The FAA has made a move to enable the use of drones for bridge inspections in North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NC DOT) has received a statewide wiaver to fly Skydio’s enterprise drones beyond visual line of sight of the operator (BVLOS) to perform bridge inspections.
It’s a significant advance in time and safety for North Carolina’s inspectors, who must inspect 13,500 bridges annually – and for North Carolina taxpayers. Bridge inspections have traditionally been completed by inspectors using rappels, or expensive snooper trucks capable of traveling in water. “A recent study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) found that taxpayer cost per bridge inspection can be reduced by 75% by switching from traditional methods to drones, while saving up to $14,600 per inspection in social disruption cost,” says a Skydio press release.
The waiver marks an industry first. The waiver provides for BVLOS flight without having to daisy chain visual observers or to use ground-based radar systems in order to track potential obstacles – both of which would be nearly impossible to achieve while using drones for bridge inspections. “Achieved in partnership with Skydio, this waiver marks a new era in unmanned flight by breaking barriers that have traditionally imposed costs and limited the efficacy of drones,” says the press release. “On the strength of the safety case that Skydio developed with NCDOT, the FAA has enabled NCDOT to conduct BVLOS activities without the use of visual observers or expensive technology designed to detect manned aircraft.”
Skydio drones use advanced autonomy to avoid obstacles. “NCDOT will conduct these path breaking operations using Skydio Autonomy, the world’s most advanced AI-based autonomous flight engine, which enables any Skydio drone to safely navigate in any environment, including areas without GPS, using 360° obstacle avoidance,” says the press release.
“Drones are a fantastic new tool for our Bridge Inspection Units,” said North Carolina Secretary of Transportation, Eric Boyette. “Safety is our top priority at NCDOT, and this new system helps improve the safety of not only our bridges and other infrastructure, but of our inspectors as well.
“This is a game-changing achievement that we are thrilled to celebrate alongside NCDOT” said Adam Bry, CEO of Skydio. “Skydio’s technology takes the pressure off of pilots, who are now able to gain tremendous confidence by relying on our industry leading obstacle avoidance capability powered by revolutionary AI algorithms. Skydio Autonomy is critical as we partner in executing this new class of permitted operations to make infrastructure inspection faster, less socially intrusive, and safer.”
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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