Drones illuminate the sky for local law enforcement IT IS RIDICULOUSLY DARK IN RURAL ALABAMA AFTER SUNSET AND BEFORE MOONRISE. The county roads are thickly lined with trees, the eyes of creatures flashing in the headlights. Life here before GPS seems almost unimaginable; turnoffs emerge faintly in the darkness and, in this hilly county, the road rises almost like a mountain wall. At the top of a hill a farmhouse sits in an undulating field of brush and long grass. Several emergency services vehicles are parked along the drive and a brush fire flickers down by the creek. The whirl of small plastic blades cuts over the buzzing of mosquitos and other insects, and hopefully not a rattlesnake-a Blount County EMS employee has fired up a DJI infrared and zoom-equipped unmanned aircraft system. The drone is looking for the source of the fire. B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R P H OT O G R A P H Y B Y C H R I S R O S E www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 59http://www.aopa.org/pilot