Podcast: Drones for Good
By: Federal Aviation Administration
Tags: Choctaw Nation, Podcast, Agriculture, Drones, Drone Week

Be honest: did you immediately think to yourself, “drones are an annoying nuisance, how could they possibly bring about any good?”

If you answered “yes,” the latest episode of the FAA’s podcast is for you.

Drones can certainly be used for fun, but don’t mistake a drone for a toy. Drones are a small form of aircraft, and every drone operator is a pilot. In Episode 6 of our show, we spoke with three drone pilots (or the people who help shape drone pilot programs) from various walks of life, including meteorologists and public safety officials who use drones to assist with wildfires and extreme weather response, and a tribal nation that’s piloting methods for agricultural management.

Listen to Episode 6 on our website and on Apple Podcasts.

Drones in Public Safety

In our first interview, we spoke with Tom Madigan, Commander at the Alameda County Sheriff Department in California. Their department has used drones for nearly five years to support their public safety operations.

Commander Madigan detailed how his team uses drones to create panorama 360-degree maps that show damage after fires. Those maps can help residents see if fires have caused damage to their properties, without having to travel into a dangerous area.

In the links below, you can see a few different maps that the team put together in response to 2020’s North Complex Fire in the Berry Creek Area, which burned over 318,000 acres and destroyed more than 2,400 structures, with 15 lives lost.

360 Panorama Map: arcg.is/1fS5Tz1

2D Before-and-After Map: arcg.is/0Hm0HT

Georeferenced Video Map: bit.ly/2REv3mh

If you’re a public safety official interested in drone operations, the FAA has resources for you at https://www.faa.gov/uas.

Drones Monitor Extreme Weather

From public safety and disaster response, we moved to another kind of extreme weather: hurricanes and tornadoes. We spoke with Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Nicole (Nikki) Chappelle, who is part of NOAA’s Commissioned Officer Corps.

LTJG Chappelle is based in Lakeland, Fl., where she serves as the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Operations Officer. She spoke with us about NOAA’s work with drones that drop into the center of storm systems via a manned aircraft. The drones are used to collect data that can help provide advance warning about the strength of a storm, as well as inform future disaster response.

We’ll hear more from LTJG Chappelle in a future episode, where she’ll share more details about ways NOAA is using drones to monitor marine wildlife.

Drones Get the Job Done

In our final segment, we hear from James Grimsley, Executive Director of Advanced Technology Initiatives in the Division of Strategic Development for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The Choctaw Nation is a member of the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP), and has used drones to do a number of jobs, including monitoring crop health and keeping track of herd animals, as well as to explore innovative ways to use drones in the future.

Want to learn more about ways that drones are used for good? Interested in becoming a drone pilot? The FAA has resources for you. Visit https://www.faa.gov/uas for more information.