The South Dakota Wing was praised for the quality of its drone photography after responding to a call for aerial imaging following deadly tornados in neighboring Iowa, where the Iowa Wing requested support from the South Dakota drone team.
The mission was conducted to collect aerial photography to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency with damage assessment.
Civil Air Patrol aircraft had already documented the scene extensively, but FEMA also wanted orthographic photographs taken with cameras pointed straight down with parallel lines to allow measurement and analysis. The South Dakota Wing’s large fixed-wing Wingtra photography drone is ideal for such photography.
By the time the wing’ small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) team arrived, FEMA determined it already had sufficient photo documentation of the damage. But the agency suggested the team perform Wingtra flights in a nearby area not directly affected by the tornado.
A FEMA official said the results were the best UAS imagery the agency had ever seen from Civil Air Patrol, yielding a resolution of less than an inch per photo pixel.
“A lot of people are familiar with the little quadcopter consumer drones, but the Wingtra is several levels above them in terms of capability and quality,” said Col. Michael Marek, wing commander.
“The South Dakota Wing has been a leader in the developing CAP unmanned aerial systems from the beginning, performing the first mission anywhere in CAP to use a drone on a search and rescue mission.”
The UAS team consisted of Col. Mike Beason, Lt. Col. Howard Steiner, and Maj. Tim Modde.
