Long time reader, (about a year), and new member after procrastinating for quite a while.
I work as a Public Safety Officer/Dispatcher (security) for a hospital system in Baton Rouge, La.
Last year our new Director of Public Safety decided to begin a sUAS program. Since I'm pretty much the resident Ham Radio operator, Scanner monitor and overall geek in the Department I was picked to be the person to start off the new program. I was enrolled in a local 3 day class to go over the Part 107 knowledge requirements so I could pass the test as well as get some hands on flying. I did quite a bit of self study, watching some great YouTube videos and going over the FAA study guide. Also, my ham radio club has several general aviation pilots and CAP members so I am already familiar with some of the basic knowledge as well as regularly monitor air traffic on my scanners and ADS-S tx on a SDR dongle. So I went into the class pretty well prepared.
The one thing which I was really new to was actually flying since I had never owned a sUAS. My instructor had me operating his Inspire 1 doing simple maneuvers to get comfortable with the controls.
After finishing the class I took my Part 107 exam, scored well and decided to purchase a Phantom 3 Standard for personal use and to become more familiar and comfortable with flying. My Director ordered a Phantom 4 Pro Plus Falcon kit from Drone World.
Our P4P+, BRGH Air One, is used for routine patrols of our hospital properties and surrounding areas, to look for policy violations and safety or security concerns and to assist with monitoring regular activity or special events. One recent example is when I was flying routine property patrols and spotted a vagrant who had been told earlier to leave our property after we had gotten complaints that he was panhandling. I radioed a couple of our bike patrol officers to make contact and move him along.
That is just one example of our sUAV being used to provide overwatch. Most of the time we are find small stuff like people smoking in our parking lots (our hospital properties are supposed to be Smoke Free) or hanging out in their vehicles but occasionally we will spot someone acting suspicious or loitering in areas they clearly have no business being. This video gives you and idea of what we are doing with it.
I am glad to finally have created an account here and hope to participate in many of the discussions. I have learned a lot from just reading and think I may be able to add to the knowledge base here on the forum.
Steve aka Cellblock776
I work as a Public Safety Officer/Dispatcher (security) for a hospital system in Baton Rouge, La.
Last year our new Director of Public Safety decided to begin a sUAS program. Since I'm pretty much the resident Ham Radio operator, Scanner monitor and overall geek in the Department I was picked to be the person to start off the new program. I was enrolled in a local 3 day class to go over the Part 107 knowledge requirements so I could pass the test as well as get some hands on flying. I did quite a bit of self study, watching some great YouTube videos and going over the FAA study guide. Also, my ham radio club has several general aviation pilots and CAP members so I am already familiar with some of the basic knowledge as well as regularly monitor air traffic on my scanners and ADS-S tx on a SDR dongle. So I went into the class pretty well prepared.
The one thing which I was really new to was actually flying since I had never owned a sUAS. My instructor had me operating his Inspire 1 doing simple maneuvers to get comfortable with the controls.
After finishing the class I took my Part 107 exam, scored well and decided to purchase a Phantom 3 Standard for personal use and to become more familiar and comfortable with flying. My Director ordered a Phantom 4 Pro Plus Falcon kit from Drone World.
Our P4P+, BRGH Air One, is used for routine patrols of our hospital properties and surrounding areas, to look for policy violations and safety or security concerns and to assist with monitoring regular activity or special events. One recent example is when I was flying routine property patrols and spotted a vagrant who had been told earlier to leave our property after we had gotten complaints that he was panhandling. I radioed a couple of our bike patrol officers to make contact and move him along.
That is just one example of our sUAV being used to provide overwatch. Most of the time we are find small stuff like people smoking in our parking lots (our hospital properties are supposed to be Smoke Free) or hanging out in their vehicles but occasionally we will spot someone acting suspicious or loitering in areas they clearly have no business being. This video gives you and idea of what we are doing with it.
I am glad to finally have created an account here and hope to participate in many of the discussions. I have learned a lot from just reading and think I may be able to add to the knowledge base here on the forum.
Steve aka Cellblock776
Last edited:
