CUD Employee Earns FAA Certification As Drone Pilot Brett McArdle | Communications Officer Consolidated Utility District
T
he work is part Indiana Jones, part mapmaking, and part drone flights — all in service of water quality. In addition to that, Pam Sykes, a GIS Analyst (geographic information system) with Consolidated Utility District since 2015, now holds certification with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“I found out about the FAA training through my supervisor, Bethany Hall, who has a drone license already,” said Sykes. “We wanted to expand our program, and she showed me the drone school she used. The course takes about 10 hours, and it’s selfpaced. The school is based out of Nashville. I took the course, watched the videos, and went through the practice test. The real test runs about two hours.” With this certification, Consolidated Utility District now employs two FAA-licensed drone pilots – which enables the utility to perform more aerial mapping work than ever. Using video and images from these flights, CUD can more easily perform inspections of new and existing infrastructure. “Right now, we want to map our water storage tanks,” said Sykes. “We have about five tanks left, and we can also fly over the water treatment plant. Plus, we can map our new and existing STEP system fields and our pumping stations.”
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Pictured: Pam Sykes, CUD's newly FAA-licensed drone pilot.
TENNESSEE UTILITY NEWS | www.taud.org
