A global leader in engineering, planning and consulting services, Michael Baker International has announced that it has expanded its growing UAS fleet with the purchase of an Altavian Nova fixed-wing UAS.

The company says that the UAS, which can fly up to 90 minutes and cover 600-800 acres in a single flight, will be used to conduct “aerial inspections and mapping of large sites or during inclement weather conditions.”

“With the addition of the Altavian Nova to our expanding UAS fleet, Michael Baker continues to serve as an industry leader, capable of offering our clients unmatched aerial mapping and inspection solutions for a range of project types and environments,” says Robert Hanson, senior vice president and Technology Practice leader at Michael Baker International.

Ideal for capturing large projects thanks to a variety of unique features and capabilities, the Altavian Nova will expand Michael Baker’s mapping operations, as it is combined with the company’s comprehensive fleet of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAS, and “mobile and static Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems for data collection.”

Michael Baker has wasted no time in using its new UAS, as the Altavian Nova has already been used for an “emergency task order” in response to significant flooding on the roads and highways along Pyramid Valley, Nevada.

With the conditions too dangerous for ground crews, the Altavian Nova was put into action, and it was able to capture the entire 15-mile section of damaged highway with excellent detail.

“We used our findings from the NevadaDOT project in Nome, Alaska, where a Michael Baker team used the Altavian to map sections of a 34-mile highway that was being washed out yearly by thaw,” says Kevin Pomaski, chief UAS pilot at Michael Baker International.

“For both clients and projects, Michael Baker relied on the extended range, durability and precision mapping of the Altavian Nova to deliver unmatched solutions for clients.”

Made in the United States, the Altavian Nova UAS is approved by the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for use on USACE or U.S. Army installations.

The UAS features the “most advanced DSLR-based photogrammetric mapping payloads available on the market,” it has multispectral capabilities, and it transmits data without line of sight using GPS and IS technologies.

The UAS can also identify vegetation and natural resources, thanks to its remote sensing capabilities and color infrared technology.