DECEMBER 22, 2022 – Civil Engineer, Heng-Wei (David) Tsai, started his career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District in January 2017. He spent the first two years working in Engineering and Construction Division’s Hydraulics Branch before moving on to a position in the Geotechnical Investigations and Materials Section where he now also serves as a technical lead for the District’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program.
Tsai’s journey to becoming an engineer, and a USACE employee, began in Taipei, Taiwan, where he lived for much of his youth. His father, who had graduated from the University of Iowa, was a firm believer that the United States, and specifically Iowa, had the best opportunities for higher education.
As a result, Tsai traveled to the U.S. during his junior year of high school with his mother and went on to enroll in his father’s alma mater where he earned a master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Tsai’s experience with UAS, more commonly referred to as drones, dates back to 2016 when he was developing his master’s dissertation on snow fences. He used drones throughout his studies to gather data and measure the effectiveness of fence variables without causing disturbance to the snow.
Skills he gained during these tests proved to be valuable when the Rock Island District became one of the first USACE Districts to start a UAS Program.
“I was excited to be given the opportunity to play an integral part in designing the UAS Program from the ground up,” said Tsai. “I was able to present the Program to the District, Division and Headquarters levels to assist other Army branches of service to develop their own UAS programs and our UAS Program has now been used to support many enterprise-level aviation projects that I’m proud of.”
Through training provided by the District, Tsai is currently licensed as a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 and USACE certified remote pilot and remote pilot instructor. Being the UAS technical lead for the Rock Island District, he has more than 100 flights and has covered more than 3,000 acres within the District’s jurisdiction.
“As a UAS subject matter expert, I really enjoy researching, utilizing, developing and distributing standard operating procedures, professional standards and guidance, project scope of work, scheduling and budgeting to enhance the Rock Island District’s capability,” he said.
In the fall, Tsai got the chance to take his UAS skills to a new level when he deployed to the Emergency Field Office in Sarasota, Florida. The mission was to support FEMA and the state of Florida in Hurricane Ian recovery efforts including the temporary blue roof, infrastructure assessments and debris cleanup.
For the blue roof mission, the UAS team captured 23,000 acres of storm damaged areas which were not captured by manned aircraft or assessment teams on the ground.
The team also went to Sanibel Island and Fort Meyers Beach where they conducted infrastructure assessments. Because of the significant amount of damage and debris in many areas, it was difficult to visually see or was unsafe to personally assess. For the first time, UAS was used to fly in between the structures to assess damages and collect the needed data.
It was also the first time that USACE Aviation deployed fleets of different types of UAS to map, inspect and survey such a large area for hurricane response. In the past, this technology had been used to do a pop-up check in an area of need but not to survey a large area. These new methods saved a significant amount of time and data could easily be transferred to those who needed it in various areas.
“I was extremely grateful to be nominated to be the USACE enterprise-level aviation subject matter expert and fortunate to work and lead teams of talented and professional USACE Aviation Cadre team members to support Hurricane Ian Recovery,” said Tsai.
The team successfully flew fixed-wing aircrafts and multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles in support of the mission. Tsai said the most important duty during his deployment was to provide a safe flying environment for the team so they could collect data to support the mission and help the community. Multiple agencies and broadcast news companies were flying UAS during recovery and Tsai coordinated all flights with the FEMA Air Space Manager and FAA facility in controlled air space to reduce risks in the response area.
This pioneering technology will be used and applied in the future for emergency response efforts such as post hurricane devastation, wildfires, tornadoes, flood fight, and much more. It could be used by USACE and other emergency response organizations to further improve damage assessment, provide more timely response and create better response plans.
Story by Kelcy Hanson
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District