Hello all, we down here in South Florida have survived Irma though some better than others I keep watching the local news about recovery efforts and Search and Rescue. I have left a link to a local news station who deployed a drone to "show" some areas in the keys.... http://www.nbcmiami.com/multimed ... eles-444500933.html

Now I thought, with drones being such a "bad" thing to the public eye, wouldn't this time be a great time to contact local drone groups ( maybe the FAA registered pilots) to go and fly their personal drones and help aide the local authorities? I myself will be going as far south as conditions allow me to offer my MP for any type of search and rescue, and advocate that the drone community is willing to offer help. What do you guys think, good idea or bad idea?

That would be a great idea!!! I would be love to be part of that. Im in Miami and willing to travel down to the keys to offer my drone services as a hobbyist  and also maybe bring some supplies, food and water for the people in need. Let me know if an opportunity like this pops up!

Thank you both for your concerns in wanting to help the good people of South Florida. Always best to work with local authorities.  Perhaps in the future, drones will be more employed to fly over flood waters as such.

If I were you, I would definitely first check with the authorities to make sure that it is indeed helpful to fly a private drone around in a disaster area, even if your intentions are noble.

At my day job, one of our clients had our sUAS pilots on alert to help with infrastructure damage assessment.  Fortunately for our client, the hurricane didn't go where models originally predicted, so we weren't called up.  Yet another example of how industry is rapidly recognizing varied uses of UAVs.

Good initiative.
I am not sure if a drone is needed, but you can always check!

I also think it would be great if a UAV could do a help for search and rescue etc. It could reduce the risk factors to some extent. I think you can contact local authorities to see if it could be a cooperation. Hope things are going well in your area.