North Carolina City Using Drones to Help With Search and Rescue

April 21—CAROVA BEACH, N.C.—The fire-engine-red helicopter drone whirred up to about 70 feet, level with an osprey nest atop the communications tower.

A pair of birds stared suspiciously at the plastic aircraft's camera.

Currituck County paramedic and firefighter David Messina stood on the ground turning the Nighthawk in every direction, displaying on his video screen a view of the Atlantic Ocean, rooftops amid the maritime forest and the Currituck Sound.

The Carova Beach Volunteer Fire Department might be one of the only public safety agencies in North Carolina using a drone as the Federal Aviation Administration develops rules for the rapidly growing industry.

That came as news to Kyle Snyder, director of NextGen Air Transportation on the North Carolina State University campus. He said his center is the only organization in the state with a certificate of authorization from the FAA to fly unmanned aircraft. NextGen is a national program with a mission to upgrade air traffic control, largely through satellite technology, according to the FAA website.

The FAA has not issued Carova Beach a permit, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said. But Jeff Gearhart, a firefighter, said his department received verbal clearance from the FAA to fly because of the remote area, the department's limited mission and the small size of the aircraft. And it has applied for certification, he said.

"We're going to continue to fly until we're told not to by an FAA rep," he said.

Carova Beach lies behind the dunes north of Corolla and the end of N.C. 12 where the pavement stops. Wild horses roam through the yards of grand houses on the oceanfront and modest homes near the sound.

About 500 people live there year-round, but Carova Beach and other small communities in Currituck County's northern Outer Banks swell to roughly 8,000 on a summer day. Fire and rescue trucks maneuver through winding sandy roads with pond-size potholes. Volunteers respond to 50 to 100 calls a month ranging from heart attacks and drownings to fish-hook removals.

Gearhart realized last year that an unmanned aircraft would be ideal in a place where fires and people are hard to find and reach.

The Nighthawk with infrared capability costs about $8,500, depending on options, according to the website of the manufacturer, DSLR Pros. An infrared camera could be added to the Carova Beach machine. The department raised money through T-shirt and cap sales and donations pitched into a fireman's boot, Gearhart said.

The unmanned aircraft can reach an altitude of 400 feet and travel nearly a mile to locate a smoke source, or cruise over the landscape to find a lost kayaker.

"We put it in hover and just look," said Messina, a licensed pilot who was trained to fly the Nighthawk. "Once it is up in the air, we can see everything."

Messina flies the battery-powered machine from a hand-held control. The bird has four rotor arms—each about 6 inches long—that extend from the red plastic body. GPS can automatically return it to the station.

The 2-pound drone has already proven itself, Assistant Chief Donnie Tadlock said. A plume of smoke billowed from the west last month. Instead of running trucks through the community, the team launched the drone from a helicopter pad next to the station on Ocean Pearl Road. It turned out a marsh was burning harmlessly.

"We went up in the air, and in two minutes, we found it," Tadlock said. The miniature helicopter, he added, requires advanced flying skills.

"This is a tool," he said. "Not a toy."

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