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Drone patrol: Four pilots trained to fly

  • Floyd County Emergency Management Agency Director Lezlie Weber flies the agency's new drone at the county fairgrounds Thursday. Press photo by Bob Steenson

  • Drone pilots, from left, Deputy Chad Weber, Sgt. Travis Bartz, Emergency Management Agency Director Lezlie Weber and Floyd County Conservation Naturalist Heidi Reams take turns flying a drone at the county fairgrounds. Press photo by Bob Steenson

  • The Floyd County Emergency Management Agency's new Inspire 1 drone hovers above a field at the fairgrounds. Press photo by Bob Steenson

  • The Floyd County Emergency Management Agency's new Inspire 1 drone. Press photo by Bob Steenson

  • Drone pilots, from left, Deputy Chad Weber, Sgt. Travis Bartz, Emergency Management Agency Director Lezlie Weber and Floyd County Conservation Naturalist Heidi Reams take turns flying a drone at the county fairgrounds. Press photo by Bob Steenson

  • Lezlie Weber, the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency director, flies a drone at the county fairgrounds. Press photo by Bob Steenson

  • Drone pilots, from left, Deputy Chad Weber, Sgt. Travis Bartz, Floyd County Conservation Naturalist Heidi Reams and Emergency Management Agency Director Lezlie Weber are seen in a photo taken from the agency's new drone. Photo submitted

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County officials have a new eye in the sky available for searches, emergency situations and educational purposes.

The county Emergency Management Department has purchased a drone and camera system, and four county employees have been trained and certified to fly it.

Lezlie Weber, the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency director, said the drone will have “a vast variety” of uses.

“Primarily we will use is for search and rescue procedures, hazardous situations, vehicle accidents and just to gain awareness of overall high-profile incidents,” she said.

“It’s fun,” Weber said, “but it’s also a great resource.”

The drone, an Inspire 1 Version 2 model manufactured by DJI, can take high-resolution photographs and video, but also transmits the video image from its camera back to the control unit in real time.

The four trained pilots represent three county departments: Weber with Emergency Management, Sgt. Travis Bartz and Deputy Chad Weber with the Sheriff’s Department, and Naturalist Heidi Reams with Floyd County Conservation.

The uses by the different departments will overlap, such as in emergency situations such as flooding or in search and rescue operations, but each department will also put the drone to unique uses.

For example, Bartz said the drone could be used when the Sheriff’s Department is serving a search warrant.

“If it’s a high-risk warrant we could have the drone available up in the air (to spot) if anybody tries to take off running, or for security as the deputies approach,” Bartz said.

Reams said, “We’d like to be able to promote some of our park areas, be able to showcase the features in a more enticing way, as well as being able to use it as a management tool. When you can see a large area you can see what is successful, what is not, as well as invasive species that aren’t supposed to be there.

“We had our training at the Fossil Park, so we had two days of flying over there,” Reams said. “It gave a real unique perspective of the area that we don’t usually see.”

Weber stressed that the drone will be available for other departments to use in situations that justify it, although one of the four pilots needs to actually fly the drone.

The Emergency Management Agency spent about $8,800 initially on the drone, accessories such as extra batteries and a case, training and a thermal camera, although Weber said the thermal camera that was received needs to be replaced with a different model because it isn’t working correctly with the drone.

Weber said the thermal camera could be helpful in situations such as at night on search and rescue operations, although a waiver will be needed from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly at night.

“A nighttime waiver is one I’ll be sure to keep current and keep up on,” she said.

All four pilots received a three-day training course last week that involved FAA regulations, flying practice and testing for FAA certification. They took the certification test last Thursday and registered the certificates this week, Weber said.

Bartz said the flight limit is 400 feet off the the ground and the drone can’t be flown around airports or in other restricted airspace without security clearance. The drone has a range of about 3 miles, but must be kept within line-of-site by the pilot.

An FAA waiver is also needed to fly over crowds, but Weber said it was unlikely the county would be applying for that

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