00:00Alright, a new kind of police car taking flight in Polk County.
00:03Tampa Bay 28 reporter Rebecca Petit learns how Florida Polytechnic University is making history with, you've got to see this,
00:10an electric flying car.
00:12Watch.
00:14Florida Polytechnic University is making history with the new electric flying vehicle that will help officers keep the campus safe.
00:23It's also giving students a chance to get hands-on experience on the future of flight.
00:32Meet Astro, a battery-powered manned aircraft that takes off and lands vertically.
00:39Florida Poly says its police department is the first law enforcement agency in the country to incorporate this type of
00:46aircraft into its operations.
00:48When I first started, we were still writing reports.
00:51They were just implementing computers, so we were happy that we got to type reports instead of writing reports.
00:59But as you know, technology, when it becomes available, it rapidly progresses.
01:06Police Chief Aaron Murray tells me it could be a game-changer when every second counts.
01:11This is mission-specific.
01:13If somebody is missing, you know, from our campus or in our, you know, local area, if a plane goes
01:20down or somebody is lost and they can't be found within these thousands of acres of rural land, this is
01:27an incredible tool for us to find them quickly.
01:29He says unlike a drone, which can give officers an aerial view of an emergency, Astro can actually carry a
01:37first responder to the scene.
01:38A drone may be able to point out where a problem is, but getting a first responder there to provide
01:45the service that they need, it can't do.
01:47The $150,000 aircraft is also a hands-on learning lab.
01:52Students are already helping modify the aircraft and develop a virtual model to simulate its operation.
01:58And they'll be using real-world flight data to study how the aircraft performs.
02:04We have mechanical engineering students that want to figure out what the stresses and strains are.
02:08And those carbon fiber members, which are lightweight already, but if we can make those 50% lighter or 20
02:13% lighter, that's extra flight time.
02:15Students tell me working with Astro could give them a competitive edge as they enter the aerospace industry, where advanced
02:22air mobility is an emerging field.
02:25Companies in the aerospace sector are going to start implementing that, and if they see a student has already hands
02:31-on experience with that, they will be incredibly excited to talk to that student, and I think that student has
02:37a lot more advantage.
02:38Florida Poly says it's in the final stages of getting FAA approval, with plans to begin incorporating Astro more into
02:45public safety operations around December.
02:48In Lakeland, Rebecca Petit, Tampa Bay 28.
