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Drone lending program

A student and teacher flying a drone at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium

Virginia Tech Drone Park interns standing with a drone

Small unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, can enhance projects across a wide variety of disciplines and applications — but they can also be very expensive. To solve that problem, and make drones available to a broader range of students, University Libraries' Studios Technology Lending Desk and the Virginia Tech Drone Park are offering drones for checkout to students, faculty, and staff through Springshare. 

The following equipment, with their manuals and gear, are available for a 5-day checkout (or longer, with special permission):

  • DJI Mavic 2 Pro
  • DJI Mavic 2 Zoom
  • DJI Mavic Air
  • DJI Spark
  • DJI Phantom 2 Vision+
  • Ryze Tello
  • DJI FPV Drone* Additional restrictions apply

The following conditions must be met in order to checkout drone equipment from University Libraries:

  • The drone will be used for educational, research, or University-sponsored activities only.
  • Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC)
  • Virginia Tech UAS Pilot Safety Training (take the training here)
  • Familiarization training on the particular drone being loaned.

*Conditions 1 through 4 may be waived if the drone will be used exclusively inside the Virginia Tech Drone Park.

Contact the Virginia Tech Drone Park, (540) 231-7303, or vtdronepark@vt.edu for more information.