The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently granted a waiver to State Farm to allow the insurer the ability to inspect damage caused by Hurricane Florence.
The approval, received just last week, allows State Farm to operate drones on longer range flights and above people – something it could not do operating under Part 107 rules.
“That requirement through the small UAS rules, to maintain the vehicle within line of sight, that can limit how far we can fly and it limits some of the opportunities for us to fully utilize the technology,” Todd Binion, P&C claims staff consultant for State Farm explained. “The other limitation…that creates challenges is the prohibition of flying over people.”
He said that limitation can be problematic during times of disasters when recovery efforts are underway.
The insurer has been testing drone flights since 2012 and currently uses UAVs for single roof inspections.
For about a year, State Farm has partnered with Virginia Tech and the Mid-Atlant..
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