Since the foundation of Wildau Institute of Technology in 2005, it has been an important mission for us to combine academic and practical knowledge in our curriculum and beyond. It is not always easy to provide our students and alumni with hands-on knowledge in times of travel restrictions and online teaching. Therefore, this year it was especially important for us to invite high-profile guest lecturers with an enormous practical expertise and experience. Our guest lectures in November have been focusing on two topics that will surely influence the aviation sector in the future.
On November 18, Patrick Muller has looked back on the challenging opening of the BER Airport in October 2020. In his position as Chief Operating Officer of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport, he has a bird perspective on the processes that had to be undergone in order to open an airport during the pandemic. Mr. Muller has shared with the lecture participants his insider view on the entire process. Not only he gave us an overview of the airport plan and its features. He elaborated on numerous aspects of this enormously complex project, such as decision making, process planning, airport relocation and airline transfer, employees’ training, as well as restrictions due to the pandemic and the initial planning. It was an impressive and lively example of how different actors from different aviation fields need to collaborate over a long period of time in order to master a challenging process.
Mastering interdisciplinary challenges was also a core issue during our second guest lecture. Dr. Frank Fuchs, Aviation Consultant and UAS Expert, has introduced the legal perspective on drones to our students and alumni. The title of his lecture was “Can I Do Whatever I Want in the Sky? An Insight into the Legal Framework of Unmanned Aircraft Systems”. Frank Fuchs made clear, how technology on the one and legal and political issues on the other side need to be harmonized in order to implement different operational scenarios for unmanned aircraft systems. The lecturer provided an in-depth perspective on different legal levels – national, European and international law, constitutional law, as well as different certification procedures. Dr. Fuchs has also provided solution ideas and shared different legal strategies with the audience. Last but not least, he mentioned future technologies that are likely to become relevant soon and put them in the context of existing legal frameworks on different levels.
The next online guest lectures and interactive discussions on aviation and other topics will take place in Spring 2022. We are looking forward to seeing our students and alumni during these events.
