Flying drones in disaster zones

willowbl00 2024-10-07

This post is from Rakesh and Pascal of Crisis Commons, who know WAY more about drones than I ever will. I tweaked a bit for flow and readability. They’ll be hosting a conversation soon amongst folks who are sharing airspace to figure out how to be good neighbors to each other – hit us up if you’d like to be a part of that at connect@crisiscommons.org and my first name at this blog’s domain. That conversation will apply to Milton as well as Helene.

On Thursday, the FAA reported 30 “near misses” of crewed flights in the Helene disaster area in one 24 hour period.

TL;DR for operating aircraft <400ft

Uncoordinated shared airspace, and its near misses, bring crewed aircraft delivering aid or performing rescues to the ground for the safety of the crew. Crewed aircraft ALWAYS takes precedence over drones both for human safety and for response needs.
Drone pilots are always legally responsible for understanding any relevant restrictions and airspace authorizations necessary.
Local authority doesn’t have ownership of the skies. A police officer cannot (usually) tell you not to fly. The FAA coordinates the sky, and you should follow their guidance as best you can for the safety of all.

It is not your god given right as an American to crash into a helicopter.

The groups in airspace

Frontline population – sending up a small, non-payload drone in the immediate aftermath to get situational awareness about if roads are out and the like.
Gap that often exists in these circumstances – coordinating all the below-400-feet aircraft. This is also where response helicopters often are. Includes Part 107 operators with larger drones with more capabilities, but who are not yet coordinating with an Air Operations/AirBoss.
Air Operations/AirBoss and those they coordinate – more formal response agencies coordinating together through a centralized office. Includes official helicopters providing aide.

General guidance

Some of this applies to those in the frontline, and ALL of it applies to those not yet coordinated by the Air Operation/AirBoss.

Be Safe

Personal safety: check for unsafe conditions and hazards near you to be aware of. Be sober and rested.
Aircraft safety: ensure your drone and equipment are in good order; do your preflight checks.
Landing Zone (LZ) safety: choose a good LZ that can be kept secured for flight operations from people, animals, and vehicles; and is free of hazards.
Perform pre-flight briefing for all flight personnel: mission, roles/responsibilities, weather, hazards, etc.

Be Coordinated

Crewed aircraft (helicopters, planes) always have the right of way over drones. Cede the airspace. They are recovering humans and/or are delivering large amounts of supplies. Plus, they have humans on board and damage to the aircraft can crash it.
Check for airspace restrictions such as Temporary Flight Restrictions (more about TFRs) and airspace status. B4UFLY is an excellent resource for you.
Continually monitor for other drones or aircraft in your operating area. (ADS-B, FlightRadar24, etc). If there’s something else up, you should already know about its plan (and they should know about yours), and/or you should consider landing until airspace is clear again.
Try to coordinate with ground responders as well, as an unexpected drone can be a distraction to responders.
If multiple drones are operating, ensure drone teams are communicating and deconflicting. Assign altitude blocks with 20ft min buffers between assigned altitudes.
Assign visual observers and/or a safety officer to monitor for hazards or aircraft. They need to be able to communicate rapidly with the pilot(s), and will ideally be in touch with larger coordination efforts.
If multiple drones are needing to operate together, assign a “drone coordinator” (droneCo). DroneCo coordinates the multiple pilots, assigns tasks, and is the single representative to any other incident command structure (eg talking to Search and Rescue or fire etc)
Local ordinances on the ground can prohibit you from launching, but they don’t control airspace.

Be Responsible

First do no harm – think about what you might crash into in the air or on the ground.
Have a purpose – think about what you’ll do with what you learn/deliver from your drone flight. If it’s just for curiosity, now might not be the best time to send something up. Understand your purpose (although pressing) may not be more important than the purpose of another aircraft. Have some humility here, and understand what is truly urgent versus important.
Plan flights to minimize impact to people on the ground. Remember drones can be seen as intrusive or annoying. Be empathetic to the people on the ground.
Plan and brief your contingencies (malfunction, safety issue, sudden appearance of aircraft, weather, etc).
Have all drones registered + remote ID, put your registration markings on your drone(s). Quick and easy to do.
Ideally, all pilots have Part 107 license.
- No license is required if the drone is less than 250 grams in mass AND the drone is being flown for “recreational use only.”
- If the drone is greater than 250g OR a drone of any mass is being used for non-recreational use (eg volunteer or paid or etc work) then the license is required.
- The exam takes about 90 minutes and can be done online, but even friends with flight experience still studied for 3 weeks, so this is something that would need to be done in advance.
Non Part 107 personnel can be Visual Observer/System Operator (VO/SO), but they should have the license as well if possible.

Be Accountable

Brief and debrief before/after every mission with your cohorts and ideally with the larger coordination effort. No reason to send up more drones if you’ve already done the action multiple people needed done.
Report/document mishaps and issues as needed/required. This will come in useful as time goes on and your learn things and want to share those learnings.
Assign ownership/remediation of any issues.
Establish a culture of continuous learning & safety. The crew resource management (CRM) structure is well researched and vetted.