Citadel Civil and Construction Engineers Visit Site of South Carolina’s First Electric Airplane Charging Stations for Senior Capstone Project

Earlier this month, 42 Senior Civil and Construction Engineering students from The Citadel visited the Florence Regional Airport in support of their Capstone Course, which includes designing futuristic infrastructure for the site. Florence Regional is approved to install South Carolina’s first electric airplane charging stations, and these student engineers are the first Citadel class to integrate this future mode of transportation into their project plans.

?“Electric horizontal and vertical take-off vehicles are still in the process of being approved for regular use,” said Dan Nale, PE, PhD , a retiree from Gulfstream Aerospace and a professor in The Citadel - Emmett Davis Dept. of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering Department. “Florence Regional is preparing for the future of advanced air mobility, and we at the Citadel are educating engineers to meet this high-tech demand.”

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During the two-hour tour, students met with air traffic control professionals and airport security personnel. They visited the proposed site of the electric airplane charging station and envisioned the airport’s future land use from the air traffic control tower.

?"As part of the Capstone requirement, students must assess soil conditions, environmental impacts, and acceptable land use per the airport’s master plan" said Kweku Brown, Ph.D., P.E., GISP. Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

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“We’ve always instructed our engineering students in the fundamentals, on designing, building, and maintaining structures that are essential to our way of life –? roads, buildings, bridges, and dams,” said Dr. John Ryan PE, professor of Civil Engineering. “On Tuesday, the seniors also experienced how exciting and versatile their education can be when applied to infrastructure that accommodates modern air transportation.”

?Florence Regional is partnering with BETA TECHNOLOGIES , an electric aerospace company developing vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts and supporting a network of charging infrastructures along planned flight routes.