Challenge

After over 70 years of continuous use, Westchester County Airport was ready to repave its main runway 34/16 with $21 million of funding from the federal government. The County's original plan was to tear up and repave this runway each night (weather permitting) over four to six months. The dramatic reduction in air traffic due to the COVID virus opened a small window of two weeks to complete this entire paving project working around the clock. This new plan by the County would require the airport to shutdown for several days--an unprecedented event. CityDroneZ obtained the necessary authorization from the FAA to operate drones over an airport to conduct the proposed inspection of this 700-acre property.

Approach

Capturing precise data for the new runway was a complex data capture mission. It meant inspecting the whole 700-acre airport after placing Ground Control Points (GCPs) and identifying existing objects on the ground to geo-rectify the data. The mission included inspecting the other runway and many taxiways, 20 hangars, and the main commercial airline passenger terminal. CityDroneZ first obtained permission from Westchester County to conduct the operation, subject to the approval of Avports (the third-party airport operator) and the FAA. CityDroneZ had to move fast. On the first day, CityDroneZ laid out over 70 ground targets. This array of targets ensured the geo-accuracy of the data capture. On the second day, CityDroneZ flew two drones over the entire airport. ESRI, the world's leading geographic information science software company, reviewed the data captured by CityDroneZ. CityDroneZ delivered this data using our data logistics DigiPort, CityDroneZ delivered this data to all parties, including Westchester County and AvPorts.