EMMU Aerial’s Managing Director Dave Crago Flies Above the Crowd

After more than 15 years in business and a major reorganization in 2006, Dave serves as EMMU Aerial’s Managing Director, providing leadership and direction for the company and the companies uunmanned aircraft systems (UAS), public safety programs, aerial photography, remote sensing, training, products and services.

Dave a lifelong Waterman and water rescue professional originally established EMMU or Emergency Mobile Mapping Unit after a merge with his other company Special Aquatic Service (SAS) in 1998 to meet an industry need for a specialized group qualified to responding to a public safety need for a true mobile emergency GIS response capability.  Drawing from years’ of water rescue, aviation, forestry, search and rescue and firefighting experience.  Dave was able to assemble a group of emergency response, GIS and aerial remote sensing professionals that was unsurpassed in the public safety industry.  EMMU went on to be a leader in the training and support of wildland firefighter, first responders and search and rescue professionals. 

Dave quickly learned that the opportunities for mobile GIS systems did not end with the limits of your imagination. While ideal for emergency management, the mobile GIS systems proved just as valuable for private, corporate and industrial research where onsite mapping technologies saved time and cut costs considerably.  It was also at this time, that EMMU established themselves as a leader in georeferenced oblique aerial photography, providing invaluable and accurate geographical information and imagery for various government agencies.

Today, Dave is an FAA licensed Part 107 UAS and federal government remote pilot and brings extensive knowledge of FAA and other federal, state and local drone regulations and protocols to the company.  Dave developed his skills through extensive operational aerial photography, remote sensing and UAS surveillance work with the military and government agencies. From these beginnings with government systems, EMMU Aerial now provides public safety agencies and organization with specialized UAS training, services and consulting for search and rescue, law enforcement, firefighting, disaster response and more throughout North America.  EMMU Aerial is at the forefront of a technological and operational change, focused on reinventing the way we work and look at the world.

Wrightsville Beach Testing Drones In Water Rescues

 

Courtesy Of Wrightsville Beach Fire Department

The Wrightsville Beach Fire Department is experimenting with drones to help lifeguards with water rescues.

The department is testing equipment that allows drones to carry a lightweight inflatable buoy to swimmers who might be in distress, according to Wrightsville Beach firefighter Sam Proffitt. He said the drone can quickly fly a few hundred yards and drop the device.

"It will inflate once it hits the water. They can grab it and they can either hold it or clip it to them, and then we still have the other end of the rope on the beach. We take that, wrap it around the hitch on the back of a truck, and slowly pull that person into shore," Proffitt said.

The system is meant to assist lifeguards, not replace them, according to Proffitt. But drones could help law enforcement agencies in towns and cities where there are no lifeguards on duty.

"If someone gets in distress in a rip current, a lot of times it falls on a fire department to figure out how they're going to rescue that person," he said. "And you read a lot of stories where the rescuer then a lot of times becomes a victim because they're not trained to perform the rescue, so this could be a great option for them."

Even without the buoys, drones provide an extra set of eyes, Proffitt said. Local law enforcement agencies across the state have been experimenting with drones to help find victims of natural disasters, traffic accidents and other emergencies.

A Wrightsville Beach drone happened to be in the air Tuesday when the pilot spotted a swimmer in trouble and alerted rescuers. Watch them respond:

The swimmer was safely pulled from the water. Rescuers have saved hundreds of people along the coast this summer who were caught in suspected rip currents, but at least three have died.

Proffitt said the drone system is promising, but not perfect. There are tight restrictions on air space and drone regulations that prohibit pilots from flying them outside their line of sight.

Shared from; wunc.org 

Will drones change the face of mountaineering and freeriding forever?

The unexpected hero on a recent rescue on the fearsome 8,000m K2 peak was a drone, which helped locate a missing climber. Will they change high alpine expeditions for ever?

Red Bull By Josh Sampiero 08/07/2018

Just before Andrzej Bargiel's made his historic ski descent of K2 recently, his brother Bartek Bargiel made headlines for another ground-breaking moment that could change the face of mountaineering forever – using a drone to locate a missing climbing legend on the fearsome mountain's slopes.

You might not want to call a 800g flying chunk of plastic, metal and circuitry an angel, but for Rick Allen, the Piolet d'Or winner who was briefly lost and presumed dead by his climbing partners, that DJI Mavic drone was exactly that.

The 65-year-old Scottish climber fell off a 30m cliff during a solo summit attempt on Broad Peak and most people in camp assumed he had died. His partner, Sandy Allan, wasn't ready to give up on him, though. Over at K2 camp, a cook from a Japanese climbing team used a telescope to scan the face of the mountain, spotting what he thought was a backpack. 

That's where Bartek Bargiel and his drone came in. He flew his drone in and from closer up, they realised the backpack was moving. Bargiel took pictures, video and, most importantly, marked the precise coordinates of the location using the drone's GPS system. This information he was then able to relay to rescuers in Broad Peak Base Camp. Bargiel then flew back-and-forth between Allen and the rescue team in the white glacier expanse until they found each other and Allen was in safe hands.

What else can drones do?

The rescue raises a question: what else can drones do? At this point, Bargiel's drone was able to help rescuers locate Allen, but not much more. However during his brother's summit bid, a member of their own team, experienced mountaineer Janusz Gołąb, got stuck at a high camp with significant back pain, leaving him unable to descend on his own. In the past, the solution would have been to send someone up to help him get back down – a long and risky proposition. This time, Bargiel attached a small package to the drone and delivered Gołąb the medical supplies he needed to then descend on his own.

Watch Andrzej Bargiel's epic descent from K2

Bigger drones can take bigger packages, though. Watch the video clip below of a drone helping rescue two swimmers caught in a riptide in Australia. The custom-built drone first helps locate them and then deploys a package that auto-inflates into a safety device. It certainly leaves no question that drones are already extremely valuable tools in wilderness search and rescue. 

Drones are the future, and the future is now

Brett Velicovich

American drone expert Brett Velicovich, a former military operator known as the 'Drone Warrior', believes the possibilities are nearly endless. "It's all about blade size, power and battery life," he says. "Those are the limitations. But there's a video of YouTuber Casey Neistat being lifted off the ground while snowboarding."

While that may be far off in reality, delivery of medical or rescue supplies is already a reality, as demonstrated above. Drones have been used to find missing people, deliver food after natural disasters or deliver a lifesaving device, but before they evolve in carrying capacity however, Velicovich believes they'll evolve in artificial intelligence.

"A UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] is actually still manned, it's just the pilot is in a different place," he says. "Soon enough, drones will be able to identify and help someone in need without anyone piloting the drone. Drones are the future, and the future is now."

Helicopters are here to stay

Although he's got no problems with drones, ace alpinist and helicopter pilot Simone Moro offers up an opposing view that drones won't replace helicopters for a long, long time. "I've expected the current evolution. But we shouldn't use the word rescue, but rather support. Right now, all drones are using four or more rotors to stay balanced so a drone that could lift a person might actually be bigger and more expensive than a helicopter," he says.

That's without even touching the regulatory side. To do a real rescue, you have to follow aviation rules and regulation. "Everything becomes more complicated, forbidden, expensive and difficult," Moro says. "At the moment, drones are – and will remain for the next few years – an instrument to support a rescue, but won't replace a helicopter."

Then there's line scouting

Emergencies aren't the only reasons to have a drone in the air. For mountaineers, big mountain skiers and snowboarders they're an excellent tool to scout lines up close. In fact, world-class freeriders like Xavier De Le Rue consider quadcopters an indispensible tool, flying drones to gage the width of rock passages and the height of cliff jumps, the superficial impression of the snow cover and to identify rocks, trees or other significant landmarks. In the case of extremely dangerous routes, like Andrzej Bargiel's on K2, a drone was used to scout lines ahead of his exploit and in real time, helping Bargiel find a snowy line linking four known climbing routes to get safely down.  

Challenges exist for the moment. Drones (especially little ones like the DJI used on this recent alpine rescue) don’t do extremely well at high altitudes, where thin air makes it harder to fly them. Cold weather sucks the life out batteries very quick, too, limiting airtime and effectiveness. To demonstrate how rarely these now-popular devices are used here, Bartek Bargiel set a record for the highest known flight for a consumer-level drone during the K2 expedition. 

Eyes in the sky: cool or creepy?

The wilderness – and especially the high alpine – is a different environment. The people who going to those places have never been ashamed to say the escape from modernity and technology is part of the appeal, even as technology becomes an increasingly normal part of the mountain experience.

The high-pitched whirr of a miniature flying machine with a camera couldn't be a more perfect symbol of what many mountaineers are trying to get away from. Allen felt that way himself. "I had a big aversion to recreational drones in beautiful places, intruding on my experience," he says. 

"However, I now see huge potential in mountain rescue scenarios, as they can be so easily transported and deployed for a local search if the visibility is reasonable. I was glad to see this one!

"The drone was a great encouragement, as I figured it was not there by accident, which meant someone on the glacier knew I was alive and would tell my team. I wasn't looking for a helicopter rescue, I was pretty confident I would get to Camp 3 eventually, but I just wanted them to know I was alive and moving."

The drone was a great encouragement

Rick Allen

In conclusion, drones are pretty great for rescue

Rick Allen is pretty much convinced. "I see drones as a very valuable tool for scouting new routes on big mountains. It could reduce some of the uncertainties," he says. Will it be a crutch for less experienced climbers, leading to more problems on the mountain? "I wouldn't say that, because it would still leave unknowns, like the snow condition," continues Allen. "There are plenty of more insidious crutches that can get folk into trouble. Better information is usually a good thing."

There is one thing his guardian angel drone failed at however – letting his team-mates know he had a plan to get out on his own. "I was pretty confident I would get to Camp 3 eventually," says Allen. 

"My plan was always to climb up and rightwards in order to be able to descend to Camp 3. I told the drone, but, of course, it had no microphone!" We'll have to wait a little longer for the tech to catch up.