What do you know about this company? It appears they are primarily a contract operation. It would seem unlikely they will get any kind of waivers to fly following the hurricane.
Hurricane Relief
- Thread starter floridajames04
- Start date
Ron, best of luck to you and yours - and everyone else in the region.
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2017
- Messages
- 4,258
- Reaction score
- 2,025
This I'm not sure, I receive their emails and am only posting. I'm sure as you stated it's contracted out.
rdonson
Premium Pilot
Thanks, Yukay!!! My friends near the coast have survived so far but the rain and wind hasn't let up yet. Serious storm surge.
The fun starts tonight for us and is expected to last until Monday morning. There forecast though seems to change every 6 hours.
Hurricane Florence is just sitting over Wilmington, NC right now and only moving south at 2 mph. The next port of call is Myrtle Beach, SC and then they say it will head inland and then veer north. Its the veer north that has us watching "The Weather Channel" like hawks here.
With fines for "unauthorized" drone flights extreme and blanket laws banning drone pilots being anywhere near a natural disaster, then there needs to be personal accountability for the authorities.
If they through their incompetence do not utilize drone technology to an advantage then they need exactly the same extreme fines exercised against them. Can't have it both ways.
If they through their incompetence do not utilize drone technology to an advantage then they need exactly the same extreme fines exercised against them. Can't have it both ways.
PatR
Premium Pilot
They do use drones but on their terms, not ours, and with tight control of sectored airspace. Those sectors have aircraft assigned to each sector and kept separated for safety. We cannot have a bunch of untrained people flying small drones all over the place when manned aircraft are flying at the same altitudes.
What punishment is appropriate for a drone operator that is flying unauthorized in a disaster area that causes a mid air collision or suspension of manned aviation flights in the same area? What would be appropriate if a flight suspension was the cause for someone in need of rescue to die because helicopter flight had been suspended because of unauthorized drone activity?
At best civilian drones only take pictures while helicopters have better EO and IR imagery, as do manned fixed wing aircraft. Helicopters carry supplies for on the spot distribution, and rescue personnel that can and do extract people from dire situations at the scene. Military drones flown at higher altitudes provide wider coverage in less time with MUCH better resolution while having the capability to note differences in the imagery from one pass to the next. Military drone and full scale camera operators can place annotated targets on the imagery as they are shot. Both the military drones and helicopters utilize two way communications with disaster relief command personnel. Few civilian drone operators have any communications equipment at all. Fewer still can upload their imagery to a cloud server linked to the agency as soon as they are taken. Are they supposed to pull their SD cards and run to the disaster agencies command post and demand an instant review? Our pretty pictures are useless if they can’t be acted upon quickly in life threatening situations.
There’s a heck of a lot more to disaster site scans and rescue ops than taking pictures and unless civilian operators have previous military UAV experience and have been trained in relief agency operational protocols they don’t belong in a disaster area and can do more harm than good.
What punishment is appropriate for a drone operator that is flying unauthorized in a disaster area that causes a mid air collision or suspension of manned aviation flights in the same area? What would be appropriate if a flight suspension was the cause for someone in need of rescue to die because helicopter flight had been suspended because of unauthorized drone activity?
At best civilian drones only take pictures while helicopters have better EO and IR imagery, as do manned fixed wing aircraft. Helicopters carry supplies for on the spot distribution, and rescue personnel that can and do extract people from dire situations at the scene. Military drones flown at higher altitudes provide wider coverage in less time with MUCH better resolution while having the capability to note differences in the imagery from one pass to the next. Military drone and full scale camera operators can place annotated targets on the imagery as they are shot. Both the military drones and helicopters utilize two way communications with disaster relief command personnel. Few civilian drone operators have any communications equipment at all. Fewer still can upload their imagery to a cloud server linked to the agency as soon as they are taken. Are they supposed to pull their SD cards and run to the disaster agencies command post and demand an instant review? Our pretty pictures are useless if they can’t be acted upon quickly in life threatening situations.
There’s a heck of a lot more to disaster site scans and rescue ops than taking pictures and unless civilian operators have previous military UAV experience and have been trained in relief agency operational protocols they don’t belong in a disaster area and can do more harm than good.
It really isn’t worth the trouble, not that I wouldn’t want to help those who need it. Along with what PatR commented on, the flood water quickly turns in to a toxic mess. I would consider a fresh air system if one is exposed to those conditions for a prolonged period. Not to mention all the other dangers.
PatR
Premium Pilot
I believe there’s a few of us in this forum that have spent a lot of time in some nasty places. It’s not fun or easy and you really have to be ready to deal with the conditions and be prepared for those conditions to worsen. It’s both mentally and physically demanding, often with the mental aspects quite difficult to deal with as hard decisions have to be made that will be contrary to what we would normally do.
rdonson
Premium Pilot
The flood water from a coastal hurricane will contain every nasty thing you might imagine. Dead animals, feces, chemicals that weren't properly dealt with, oil, sewage, gas, etc.
Volunteering to help is worthwhile. It doesn't require a drone. I've done some time filling sand bags. Exhausting work but there was a sense of accomplishment. I've spent time as an amateur radio operator relaying messages as well. But.... you need to do it as part of the massive effort supervised by a bunch of agencies.
You can also donate clothing, food, water, etc. to appropriate non-profits and agencies.
Most of all be thankful for all the responders.
Volunteering to help is worthwhile. It doesn't require a drone. I've done some time filling sand bags. Exhausting work but there was a sense of accomplishment. I've spent time as an amateur radio operator relaying messages as well. But.... you need to do it as part of the massive effort supervised by a bunch of agencies.
You can also donate clothing, food, water, etc. to appropriate non-profits and agencies.
Most of all be thankful for all the responders.
There are stages to on how to tackle a disaster. The first stage that we call here in California is called “rolling chaos” this is most vital stage of a disaster response, and I believe that if we want to really help it would be during the first stage is by providing “relief operations” relocating affected families, call to action to the aid of the first responders, these guys will be functioning none stop, with little help, connect with your FD they can give you assignments. The local hospitals will be in code black, they will also need civilian assistance, with medical background, during triage. I have done two deployments with Angel Aviations flying a drone and in my experience 100% percent of the time the FAA and FD will ground drone operations, unless you are from a designated agencies. Fire will also have their operators in the air to assist their men. California has learned its lessons and I bet the FAA took notes of the mistakes during the recent event.
I meet all the creds in flying a drone in times of need. But guys, think about this, the majority of civis that thinks they can operate in certain conditions without proper training will be confused by how much informations that being shared in a small window of time, and will get into a tunnel vision.
Want to help? In the future register with your local SAR get proper training that suits your background.
As a commercial drone operator that meets all the criteria, I will not fly my drone, but instead be helping out in the ground, and will fly during search and rescue. This stage is later, when things has settled down, when it’s safe to do so.
I meet all the creds in flying a drone in times of need. But guys, think about this, the majority of civis that thinks they can operate in certain conditions without proper training will be confused by how much informations that being shared in a small window of time, and will get into a tunnel vision.
Want to help? In the future register with your local SAR get proper training that suits your background.
As a commercial drone operator that meets all the criteria, I will not fly my drone, but instead be helping out in the ground, and will fly during search and rescue. This stage is later, when things has settled down, when it’s safe to do so.
