Urgent Request: Hurricane Florence Disaster Response Pilots

[Florida Drone Supply]

Disaster Response Pilots Needed in SC, NC and VA
**Standby Pay Available as Early as Today for Some Local Pilots**

As we watch the weather and see Hurricane Florence develop, we keep all of those potentially affected in our thoughts and prayers. We hope you and your families are safe and taking all the precautions you can. As Floridians we understand hurricanes, the damage they create and the lives they disrupt.

If there are any drone operators that are interested in assisting with search and rescue, power line failure / restoration or anything else related to public safety or benefitting the repair of storm damage, let us know. We have initiated a list of pilots both in the area of concern as well as those who are willing to travel for the recovery efforts.

To get on the list or to get more details about the timing, equipment requirements or the pay, register on our site and we will call you to talk specifics: Pilot Network Registration

You can also email us directly at [email protected] (Sky Source Aerial is the service division of Florida Drone Supply).

Pilot compensation:

Daily Rate: $500.00
Daily rate paid for each day you are deployed.

Per Diem: $100.00
A daily rate for incidentals, meals, etc. No receipts are required.

Mobilization Fee: $350.00
This is a 1 time fee to cover any costs to get you to the site and ready to fly.

Standby Rate: $400.00
Many times our clients will pay pilots to be "on-call" and ready to deploy. When standing by you need to be able to arrive ready to fly with an 8 hour notice.

Fuel: Varies
Depending upon the contract, the pilot may or may not receive a daily fuel credit - and some clients provide fuel trucks for us to fill up from at no charge.

In order to add you to our list, we need your primary aircraft equipment (prefer P4P or better - minimum of 20mp sensor is a must), and a copy of your FAA Part 107 certificate number.

Due to the high call volume, please primarily utilize email; please email us directly at [email protected](Sky Source Aerial is the service division of Florida Drone Supply).

We are assessing and building our inventory of equipment related to the effort. From weatherproof M200s and M210s (and their weather sealed batteries), Inspires, Phantoms, Mavic 2s, all other batteries, CrystalSky monitors (and extra batteries) - both new and our dealer demos of all those items. We will standby with everything we have to make it available and ready to be put to work.

Wishing everyone the best…

 

[Former Member]

Great service. Many members here might be willing to jump at the offer. Does one need to be Part 107? If not, is there an opportunity for them?

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Great service. Many members here might be willing to jump at the offer. Does one need to be Part 107? If not, is there an opportunity for them?

This work does require a Part 107 certification. From the looks of it, the impact of the storm could be very substantial we have been told we may be asked to provide up to 50-60 pilots to help in the response. In prior hurricane responses we have worked mostly in critical infrastructure (power and communications).

 

[Former Member]

Part 107 pilots: here is your opportunity to use your certificate to help those in need and to make some money while doing it.

 

[PortCanaveralFlorida]

Disaster Response Pilots Needed in SC, NC and VA
**Standby Pay Available as Early as Today for Some Local Pilots**

As we watch the weather and see Hurricane Florence develop, we keep all of those potentially affected in our thoughts and prayers. We hope you and your families are safe and taking all the precautions you can. As Floridians we understand hurricanes, the damage they create and the lives they disrupt.

If there are any drone operators that are interested in assisting with search and rescue, power line failure / restoration or anything else related to public safety or benefitting the repair of storm damage, let us know. We have initiated a list of pilots both in the area of concern as well as those who are willing to travel for the recovery efforts.

To get on the list or to get more details about the timing, equipment requirements or the pay, register on our site and we will call you to talk specifics: Pilot Network Registration

You can also email us directly at [email protected] (Sky Source Aerial is the service division of Florida Drone Supply).

Pilot compensation:

Daily Rate: $500.00
Daily rate paid for each day you are deployed.

Per Diem: $100.00
A daily rate for incidentals, meals, etc. No receipts are required.

Mobilization Fee: $350.00
This is a 1 time fee to cover any costs to get you to the site and ready to fly.

Standby Rate: $400.00
Many times our clients will pay pilots to be "on-call" and ready to deploy. When standing by you need to be able to arrive ready to fly with an 8 hour notice.

Fuel: Varies
Depending upon the contract, the pilot may or may not receive a daily fuel credit - and some clients provide fuel trucks for us to fill up from at no charge.

In order to add you to our list, we need your primary aircraft equipment (prefer P4P or better - minimum of 20mp sensor is a must), and a copy of your FAA Part 107 certificate number.

Due to the high call volume, please primarily utilize email; please email us directly at [email protected](Sky Source Aerial is the service division of Florida Drone Supply).

We are assessing and building our inventory of equipment related to the effort. From weatherproof M200s and M210s (and their weather sealed batteries), Inspires, Phantoms, Mavic 2s, all other batteries, CrystalSky monitors (and extra batteries) - both new and our dealer demos of all those items. We will standby with everything we have to make it available and ready to be put to work.

Wishing everyone the best…

With all due respect in these efforts, shouldn't you have some indication of affiliation with Government Agencies, FEMA Contract? Contracts posted from “Power Agencies”, "Communication contracts?" Just going to your site and providing personal information seems like farming unless the viewer sees something that say’s – we have a la’git contract with say ~ #1 FEMA. North Carolina/Georgia, Power and Light. ATT, Sprint etc. Downloadable .pdf?

Would help the viewer to ... trust in the numbers and contracts.

 

[ac0j]

Hurricanes must be the only disaster the government is ok with a sky full of drones over it.
However I do think it would be a good idea

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

With all due respect in these efforts, shouldn't you have some indication of affiliation with Government Agencies, FEMA Contract? Contracts posted from “Power Agencies”, "Communication contracts?" Just going to your site and providing personal information seems like farming unless the viewer sees something that say’s – we have a la’git contract with say ~ #1 FEMA. North Carolina/Georgia, Power and Light. ATT, Sprint etc. Downloadable .pdf?

Would help the viewer to ... trust in the numbers and contracts.

Understood. The work will be for the large telecom companies and likely the power companies. Last year it was T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T. We are finishing up a large contract in TX now for AT&T as well. Some of us flew for FPL last year and some for Duke Energy (after IRMA). We are not trying to simply collect information - but I understand your apprehension.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Note: If you want to fly in NC you need to get this authorization from the state...

UAS Account Creation & Login | Operating a UAS / drone in N.C.

Its a fairly simple test and you print a certificate with your number.

With the storm aimed right at NC it would be a good idea to do this in advance.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Hurricanes must be the only disaster the government is ok with a sky full of drones over it.
However I do think it would be a good idea

Its not a free for all, but we did get special road permits and access permits last year. Some of the work had our pilots riding onboard with the power company truck and only flying to patrol lines that were not viewable from the ground.

 

[ac0j]

Its not a free for all, but we did get special road permits and access permits last year. Some of the work had our pilots riding onboard with the power company truck and only flying to patrol lines that were not viewable from the ground.

Now that makes sense. I dont think many drone pilots would know what to look for on power lines. Aside from broken wire, which would be obvious without a drone. i think its a great idea, but I cant see it being easy what with all the anti drone stuff going around.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Now that makes sense. I dont think many drone pilots would know what to look for on power lines. Aside from broken wire, which would be obvious without a drone. i think its a great idea, but I cant see it being easy what with all the anti drone stuff going around.

Agreed...power lines after IRMA were fairly easy because we rode in the lineman's truck and would fly the line and let the lineman view the screen or have a second monitor to look at. They would tell us if we needed to fly closer to something or give them a better view. We were just the eyes in the sky for the power company employee. I definitely agree the new TFRs that will go into place will make it a little harder for the utilities to get their waivers in place (quickly) - but we flew under a lot fo special and emergency waivers last year.

 

[Jonny_Pain]

Is this for real??

 

[Bob in Savannah]

I'm in Savannah... It's barely missing us. I hope.
God help you folks in the path.
Perfect motivation for me to get certified.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Is this for real??

Affirmative. There is a very large storm that is likely to do a lot of damage somewhere in the Carolinas or maybe Virginia. It is still 2-3 days out so the path is not certain, but it looks to be a substantial storm. Being in FL we are all too familiar with hurricanes and the damage they cause. We had 20+ pilots flying with just a short notice last year and some flew for nearly 6 weeks. Many were done in 2-3 weeks but depending on your assignment it went longer. It is an unfortunate way to be put on a contract and the damage we see is severe. The blessing is when we know we were helpful in restoring utilities and critical infrastructure quicker than without the help of drone pilots.

 

[Tridiver]

This work does require a Part 107 certification. From the looks of it, the impact of the storm could be very substantial we have been told we may be asked to provide up to 50-60 pilots to help in the response. In prior hurricane responses we have worked mostly in critical infrastructure (power and communications).

Do you need good certified pilots that don't have the right equipment??

 

[breid]

Agreed...power lines after IRMA were fairly easy because we rode in the lineman's truck and would fly the line and let the lineman view the screen or have a second monitor to look at. They would tell us if we needed to fly closer to something or give them a better view. We were just the eyes in the sky for the power company employee. I definitely agree the new TFRs that will go into place will make it a little harder for the utilities to get their waivers in place (quickly) - but we flew under a lot fo special and emergency waivers last year.

That's kind of what I was thinking on the power lines. I work for a municipal power company here in Ohio and pretty much know what to look for along the power sector. I have been trying to get the APPA (American Public Power Association) to acknowledge the fact that they need to set up an UAV inspection for their mutual aid program (a program where municipal power systems can request mutual aid from other city's to aid in storm restoration). Hopefully, it will be something that will happen in the future.

I have already signed up for the Florida Drone Supply's pilot network but since I only have a Mavic Pro personally, I have not been accepted due to the 20 MP camera requirement, which I totally understand the reasoning behind it. I do have fly an Inspire 2 for my power company, which they own.

I hope everyone will be safe down there in harm's way, first and foremost. Take care!