Unmanned aircraft systems – a fancy way of saying “drones” – will obviously be of great help in the aftermath of emergencies and natural disasters in the future.
Just how? That’s what an exercise scheduled for Wednesday in southern Jersey will determine.
Emergency management officials, industry and regulators will conduct a full-day field and drone-in-the-sky exercise to help establish protocols for the use of drones in emergency response immediately after a hurricane.
Currently, drones are not allowed to fly in airspace emptied by the Federal Aviation Administration in an emergency, although small aircraft can reach areas that traditional first responder vehicles and equipment cannot easily access.
The goal of the project is to provide emergency responders in southern New Jersey faster access to the skies after hurricanes that periodically create danger and damage throughout the state, particularly in coastal areas.
Howard Kyle, CEO of the National aeronautical research and technology park in Egg Harbor Township, said the use of drones following emergencies would save lives.
“Unmanned aircraft systems, known as UASs or drones, can be valuable tools in emergency response, but they are not yet widely used in emergency response due to concerns concerning manned aircraft, such as helicopters, which perform low-level search and rescue missions. ” he said. “This emergency response exercise will provide invaluable information to emergency management officials and first responders.
“This exercise is an example of the important research and technology events that are regularly sponsored at NARTP.”
Here is how the exercise will go:
- It will take place throughout Cape May and Atlantic counties.
- It will start under the simulation of a hurricane crossing the counties 24 hours ago.
- It will begin by sending several small UASs and one large UAS to several locations in the counties from the Woodbine Municipal Airport in Woodbine.
- Once each aircraft is on-site at its respective location, it will broadcast live imaging data to NARTP’s Thunder Room, which serves as a simulated emergency operations center.
David Yoel, CEO of American Aerospace Technologies Inc., said drones can help speed decisions – and support.
“Unmanned aircraft are a post-disaster force multiplier,” he said. “Immediately after a disaster, UAS can provide critical information to first responders, accelerating response while increasing the safety and effectiveness of first responders.
The goal of the 2021 South Jersey Emergency Response Exercise is to begin to develop a process for the coordination and approval of flight operations that allows UAS and conventional aircraft to operate simultaneously – without adding risk. to conventional aircraft operations, potentially speeding up response and recovery by days. “
The functional exercise follows a successful tabletop exercise, conducted on May 21 at NARTP, in which participants discussed the integration of drones in emergency response immediately after a hurricane and in tandem with traditional operations. search and rescue.
The exercise was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed to Wednesday due to the weather.
Residents of the communities weren’t told – and probably won’t notice.
Exercise officials have stated that all aircraft participating in the event are either (1) operated in accordance with FAA Part 107 regulations; or (2) operating under a certificate of authorization.
Both of these auspices require that flight operations do not take place over people or have a predetermined cleared route that stays clear of populated areas, respectively. If this was an actual event, the Emergency Operations Center public relations coordinator would notify the public.
