It was the first days of November 2014 when I heard, for the very first time, about the Master in RPAS of the University of Huelva. To my misfortune, the first edition had already started up a couple of weeks earlier and the registration was already closed. But, “things happen for something,” and almost a year later, on October 20, 2015, I would officially start a professional adventure.

There were months of hard work and sacrifice; From Monday to Friday I left Seville and, in there, my wife and my two 4-years-old children, to attend classes, seminars and technical visits organized by the Master.

I felt lucky to find good classmates in this adventure, the same colleagues who chose me as spokesman and delegate of this edition of the Master, and the same professionals that today are already carrying out their formative phase in one of the companies which are collaborating with the Master. In the near future, I am convinced that they will be great professionals of the sector and will be contributing their knowledge and experience as part of a company, institution, or independently as entrepreneurs.

I also feel lucky because I had the opportunity to be chosen by the Company in which i wanted to work: Alter Technology. Some months ago I finished my training program in this Company, and they told me that they wanted me to continue with them as an engineer specialized in the RPAS sector, to work in different projects and initiatives, offer that I pleased accepted and that, practically, was the end of my step in this Master having always in mind one of the most important messages that we received in this period: The aptitude is important, but still more the attitude.

José Augusto Montero Vizarreta, Delegate of the Second Edition of the Master in RPAS of the University of Huelva

My name is Luis Javier Amor Urbano, I am aeronautic engineer and have the honor of being a member of the first graduating year group of the master in Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS).

It was the first year of the master and all of us started with so many doubts about something that was totally new and pioneering in Spain. Despite of that, we realized soon that the master had been conscientiously defined to give us the opportunity to play a role into this growing world. Thanks to a staff with more than 50 teachers, from the university and some of the most important RPAS companies, any lesson was different to the previous one but also interesting. The totality of the subjects enabled us to learn all the necessary skills to be a good expert in RPAS.

Although knowledges are important, it is also fundamental knowing how people work in the real world. In order to satisfy this, the master offered us an extended catalogue of 400-hour internships in external companies of the sector. I was in the Airworthiness department of the ‘Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA)’ placed in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid). During the internship my tutor helped me to know and understand all the requirements that a military RPAS must comply to be certified and I am so grateful for his time and advices.

But knowledges and experiences are not enough for life. It is also necessary to work and much better if you like your job. Relating to this, I can proudly say that the master was the key to find my current job in INTA.

In addition to a university degree, the master was for me an inflexion point in my professional development. It let me entering into a sector inaccessible for the most of people. Normally RPAS’ projects are in the core of their companies and finding information is a hard or impossible task. Thus, a master that offers direct access to this kind of knowledges and experiences, during lessons and internships, is an opportunity that nobody can find by self.

Luis Javier Amor Urbano

The first Master specialized in RPAS of medium and large size of Europe is imparted in Andalusia, concretely in Huelva. The lack of specialized engineers in this field, three years ago, led to the start-up at the University of Huelva of this unique training offer in which the professors of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), the University of Seville and the Major companies in the aeronautics sector, in addition to the University of the city of Huelva, professionally develop their students in the industry of the RPAS.

The first formative phase of the Master’s program covers advanced training in RPAS such as regulation, propulsion, dynamics and control, payload management, avionics and operation. The activities of these modules are developed between the facilities of the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Huelva and the Experimentation Center of El Arenosillo (CEDEA), headquarters of the National Institute of Aerospace Technique. But the Master also has an eminently practical orientation, which finds in the Business Days one of its main focuses of interest. From the 18th to the 25th of January, in the Campus del Carmen at the University of Huelva, the most important companies in the aerospace sector presented themselves to the students of the Master’s Degree in order to publicize the development of their latest advances in the RPAS sector.

AERTEC Solutions, together with Airbus, Boeing Research & Technology, FADA-CATEC, Altran, Ayesa and Alter, among others, joins for the third consecutive year this teaching project in which it will contribute its experience in the area of ​​unmanned systems. As a collaborating company, AERTEC Solutions will also host several Master’s students to carry out their internships at the end of the course, and will help them to carry out an engineering project in the field of RPAS as a Master’s thesis.

Rafael E. Márquez, Aerospace&Defence Systems Director at AERTEC Solutions

My name is Adrián Capilla Lozano. I am an industrial and automatic electronic engineer and member of the 4th edition of the Master of RPAS of medium and large size, taught in Huelva.

When I finished my university degree training, I thought that I should continue to train and specialize in a field with a great future ahead of me. I was always attracted by aeronautics, new technologies and research in a sector as emergent and exciting as is the world of UAVs, or RPAS, so I started looking for a Master that was up to the task and I found the RPAS Master of the University of Huelva, an eminently practical master’s degree, with a curriculum that covers all fields of this technology, (aeronautics, renewable energy, electronics, design, navigation, certification and many more subjects), teachers without equal, since most of these are máximum professional references in their areas, and with many years of experience. This, together with the large number of teachers, provides in this Master’s Degree a baggage of knowledge that cannot be obtained in any other Master of this type in Europe.

In its favor, it has the collaboration of the INTA (National Institute of Aerospace Technology) as well as the El Arenosillo Experimentation Center (CEDEA) near Huelva where you will be able to do many of the field classes that the Master offers, being able to learn of real RPAS operations and see first-hand the most innovative equipment in this sector.

Adrián Capilla Lozano

After graduating in Biology, my personal interest in the UAV and autonomous systems led me to inform me of the Masters offer to specialize in this sector. I chose the Master in RPAS from the University of Huelva for their labor integration in the RPAS sector in Spain, as well as for the quality of the teaching staff, coming from the University of Seville as well as professionals with great experience in the sector.

I made the decision to enroll and move to Huelva to take the Master in October 2017. Today, April 2018 and about to finish the theoretical training I can say that it is a unique opportunity to get into this sector, even for students from other areas of engineering (as is my case), since in this Master all are collected the important concepts and provides the necessary experience to develop a professional work.

As for the professional output, I have already signed an agreement with a company to complete the training period of 400 hours, with the possibility of joining the company once this period has ended. The Master does not guarantee a contract, but it does offer the possibility of obtaining it on your own merits, situating you at the right time and place.

Santiago Gambón

It was the month of March 2015 when my company, an American multinational, decided after 20 years of work to cut the fixed workforce to reduce costs. At that time and already 50 years old I was unemployed. In May of that same year, a future CEUS Project for unmanned aircraft arrived in my ears that will be implanted in the province of Huelva and that there was also a specific Master’s Degree from the University of Huelva to train specialists in this field. Motivated by my passion for engineering and aeronautics, I enroll in this Master in its second edition. There, after hard days of study, work and seminars, I could see the high qualification of its teaching staff, almost all aeronautical engineers specialized in a specific sector, such as propulsion, navigation, avionics, flight dynamics, etc. Some had even collaborated with NASA. After finishing, I made my TFM, eminently practical, in the facilities of INTA, where I was clarified many of the theoretical knowledge learned. And after all this, to look for a job with the handicap of my age. I look for it throughout 2017 and part of 2018, until a flight simulator construction company decides to hire me and have my services. I think that what tipped the balance in my favor was the aeronautical knowledge acquired in the Master’s Degree, which did not have the rest of the candidates.

Juan García-Olivares Rodríguez, Support Team member in Open Cockpits

Under my point of view as graduate in the 3ª promotion of the Máster in RPAS, just to say that was a great experience where I learnt a lot about this amazing technology. I was learning with the best professionals about RPAS, thanks to INTA facilities, assisting to practical classes with real RPAS.
Thanks to this Master I have started my professional career as Robotics Engineer.

Jaime Ortuño Conde

For second time I had the opportunity to participate as a teacher in the Master’s Degree in RPAS taught by the University of Huelva. It is very pleasing to see the attention and predisposition that students have, in addition to the reception they give me each year.

Congratulations to the management team of the Master for the work you do. This year we are delighted again to receive two new graduates for their training period at AERTEC.

Benjamín Colomer

Choosing to do the RPAS Master as a complement to my training in Mechanical Engineering was a challenge for me, but thanks to the motivation of my classmates, who did it in the second promotion, I started this adventure.

From the first moment, the Master offered us opportunities at the reach of very few, such as being present at the INTA facilities during operations with RPAS from the best professionals.

Apart from receiving the best theoretical training on UAVs, teachers give you a different vision of the aeronautical world in general and of drones in particular, since almost all are workers in the sector.

Although the most important value of the Master comes when the theoretical training ends and the practical training begins in the companies in which you apply everything you have learned. In my case, it was at the French multinational ALTRAN, where I am currently continuing the R&D project of a large RPAS. Every day I apply all the knowledge learned. Having this Master makes me an added value in my project, since today only graduates of this Master have such specialized knowledge about the subject.

This last point has been key to know that this adventure that I started two years ago has been one of my greatest successes both in my academic and work career, and for which I have not hesitated to recommend this Master to many of my fellow engineers.

Guillermo Garrido

I heard about this master in the first edition (2014), but for different circumstances I joined the 2016/17 edition, and it was one of the best decisions of my life.

After several years without a clear path, I came back to Spain from the United Kingdom to train myself and give me the chance to stay home again. In that moment, this was a risky decision, because I wasn’t 100% aware that my objective could be reached. Definitely, after some weeks full of doubts, I started to feel more comfortable and enthusiastic, given myself the security I needed in this new way.

Most of the trainers have a high level of knowledge and experience in this sector, which demonstrated the great selection made by the organization in this concern.

Furthermore, the contributor companies are first-rate not just in the corporate field but also in the personal and human ambit. I landed in the best of all: ALTER TECHNOLOGY. Here I feel myself valued and appreciated and I can put on practice all the acquired knowledge in this Master and I also receive the opportunity to keep training myself in relevant items for the company.

I can’t find a better manner to finish this testimony that recognizing the great labour and effort of the personnel in charge of this Master and, in particular, to whom I consider like a mentor and gave us all the necessary time to help in our decision about in-company training stage. To him I owe my last professional decision 2 years ago from now. My already friend Benito A. de la Morena (company sub-director).

This Master was a great experience for me, at a personal and professional level, and I deeply recommend it to every professional interested in this passioned sector.

Carolina Jiménez

My name is Antonio Hernández. I’m an aerospace engineer.

Since I began to be part of the field of engineering and especially during my first years of degree, I’ve been able to learn the great variety that is presented within that field. Thus, there are a large number of sectors, and within each sector, an even greater variety of professionals.

From the beginning, I always had clear idea of the role I want to play in this area; I had always wanted to devote myself to the development of systems and algorithms.

The Master RPAS, after finishing the degree in Aerospace Engineering, has given me a great vision of the RPAS sector during the development of the 600 teaching hours, in which we have received classes from great professionals of the sector.

Moreover, the development of the final project in the company has been, without doubt, a great opportunity to give 110% and work on a real project. A hard phase, with a lot of effort and perseverance that has helped me take my first steps in the sector where I wish to grow as a professional.

Antonio Hernández

My name is Francisco Rodríguez. I was a student of the first promotion of the Master’s Degree in Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. I hope that my journey after 3 years of completing this Master will help some other undecided reader to go for it.

After finishing my studies, first in Technical Architecture and then in Civil Engineering, I decided to do this Master with the intention of reinventing my profile to start a professional career in the aerospace sector, because the situation in the construction industry was terrible. Without a doubt, now I can say that it was a wise decision.

In my case, I developed the 400 hours of paid practical training in a company of the aeronautical sector; Ayesa Air Control, company in which I could extend the training phase after completing the mandatory 400 hours. It was precisely this first experience in the aerospace sector, together with the constant training, the key to start my first postgraduate program at Airbus Group, working in their offices in Barajas just one year after having delivered the Master’s Degree Final Project.

This earned experience allowed Airbus Group to renew my contract for a second year through one of its 5 internal master’s degrees, this time working in the facilities of Tablada, in Seville, and attending classes once the working day is over.

It’s these days, less than a month after finishing my second training period with Airbus, when they confirmed the long-awaited contract. In October 2018 I will start working for Airbus Group at the Satair USA facilities in Miami. I am sure that this project for a year and a half in the United States will contribute a lot to my professional career.

I can not read much further, just declare the joy I have felt that Benito proposed me to share this part of my life with you. For me it has been a great honour. I hope my words help you and that you see no limitations in your career, but goals.

Every achievement during the journey depends on yourselves, but it is that first opportunity to work that allows you to demonstrate your value and commitment as professionals. In my case, clearly, I owe it to this Master.

Francisco Rodríguez

My name is Cristian Rodríguez, Mechanical Engineer, student of the IV Edition of the RPAS Master and I would like to communicate my satisfaction to future students.

My interest in the world of RPAS begins a few months after starting my university career in Huelva, when we were lucky enough to be established in our province. When I started the first edition of the Master, I had already decided that I would like to be part of this world in the future. Now I believe that I made the right decision.

It is a hard, totally multidisciplinary course, with a very broad content in the hands of the best professionals, where effort and perseverance are rewarded. In addition, it shows us a real vision of the world of RPAS, thanks to the collaboration of INTA, where several field visits are made that are
very useful.

This Master has not only given us the knowledge to introduce us to the RPAS world, but it has also opened us the doors to participate in it, being in my case essential the content learned in it, the only one in Spain provided by INTA.

Finally, I would like to thank the professionalism and dedication of each of the components of the Master’s Degree, which have given us so much knowledge in the RPAS, and especially to Benito A. de la Morena, who has taught us to be better persons and have a different perspective of the world of work.

Cristian Rodríguez, Wake Engineering