NORTH CAPE MAY – Drones aren’t just fancy toys. A roomful of emergency managers from throughout the state joined a day-long seminar “UAS in Emergency management” at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal April 22 to discuss how unmanned aerial systems can be used to assist after disasters and storms.
Terms commonly used at the session included LIDAR, (Light Detection and Ranging, a remote, 3-D sensing method used to examine the surface of the Earth), Doppler, infrared, and thermal imaging.
Equipment that uses that technology can be installed aboard a drone to aid in emergency management situations, said Martin Pagliughi, county emergency management director. “It’s going to give us another tool in our toolbox,” he told peers.
The burgeoning drone field is something Cape May County wants to build as a facet of its economic development to increase jobs for residents.
Freeholder Will Morey, who has spearheaded the campaign to land drone-related businesses at Cape May County Airport, told the Herald it’s possible up to 100 or more new jobs could be centered on drones at the facility.
Morey welcomed the emergency managers, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials and technology providers, as well as U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd), who addressed the group.
LoBiondo is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and chairs the Subcommittee of Aviation. “We couldn’t have a better hook into the political world in South Jersey than our congressman,” said Pagliughi.
He added that LoBiondo has taken an interest in drone technology, and therefore is an advocate. He also recalled that LoBiondo and he ran together for state Assembly in 1989.
“In the 2012 FAA authorization bill, we mandated certain things to be done which got the ball rolling (to have drones recognized as a viable future aviation sector)…They have but only minimally,” LoBiondo said.
“So over the last couple of years Transportation Committee, and myself as the chair, engaged in a series of listening sessions more so than hearings to bring the stakeholders in, the people who are most interested in unmanned aerial systems and drones about what the capabilities are, what the potentials are, what the problems are, how we do this because, being such a new technology with tremendous potential, we have to make sure first and foremost that we’re doing it safely, and that we’re doing it securely. The privacy issue looms very large.
“We know that this past Christmas season somewhere near 1 million of these unmanned systems or drones were sold mail order,” LoBiondo said. “So we started with a registration drive, and that was kind of a first step.
“We are now poised with the next FAA authorization bill…. We have a strong component for drone or UAS, to be able to move it to the next level,” said LoBiondo. “We are mandating, forcing the FAA to get more involved with emergency management and first responders in allowing you to use this technology in fires and disasters and recovery work.”
LoBiondo lauded Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), in particular that is, “just involved with everything.” He spent about 20 minutes with Booker on a variety of aviation issues, so that when the Senate discussed the FAA authorization bill it would include UAS parts that would relate to emergency managers.
LoBiondo noted that the advances made in the UAS field are all private-sector financed without government funding.
“I’m committed to make sure that we keep this moving, that we can provide you with the very best tools possible to match your commitment to helping our communities which has just been extraordinary,” LoBiondo said.
Following LoBiondo was Joseph Morra, section manager for FAA, UAS safety, Data Management and Flight Operations. He admitted the agency “Have thrown our hands up and call them drones. We will call them drones.”
He noted a 55-pound drone can replace a 6,000-pound helicopter to film damage, inspect power lines and agriculture and smoke stacks. Additionally, a drone can be sent where a human might be in danger.
During a panel discussion David Yoel, of American Aerospace Technologies, Inc., Michael Moriarty, of FEMA Region II, Ed Voigt, Army Corps of Engineers, and Mitchell Erickson, Department of Homeland Security, science and technology spoke on the use of drones “Before, During and After a Coastal Emergency.”
Later in the session another panel spoke of the “Big Picture and Coordination.” That panel included spokespeople from the New Jersey State Police and New Jersey National Guard and from the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership.
An afternoon demonstration sowed how a tethered drone from Ryan Media Labs could be utilized.
The event was hosted by the county and Delaware River and Bay Authority.
