FAA approves drone to search for missing girl

Twenty-three-year-old Christina Morris disappeared from a shopping center parking lot in the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 30.

Volunteers have been searching for her ever since.

It's the kind of missing persons case where drones are useful, and now, some 13 days after the search began, they finally can use a single unmanned aircraft, CBS News correspondent Anna Werner reports.

The drone took off on its first flight over Plano, Texas Thursday morning. The volunteer search group EquuSearch will be allowed to use it to look for Morris until sunset Monday night, thanks to an emergency authorization from the FAA.

"As long as we know where she's not, we hold on to that hope she's alive," said EquuSearch founder Tim Miller.

"I'm not keeping any track of time or anything anymore," Anna Morris, Christina's stepmom, said. "It kind of feels like one long day."

Family, friends and volunteers have been searching for her.

Now their search will be enhanced by the drone, which can capture 50 to 200 photos in a single mission.

Those photos are then analyzed by experts and police.

"We try to look for things that don't fit in the picture, something as small as six inches will show up in the images," said EquuSearch member Gene Robinson.

The FAA says drones fall under its regulations for aircraft. Agency personnel told EquuSearch to stop using drones in February.

The search group sued and in July, a federal judge ruled the FAA's instruction carried no legal weight because it was not the agency's final decision on drone use.

The FAA says the emergency waiver was issued Wednesday after the Plano police department requested it under the FAA's normal exemption process.

"Every time you are introducing something new into our airspace system you're introducing new risk and the FAA's job is to reduce the risk, making sure you're safe on your aircraft every time you take a flight," said FAA chief spokesperson Scott Brenner.

But for now, the most important job a drone could do for these moms is to find some evidence of their daughter.

"We need her back. We're not compete, as a family, we're not complete, we're sick," said Jonni McElroy, Christina's mother.

EquuSearch says it has located the remains of 11 people using drones. The FAA is expected to issue its final rules on drone use next year.