By Evan Satterwhite Department for Natural Resources

On a clear October morning at the Frankfort regional airport, photographer J. Hamon sets the cameras and his controls, while pilot Jim Drake warms the engine of the state-owned 1984 Bell long-ranger helicopter. This team has logged countless hours of flying over surface mine operations, averaging about 75 flights per year.

Kentucky was not fully complying with the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) requirements to inspect surface coal mines. As a result of the settlement agreement, Kentucky received $33 million in federal funding to create an agency that would provide direct oversight of reclamation and enforcement. That agency—the Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement—hired inspectors, purchased trucks and designed the Surface Mining Information System (SMIS) database to track permitting and enforcement activities throughout the state.

ment, which resulted in the purchase of the helicopter in 1988 for $800,000.

For many years, video equipment was operated through an open window. Today, the video equipment and still cameras are mounted on the underside of the helicopter and operated by remote control from inside the cabin.

After testing the video equipment and donning the communications headset, Drake, a former military helicopter pilot, announces to the tower, “3KR ready to activate flight plan.” The controller responds, and Drake moves the controls to lift the helicopter above the blowing grasses and heads east.

“We are flying to Hazard to pick up our first inspector and fly over several jobs around the Hazard area,” said Hamon. “Then, we will travel to the London airport, pick up another inspector and go back to Hazard to pick up yet another.

History of the cabinet's helicopter purchase

During early stages of implementation, the department soon realized that trucks could not adequately or quickly cover the large area of ground needed to meet the deadline of the settlement agreement, which resulted in the purchase of the helicopter in 1988 for $800,000.

In the 1980s, the National Wildlife Federation sued the cabinet’s Department for Natural Resources alleging that