For most of us, we’ve either played video games, flown a drone and/or have been to the carnival and tried to win a prize or tried our hardest to win something for our kids. But have you ever done all three at….the…..same…..time……
Well REM Tech Pilot Nick Roberts had the opportunity to do so this past week with MoDOT
With a simple Google Search, Brian Ducote who is the Lighting and Locate Supervisor from MoDOT, contacted REM and within 30 days (even with the 4th of July Holiday) we were on site with a tall order! This of course is worth mentioning that this site is also by the STL International Airport which requires a manual review by the FAA. Brian happened to comment on the project its self:
“The St Louis District had a tower light at the Hwy 270 and 170 interchange that has not been working properly for 5+ years. The ring at the top of the tower was unbalanced and not operable because it had a missing lighting fixture. In 2024, the STL lighting team started a project to install LED fixtures on all the towers in the STL district, and we unfortunately came across this issue and had to put our heads together to find the best solution. Typically, we would spend over $10,000 dollars to have a crane and a lot of lane control in place to get this repair completed. We wanted to think outside the box, and one of our Senior Technicians, Todd Burgess, suggested using a drone to get a rope on the ring. Some were skeptical of this idea, but our team was eager to get it repaired in an effective and efficient manner. I reached out to a few drone companies and many were not interested or unable to help us. It wasn’t until I was in contact with REM Technologies that this idea started to really move forward. REM was excited to be part of this project and very helpful. The pilot was able to get our pull rope attached to the ring, and we are happy to say we have two new LED fixtures installed on this pole. Great TEAMWORK!”
The St. Louis district has about 50 lighting towers which illuminate not only the night sky but gives a clear path on major highways throughout the area. MoDOT has been in the process of changing out each bulb and switching these massive units to florescent. These new florescent lights saves time and energy for our city. The MoDOT Team was batting a 1000……until they ran into a snag…..
One of the towers in between highway 170 & 270 ended up getting misaligned during the switch out process! While trying to lower the tower lights (there is one on each side), the rod of which they hang on became off set and tilted in a diagonal direction. Making the internal pulley system unable to lower it down. So Brian had a decision to make: go the ole fashion expensive route with a giant crane, more manpower and a huge hit to the wallet OR take a chance on some local Drone Guys from REM Tech. Spoil alert! He made the right choice!
Syncing up the day before the actual flight, MoDOT was able to give the REM Tech Crew of Nick Roberts, Cadence Roberts and Karl Remick a tutorial of what we were up against.
“Learning about the pulley system to raise and lower the light units was definitely an experience! I was surprised it takes about 15 minutes to lower the lights per the system, adds Cadence.
After learning about the tower, broken rod and conditions of the flight itself, Nick had 24 hours to study and map this flight of all flights. But that is enough reading! Click the link to find out not only how he HAD to fix it, the conditions, the hostile area of nature and the success rate.
MoDOT REM Tech Tower Light Video
REM Tech would like to thank the whole MoDOT Crew for their partnership, Teamwork and chance they took on REM Tech! We appreciate them with not only this task but everything they do day in and day out all year long! We look forward to flying with MoDOT again!
