DELHI - After years of discussion, Delaware County’s drone program may finally be gaining altitude. At a March 18 planning committee meeting, Planning Director Shelly Johnson-Bennett outlined recent progress in organizing the county’s drone operations, breaking through bureaucratic barriers, and expanding pilot training.
“I’m hopeful that they’ll be able to start right after Memorial Day,” Johnson-Bennett said. A recent meeting of the county’s 13 drone pilots on March 12 helped clarify training requirements, particularly distinguishing between emergency flights—handled primarily by EMS and the sheriff’s office—and standard flights conducted by planning staff for projects like flood assessment and land mapping.
EMS staffer Mark Rossley and planning department staff member Josh Roe have the most training hours—both well over 400 hours of flight time, Johnson-Bennett said; “So they’re pretty competent.”
Emergency vs. Routine Flights
A key hurdle in structuring the program has been differentiating between emergency and routine drone flights, which impact personnel policies and overtime rules. “When EMS and the sheriff’s office are flying, it’s probably under an emergency situation,” Johnson-Bennett explained. “When my staff flies for a design project or to look at ice jams, we do that during regular office hours.”
Sheriff’s deputies now have five trained pilots, ensuring someone is always on call for search and rescue operations, she continued. Meanwhile, the county is working to expand its fleet with smaller, more affordable drones.
“The smaller drones are about $1,500 versus the $40,000 ones,” Johnson-Bennett said. “And they’re really just a camera and a little infrared—it makes them easier to deploy and cheaper to replace.”
In 2022, the planning department purchased a new drone to replace one that was crashed by pilots from the probation department during a training exercise. The total cost for the drone, including LiDAR and additional cameras, was $45,198.25. After an insurance reimbursement, the county’s out-of-pocket expense for the replacement was $20,494.25
Drones in Action
Beyond emergency response, county departments are increasingly recognizing the value of aerial data. “The more people use the drone, the more benefit they’re seeing,” Johnson-Bennett noted. “It really does give you that bird’s-eye view that makes a huge difference in decision-making.”
One of the county’s drone pilots, GIS Analyst Josh Roe, has been using LiDAR technology for mapping projects, including parks, city land, and even historic sites.
“He’s going to fly the poorhouse cemetery again, just so that we can put the pin map we need before to it so we can set the stones. He’s gonna fly that probably next week. So we do have a lot of uses for the drone,” she said.
To streamline record-keeping, drone flights are now logged more efficiently. “Before, they sent in 20 at a time, and you had to dedicate an entire day to updating the logs. Now, they’re sending them regularly,” she said, which allows data to be updated in about an hour each week.
With clearer policies, better coordination, and increased demand, the county’s drone program is finally moving forward. “We’re finding our way through,” Johnson-Bennett said. “And I think we’ve found a really good path to making this work for everybody.”
