Flying drones within airports is a very dangerous idea, and it is easy to understand why. A drone flying within restricted airspace could distract pilots, and if a drone is sucked into an aircraft's engine, it could cause the engine to stop, endangering the lives of passengers.
A report from March last year revealed that the number of incidents of drones illegally being flown into airports was increasing. A pair of such incidents, one in the Los Angeles International Airport and the other in London's Heathrow Airport, are examples of how drones can affect airport operations in the interest of public safety.
This is why the sight of drones flying over the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta is a unique sight, and even more notable is that fact that the drone operations are legal.
FAA Grants Permit For Drones At Hartsfield-Jackson
The Federal Aviation Administration, for the first time ever under its commercial drone rules, has granted a permit for drone flights to a class B airspace. The airspace covers Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, known as the world's busiest airport with more than 100 million passengers passing through per year.
The group that was given the permit is 3D Robotics, a company based in Berkeley, California. Its drones were allowed to collect data on a pair of four-story parking structures located at the airport that a construction company has been tasked to demolish.
A work plan was needed for the demolition of the structures, and the only alternative to using drones was utilizing a full-size aircraft for the data collection procedure. However, doing so would cause interruptions in the airport's operations, which could potentially set off a chain reaction of delays that would affect passengers and flights not just at Hartsfield-Jackson, but across the whole United States
The Partnership Between Atlanta And 3D Robotics
To avoid causing such delays, it was decided that the data collection procedure would utilize the autonomous data capturing technology of 3D Robotics. Known as Site Scan, it allows drones to capture both 3D point scans and 2D mosaics, while being able to stay away from the runways of Hartsfield-Jackson.
Regulators from the FAA were convinced that it would be safe for the drones of 3D Robotics to map the parking structures due to the Site Scan technology. However, drone operators were still required to maintain constant communications with the airport's traffic control and follow any orders that would be given to them.
Drone Technology Applications Continue To Expand
With the usage of drones, the task was completed only in a few hours. In comparison, it would have taken days to finish the job if a small team was deployed instead.
The data that was collected by the drones will assist in the plan for the demolition of the two parking structures, along with the design of the replacement facilities that will be constructed.
In addition, after it received permission from the FAA for the task, 3D Robotics hopes that other commercial drone companies will be able to push forward with even more applications of drone technology across various industries.
