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Adding UAS to Your Helicopter Operation


For the right mission, drones are a low-cost, safe, effective choice.


By David Hughes T 40 ROTOR SEPTEMBER 2021


HE FAA RECEIVED ITS FIRST APPLICATION for a commercial unmanned aircraft system (UAS, or drone) in 2006. Fifteen years later, there are nearly 350,000 commercial drones registered with the agency.


Even as the still-developing UAS industry deals with


regulatory challenges and battery-imposed limits on payload and flight time, drones are flying many missions formerly handled by helicopters. To compete, helicopter operators must decide whether to add drones to their operations. Earlier this year, HAI held a webinar, “Why You Might (Should) Have Drones in Your Future,” featuring a half dozen helicopter operators and drone specialists reflecting on their lessons learned when adding UAS to their helicopter operations. James Viola, president and CEO of HAI, kicked off the


program, saying, “It makes sense for helicopter operators to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into their businesses. It is going to make those businesses even more versatile and can even save them and their customers money.”


The Tipping Point “Te decision to integrate UASs—not replace helicopters completely but integrate them into operations—that decision is here today,” said Scott Burgess during the webinar. Burgess is an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) and chief of operations in the Department of Flight at ERAU’s Worldwide Campus. “Te proliferation of drones into the aviation industry has


really been on the uptake in the last few years,” Burgess said. “It’s amazing to see the number of commercial operations where drones are utilized. Drones or remotely piloted aircraft will continue to creep into traditional helicopter mission sets.”


While battery capacity limits payloads and flight times,


many missions that focus on acquiring data, such as pho- tography, surveillance, inspection, and mapping, are seeing an increasing use of drones. However, HAI is concerned that helicopter operators


aren’t showing much enthusiasm for drones. More than 60% of respondents to a recent survey of helicopter operators


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