I continue to be impressed by the possibilities of forensic aerial photographs taken from drones of the locations of engineering failures and accidents. Most recently when I learned that I could fly as “crew” on a drone and take the photographs myself.
I’ve used Robert Guertin of Atlantic Camera Man Ltd. in the past to take aerial photographs of sites that I’m investigating. Robert flew the drone and took the photographs as I directed from a distance off to the side. There’s a risk with this technique, however, of something being lost in explaining the photographs wanted.
Robert told me recently that he now has a drone that allows me to seem to fly as crew on the drone and take photographs when we’re aloft. He demonstrated this last Saturday morning. He flew the drone and I operated the camera from a station nearby.
I took standard orientation-type photographs from the four points of the compass from a distance and also up close. Then I took video as the drone slowly descended from an altitude of 385 feet to 8.5 feet – note the precision in the altitude – stopping just above a duck on a rock in a pond. We didn’t want to spook the little fella with the whirling sound of the drone’s rotors as he preened.
The drone is held so steady by GPS on board that the only way you could know it was video was the moving traffic on a nearby road. Resolution was good enough to see the different coloured feathers on the duck’s back.
There’s no question I’ll use this drone and take the photography myself on my next forensic site investigation. It’ll be remiss of me not to.
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Drones are being used increasingly and in diverse industries. The Globe and Mail reported a week ago on the following industries in decreasing order of potential drone-powered solutions, and a couple of years ago in a more descriptive way: (Refs 1, 2)
- Infrastructure $45.2B
- Agriculture $32.4B
- Transport $13B
- Security $10.5B
- Media/Entertainment $8.8B
- Insurance $6.8B
- Telecom $6.3B
- Mining $4.3B
Forensic drone photography is likely to be used most often in the infrastructure and insurance industries. Areas where engineering failures and personal injury accidents occur. But drone photography is getting increased use in all stages of engineering: Planning, design, construction, inspection, and maintenance of structures.
As well, traffic accident sites in the built environment. Yesterday I attended a meeting of CATAIR in Moncton. (Ref. 3) I learned that at least one traffic accident reconstructionist has a drone and is taking aerial photographs of traffic accidents.
There’s a good review in the article Drones and Engineering by Bill Corbett in the June/July issue of Canadian Consulting Engineer. (Ref. 4)
Not to be outdone by activity on shore, oceanographers at Dalhousie University are using drones to “fish” with – to locate and track the rare North Atlantic right whale off the Atlantic coast. (Ref. 5) I learned a couple of years ago that drone pilots have no hesitation flying over water, these flying machines are that well developed and reliable.
I saw it again last Saturday when Robert demonstrated how I could photograph a site myself from his drone, and over water if I want such a shot – see the preening duck above.
I will have no hesitation about flying as “crew” the next time I personally take aerial photographs and video from a drone during a forensic engineering investigation. You must ensure your expert examines your site this way – many cases lend themselves to this forensic photographic technique.
References
- The Globe and Mail, Send in the Drones, Saturday, September 24, 2016, Report on Business Weekend, page B6
- The Globe and Mail, Rise of the Drones, Monday, April 7, 2014, Report on Business, page B1
- Canadian Association of Technical Accident Investigators & Reconstructionists (CATAIR)
- Canadian Consulting Engineer, Drones and Engineering, June/July 2016 page 23
- The Chronicle Herald, Right Whales: Elusive Habitat May Be Found, Thursday, September 29 2016, page A5