FAA works with Florida drone operators to speed hurricane recovery
After the widespread devastation, unmanned aircraft were invaluable in supporting response and recovery efforts.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has highlighted how it has worked with drone operators in Florida to help with the recovery efforts following Hurricane Irma. After the widespread devastation, unmanned aircraft were invaluable in supporting response and recovery efforts in the battered Sunshine State, said the Administration.
When Irma’s winds and floodwaters damaged homes, businesses, roadways and industries, a wide variety of agencies sought FAA authorisation to fly drones in the affected areas, said the FAA. The Administration said that by 15 September, it had issued a total of 132 airspace authorisations to ensure the drones could operate safely.
The FAA noted that the Air National Guard used drones normally tasked for combat operations to perform aerial surveys, helping its personnel to assess disaster-stricken areas quickly. Similarly, US Customs and Border Protection sent drones from Corpus Christi to Florida to help map areas in Key West, Miami and Jacksonville, using radar to survey infrastructure such as power plants for The Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the Administration.
A further example given by the FAA was Airbus Aerial, the commercial drone services division of Airbus, which was helping insurance companies to act more quickly on claims coming in from homeowners.
The search and recovery effort in Florida followed all too soon on the heels of similar operations in the Houston area, said the FAA, where the FAA issued 137 drone authorisations, sometimes within a few hours, to operators performing search and rescue missions and assessing damage to roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure.
The FAA’s ability to quickly authorise unmanned aircraft operations after both Irma and Harvey was especially critical because most local airports were either closed or dedicated to emergency relief flights, said the organisation, and the fuel supply was low.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta commented on the importance of drone operations to Irma and Harvey recovery operations: “Essentially, every drone that flew meant that a traditional aircraft was not putting an additional strain on an already fragile system. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the hurricane response will be looked back upon as a landmark in the evolution of drone usage in this country.”