Flying Blind: The Untold Story of Public Safety's First Beyond Visual Line of Sight Waiver

Episode notes

In this feature-packed episode of DroneCast, host Joe Kearns interviews Brandon Karr, an internationally recognized expert in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for public safety. With a background in aviation dating back to 2006 and extensive experience in law enforcement, Brandon served as the chief pilot and UAS integrations coordinator for the Pearland Police Department. He was instrumental in launching one of the nation’s first Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs and successfully secured the first-ever FAA Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) waiver for public safety use. As co-founder of the Unmanned Tactical Group, Brandon has helped over 600 agencies across the United States build and strengthen their drone programs. He is also an active committee member for Drone Responders and the Law Enforcement Drone Association (LEDA) and a frequent speaker at major UAS and public safety conferences. This episode explores the evolution of DFR programs and the strategies needed to turn them from concept into reality.