2019
Adam Hartley
Nashville, TN
Ejection pattern testing can be an arduous and time consuming process; plotting the distance and angle of many cartridge cases can fill up pages of notes and is prone to errors. Trajectory analysis with rods and string is difficult to document in a way that is useful for extracting meaningful measurements, especially when curved surfaces or uneven terrain is involved. Applying both of these techniques to a shooting incident reconstruction can be problematic. Photogrammetry can be used, however, as with all comparison quality documentation, images should be taken at 90 degrees to the subject in order to acquire valid measurements, but gaining access to the resources such as helicopter or crane do this can be costly. UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle) or drones with high quality camera have recently started to become an affordable option to capture overhead orthogonal images for these analyses that can not only simplify the process, but also reduce the time and possible error of reconstructing a shooting incident. This presentation will demonstrate how using photogrammetry and drone imaging can be a practical approach of combining both ejection pattern and trajectory analysis to a creme scene reconstruction accurately and with as little math as possible.