04/24/2025
24 April 2025
Shgagwéi (Skagway, AK)
The winters of 14/15 and 15/16 I was employed by Alaska DOT&PF as an avalanche forecaster/equipment operator for the Thane Road in Juneau and the Klondike Highway out of Skagway. One project I worked on was getting the Avalauncher back in action after a serious accident in Colorado in 2014 prompted many programs to cease using them without proper blast protection ( https://www.codot.gov/news/2014-news-releases/03-2014/workers-injured-during-avalanche-mitigation ). DJI was up to their Phantom 3 at that point and the Phantom 4 was being released. I was experimenting with the P3 and at that time we were thinking use it for scouting, and slide and terrain inspection. I used it to aid in refining shot coordinates for the Avalauncher by inspecting impact locations with the drone. I connected with an outfit at the time called Mountain Drones out of Telluride who wanted to deploy explosives from drones for avalanche hazard reduction. I thought the Klondike had great terrain layout and path size that would lend itself well to testing with the generation of drone tech at the time. Life took me away from my DOT position to Unalaska / Dutch Harbor that summer 2016 and I didn't get to continue on the R&D.
Fast forward to a few years ago and Alaska DOT&PF kept forging ahead on the concept. Plenty of boxes to check with FAA approvals, design, testing, re-design, more testing, more approvals and on and on. It is still in R&D but a ton of progress has been made by their team and contractors and they have moved into live testing. A handful of links below showcasing the effort.
Congrats to the team! Look forward to following the progress.
-----------------------------------
February 12, 2024
https://droneamplified.com/announcing-drone-avalanche-mitigation/
November 21, 2024 from Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities
https://vimeo.com/1032116779
November 25, 2024
https://dot.alaska.gov/comm/pressbox/arch2024/PR24-0036.shtml
April 22, 2025 from Alaska Avalanche Specialists/Alaska Windjammer Kites
https://www.facebook.com/akavalanches/posts/pfbid0CFeMaJzjMMr1qSAREK7djH47ZYZa8i1VgssBU2g9jtjJhfi6TJcWAv61knqYsPQZl
