The Office of Physical Plant (OPP) conducted rooftop helicopter surveys of university buildings Sunday using infrared scanning to check for moisture damage.
A helicopter — owned by Infrared Concepts Corporation (ICC) Thermal Mapping and Surveying — flew over several large university buildings, including the Intramural Building, to determine the extent of rooftop damage.
OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said the infrared scanning can see moisture damage on the rooftops that cannot be seen by the human eye.
“It is a cost-effective way of checking a large number of buildings,” Ruskin said. “No. 1, it can catch things we can’t see and No. 2, it can be done quickly.”
Ruskin said the cost of having the helicopter fly over the university is cheaper than the potential damage to university property caused by leaking roofs.
The data collected by the helicopter will be used to determine which roofs need to be repaired first when maintenance to the buildings begins.
The average age of buildings on campus is about 30 years old, Ruskin said.
“When buildings are aging it’s important to have a good maintenance schedule,” Ruskin said. “Preventive maintenance is worth every dollar because it stops high cost maintenance down the road.”
Ruskin said the warm weather throughout the weekend provided the necessary weather to conduct the survey as the infrared scanner requires 24 hours of dry weather prior to the scanning.
The helicopter did fly-bys at low altitudes at about 700 feet and high altitudes at about 3,000 feet. The helicopter surveyed about 79 acres of university rooftops, Ruskin said. The fly-bys took place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Marcy Woodring, equipment manager at the Intramural building, said she saw the helicopter around 2 p.m. flying from the Bryce Jordan Center toward North Halls.
Ruskin said OPP was concerned with the helicopters low altitude fly-bys startling people outside, but said the office had not received any complaints after the first fly-bys.
“We are having a peaceful day in Centre County. We are not having a Vietnam flashback,” Ruskin said. “This is simply a better way for OPP to get the job done.”
Along with the information the infrared scanning provides for rooftop maintenance, Ruskin said the scanning may help OPP landscapers determine which plants are infected with Elm Yellows and Dutch elm diseases.