Drones get to fly at night

A Michiana company is now able to fly its drones at night thanks to an FAA waiver and this could help first responders.

Monday afternoon, employees from Great Lakes Drone Company, headquartered in Watervliet, showed off one of their gadgets.

The mini-copter captured aerial views of Berrien County, from nearly 400 feet in the air.

Until now, the drones were limited to daytime flying only.

The waiver is permitting the company to fly at night, and although it might sound like a small tweak, the change could save lives.

“Hopefully we’ll be announcing soon that the Watervliet Fire Department will be partnering with us and well be hopefully assisting them unfortunately when things happen with search and rescue and also with aerial views of fires to be able to pinpoint where those fires are at through thermal imaging,” said Reyna Price, Marketing Director for Great Lake Drone Company.