Cherry Capital Airport and Coast Guard plan drone rescue tests

At Camp Grayling later this summer, Cherry Capital Airport will work with the U.S. Coast Guard on a weeklong drone test. The plan was presented at the Northwest Regional Airport Authority meeting on June 23, and the work will be coordinated so it does not interfere with normal aircraft operations at Traverse City’s airport.

The test is designed to help get aid to stranded boaters, missing swimmers or people in remote areas faster than a helicopter alone can do it. Kevin Klein said the technology could give public safety crews a stronger tool than relying only on helicopters and longer visual searches, with drones able to identify a person’s exact location, alert the aircraft crew and shorten the rescue timeline.

Coast Guard Air Station Commanding Officer Ryan Hawn said the service intends to be transparent because residents have raised privacy concerns about drones. The Northwest Regional Airport Authority runs Cherry Capital Airport and holds regular meetings at the airport terminal where those concerns can be raised before testing begins.

Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, on the southern end of Grand Traverse Bay, was commissioned in 1945 as a one-plane Great Lakes search-and-rescue detachment. Coast Guard Sector Northern Great Lakes is responsible for search and rescue, law enforcement, aids to navigation, marine safety and homeland security across Lake Superior and the northern parts of Lakes Michigan and Huron. The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes District’s mission spans all five Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, 6,700 miles of shoreline and 1,500 miles of border with Canada.

Camp Grayling was designated in February as a national drone testing location, and a June federal competition there drew 49 companies and about 79 drones. Cherry Capital Airport’s own history includes service as a World War II training facility and later as a Coast Guard facility before returning to civil aviation.