An aerial view of earthquake victims gathering in a soccer field in Haiti from an Air Force Global Hawk unmanned aircraft Jan. 14. Aerial images are providing planners valuable situation awareness as they coordinate U.S. military support to the Haiti relief effort. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Contractor UAVs in the Skies Over Haiti (Updated) -- ARES/Aviation Week
Last week, we learned that the U.S. Air Force had diverted a Global Hawk UAV from Afghanistan to Haiti, and that it was flying 14-16 hour orbits to provide thousands of images of the disaster area to both soldiers and civilians on the Southcom Web site. But in a sure sign of the huge role that private contractors will inevitably play in the recovery and reconstruction effort, we have also discovered that a private company has started flying UAVs over Haiti—and is planning on sharing the images the unmanned aircraft takes with the press.