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Aeryon Labs Inc. has announced that the Aeryon SkyRanger small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) has been deployed to aid in the search for missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham.
The Albemarle County Police Department was granted an emergency Certificate of Authorization (COA) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). John Coggin, chief engineer of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech, was asked to oversee the flight missions with the university’s Aeryon SkyRanger in order to collect real-time aerial imagery of the hard-to-reach, forested search area.
“The addition of the high quality images from the Aeryon SkyRanger are invaluable to this search and rescue mission.” states Coggin, “We hope that the efforts of everyone involved can be brought to conclusion soon.”
The Aeryon SkyRanger is the first sUAS to be used by a police agency in the state of Virginia. The small size, robust flight characteristics and high performance imaging capabilities of Aeryon sUAS have enabled authorities to extend their search activities into terrain that other search and rescue technologies have not been able to reach, including manned helicopters.
Aeryon Labs’ president and CEO, Dave Kroetsch commented, “We are honoured that SkyRanger has been selected by the Albemarle County Police Department for this critical and urgent search. Our thoughts and prayers are with Hannah Graham and her family for her safe and prompt return.”
The Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership is headquartered within the Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Science at Virginia Tech. Its test range comprises air space in Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland.
