Drones A Valuable Tool In The Wake Of Alabama Tornadoes | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-11.04.24

Airborne-NextGen-11.05.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.30.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-10.31.24

Airborne-Unlimited-11.01.24

Sat, Mar 09, 2019

Drones A Valuable Tool In The Wake Of Alabama Tornadoes

Allows Aerial Views Of Areas Cut Off From Ground Transportation

In the wake of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through rural Alabama Sunday, rescuers deployed drones into areas that were otherwise inaccessible to look for survivors and assess damage.

USA Today reports that Lee County, AL Sheriff Jay Jones said his department has been using drones for a "couple of years" but this is the first time they have been deployed for "extensive search and recovery. It gave us an overhead view of areas that we might’ve missed had we been at eye level on land," Sheriff Jones said.

Jones said that the small aircraft made searching for survivors much more efficient. Given the wide swath of damage caused by the storms, that was important.

In Lee County, Opelika, AL Fire Chief Byron Prather said that drones equipped with infrared sensors helped greatly in directing first responders to places where people needed to be rescued. "Ten years ago, it wasn't available," Prather said. That's technology helping us do our job better."

Chris Darden, who was a part of the team that helped test drones as a damage assessment tool when he led the National Weather Service Office in Huntsville, AL, was on the ground in hard-het Beauregard, AL following the storm. He said that the NWS was also planning to use drones to get a better handle on the storm's path and damage it caused. "Sometimes, it can take a tragedy to open your eyes to new tools you have available," he said.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report 

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.02.24): Ground Controlled Approach

Ground Controlled Approach A radar approach system operated from the ground by air traffic control personnel transmitting instructions to the pilot by radio. The approach may be co>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Planetags Give Old Planes A Second Life

From SUN n FUN 2024 (YouTube Edition): Put a Piece of Aviation History In Your Pocket PlaneTags have become a yearly presence at pretty much every airshow of note, and it’s n>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (11.02.24)

Aero Linx: Vuichard Recovery Aviation Safety Foundation (VRASF) The purpose of the Foundation is the widest possible national and international dissemination of the Vuichard Recove>[...]

Airborne-NextGen 10.29.24: Major AAM Effort Kaput, Blue Origin, Powered Lift Reg

Also: AURA AERO Builds in FL, NATA on SFAR, Textron-Starlink, SocMed Drone Scandal In a move that seemed to come out of left field, Lilium announced it is on the verge of insolvenc>[...]

Airborne 11.01.24: XB-1 Flies Again, Evektor Fleet Sale, Zepp Record Remembered

Also: Senator Pushes FAA, Gulfstream Goes Starlink, Crew-8 Astro Out of Hospital, PC-12 Flight Hours Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator aircraft successfully carried out Fli>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC