Wake Forest Fire Department UAS Flight Debrief Date: 4-6–2018 Flight Time: 20 Minutes Mission Goals: Provide information to assist firefighting operations and evaluate the thermal activity of outside fire. What Went Well: The following items were conducted without incident: Communicated with News Chopper 11 over the incident and coordinated block operating altitudes to deconflict airspace. … Read more
WFFD UAS Flight Debrief Date: 2-22-2018 Flight Time: 60 Minutes Lessons Learned: Chief Ed Barrett accompanied Chief Pilot Steve Rhode to Hoffman, NC for a controlled burn of 250 acres. The purpose of the exercise and training was to evaluate how the drone handled different parts of a wildfire. NC Wildlife Resource Commission teams began … Read more
We all learn best from experience so here is another in my series of comprehensive flight debriefs. You can see all the past debriefs here. WFFD UAS Flight Debrief Date: 4-3–2018 Incident: #[ ] Location: [ ] Flight Time: 30 Minutes Mission Goals: Provide information to assist firefighting operations. What Went Well: The following items … Read more
This is another flight debrief to help new pilots see what really happens on the front lines of public safety flying. This at least a representation of the self-critical look I take at my own performance after each flight to see what I can learn from the experience. WFFD UAS Flight Debrief Date: 3-31-2018 Incident: … Read more
Here is another in my ongoing sharing of flight debriefs to help other public safety pilots learn from my experiences. Date: 3-27-2018 Incident: #[] Location: [] Flight Time: 50 Minutes Mission Goals To monitor the scene and evaluate temperature conditions of the roof with fire located in the area above the ceiling. The video of … Read more
In my continuing effort to share drone flights with lessons learned here is a recent incident where things unfolded very rapidly. Flight emergencies never happen at the best times. You always need to be prepared for an unexpected event. I just published Expecting Trouble is a Safe Way to Fly. Ironically I had written that … Read more
As a public safety rescue pilot with the Wake Forest Fire Department, I’m here to tell you there is no substitute for preparing for something unexpected to happen while you are in the air. Let me share some of my scares with you. Every day I fly a very expensive DJI Matrice 210 with thermal … Read more
A big thank you to the Wake Forest Fire Department who I’m with for their willingness to allow me to share some of our flight debriefs for educational purposes. Incident: Missing Person 2-15-2018 Narrative: At 1823 I received a call from the Wake Forest Police Department for a request for service in conjunction with the … Read more
Around 3:30 on 1-29-2018 Wake Forest Fire Department drone was requested to participate in the search for a missing Rocky Mount resident, Stephen Miller (70) who was last seen two days prior on Saturday according to the WRAL online story. Chief Ed Barrett and drone pilot Steve Rhode arrived in Rocky Mount at approximately 4:40 … Read more