beaver Area assistant superintendent.
The trio applied for a Moonshot grant from Remake Learning for $70,000 to build an academy for high school females who are interested in obtaining their FAA 107 drone pilot license. Remake Learning is a free peer network for educators and innovators in the greater Pittsburgh region.
“We were successful in obtaining the grant for not only the first year, but they gave us more funds to continue it for a second year, which is not traditionally what happens with Moonshot grants,” Deichler said. “All three of us, as female administrators, believe females are underrepresented not only in the drone pilot field but with pilots in general.”
According to 2021 FAA statistics, nearly 264,000 individuals have obtained the Remote Pilot Airman Certificate since the enactment of the small drone rules in 2016. Females account for a little less than 8% of the certificates earned.
“We don’t feel that’s a strong enough representation,” Deichler said. “We believe that having your drone pilot’s license really is a skill that crosses so many sectors. It’s an emerging skill that’s used in so many industries. Females can leave high school and not pursue a higher education degree and use this skill to be an employee somewhere and make a profitable living.”
The academy, which hosts classes at South Fayette High School, began in 2023 and connected high school girls interested in STEM-related fields with curriculum, equipment, and hands-on training. Instruction is provided by Dr. Lori Paluti, owner of Pittsburgh Drone Services and a certified drone pilot.
“We felt it was important to find a female drone specialist in the area to teach our student pilots,” Deichler said. “She provides the theory and the hands-on flight instruction in our academy.”
The recent cohort, the second for the academy, saw 25 girls participate.
One of those participants is Prasanth, 17, who plans to attend Penn State University in the fall to major in aerospace engineering and hopes to one day work at NASA.
Prasanth said that the students flew the drones for about half of each class, while the remainder of the instruction time was dedicated to learning aviation material.
“It’s very heavy aviation material,” Prasanth said. “It’s not perfectly tailored to just unmanned vehicles. It was a good mix between knowing aerospace, knowing different communications for airports, different frequencies and airport regulations and things like that. It was a long process to prepare for it. There was a lot more to it than you would expect.”
Prasanth filmed practices for the South Fayette football team in the fall, and has been working with Carnegie Mellon University on a project for a drone to deliver rescue medication to less accessible places.
Prasanth plans to continue working with drones at Penn State.
“It’s a growing industry, so getting a job and being able to make some money to pay off my college tuition would be nice,” she said. “Being able to relate that to my education in aerospace is very beneficial.”
Deichler said FLAG will be able to continue thanks to the grant. The goal is for each of the districts to be able to build their own program.
“Drone technology will shape the future, and we believe it is the responsibility of today’s educators to provide the technology support, networking and safe spaces that are essential for female students to explore their career aspirations,” Deichler said.