Specialized UAS for Disaster Response workshops train remote pilots to help assess damage and restore community lifeline services following a major storm impact.
Forecasters have been projecting above-average intensity for the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, and with large parts of the Caribbean and South Texas still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Beryl, their prognostications appear to be well-founded.
Beryl, feeding in part off exceptionally warm ocean temperatures, rapidly intensified into a major hurricane and became the first Category 4 storm on record to form in the month of June. Rapid intensification occurs when a storm’s sustained wind speed increases to more than 35 mph within a 24-hour period.
“The rapid intensification of near-coastal tropical systems presents one of the most significant challenges currently facing hurricane forecasters and emergency management professionals,” says Christopher Todd, Executive Director of AIRT, the leading 501(c) non-profit organization promoting Drones For Good®, and Founder and President of Airborne Response, a Florida-based uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), services company. “We are seeing a clear, increased propensity for these storms to rapidly intensify, resulting in shorter planning and deployment windows for UAS assets.”
Todd, a remote pilot and Certified Emergency Manager (CEM®), is widely considered one of the leading experts in the commercial deployment of sUAS for hurricane response missions. He points not just to Hurricane Beryl, but also to Hurricanes Idalia and Otis in 2023 as examples of the rapid intensification phenomenon. In less than 24 hours, both systems rapidly intensified from tropical storms into major hurricanes as they approached landfall in Florida (Idalia) and Mexico (Otis) last year.
“When you go to sleep at night expecting a tropical storm and wake up to a major hurricane on your doorstep, you have a real problem,” says Todd. “Our goal for 2024 is to ensure that we are well-prepared and do not get caught flat-footed.”
Drone Training for Hurricane Response
To support potential response and recovery efforts after a major storm impact, Airborne Response, the premier provider of Mission Critical Unmanned Solutions® and a subsidiary of Safe Pro Group, Inc., has trained and added over 100 new FAA-certified remote pilots to their roster to help respond to a catastrophe using drones and related technology.
Working with partners including Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, SunTrax, and Florida’s largest power utility company, Airborne Response held a series of in-person and virtual UAS for Disaster Response remote pilot training workshops throughout the state over the past several weeks. Select remote pilots with proven experience providing commercial flight services were invited to attend the training to learn how to help communities recover in the aftermath of a major hurricane strike.
“We are extremely fortunate to work with world-class partners in Florida. Without their support, we could not have prepared as extensively as we have for this storm season,” says Todd.
Airborne Response flight teams will utilize sUAS to help assess the condition of Florida’s power grid, assess telecommunication infrastructure, evaluate storm damage to buildings and property, and conduct other emergency and disaster flight services to support a swift response to severe weather incidents, including rapidly intensifying major hurricanes impacting critical infrastructure.
Todd says that increasing the number of specially trained remote pilots well-equipped with UAS assets and technology around Florida will help combat the rapid intensification issue. By pre-staging more resources closer to key critical infrastructure sites, Airborne Response can better serve its customers’ needs when disaster strikes. He says Airborne Response revised its 2024 remote pilot training program to focus on preparing for rapidly intensifying tropical systems.
“We have entered the 2024 hurricane season with an extreme sense of urgency,” says Todd. “We’re teaching our remote pilot partners how to plan, prepare, and deploy safely and effectively in the potentially austere, catastrophic environment these storms can cause.”
Each Airborne Response UAS for Disaster Response remote pilot workshop educated remote pilot attendees about various elements required to ensure safe and effective disaster response operations using drones. Key modules focused on teaching attendees about FEMA’s Incident Command System (ICS), disaster response logistics, staging area operations, power restoration UAS flight operations, and demobilization tactics.
Remote pilots who successfully complete the training regimen will receive a certificate of completion and are now authorized to conduct emergency response UAS operations on behalf of Airborne Response customers.
“I am extremely excited about the roster of remote pilots we have developed for the 2024 season,” said Todd. “These are professional operators with a good mix of experience, locations, and capabilities. This will enable us to mobilize swiftly and effectively as customer needs dictate.”
Airborne Response customers include the leading energy, telecommunications, and insurance firms across Florida. The Company deploys aerial drones to collect aerial imagery that documents and helps assess the condition of critical infrastructure vital to life safety. In September 2022, Safe Pro Group Inc. acquired Airborne Response.
Airborne Response is onboarding new customers for on-demand disaster response flight services throughout the Southern U.S. For more information about Airborne Response, please visit airborneresponse.com. If you are a remote pilot seeking potential work, please visit pilots.airborneresponse.com
About Airborne Response
Airborne Response is the premier provider of Mission Critical Unmanned Solutions®, capturing aerial intelligence using small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS). Airborne Response serves industry and government customers in the critical infrastructure, emergency services, and disaster response sectors. Airborne Response is a wholly owned subsidiary of Safe Pro Group, Inc., a U.S. safety and security solutions dedicated to protecting those who protect us all. For more information on Airborne Response, please visit:
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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