Aloft Introduces Automated SGI Waivers in Aloft Air Control, Streamlining Access to Restricted Airspaces

 Aloft Technologies, Inc. (Aloft), a leader in advanced drone software solutions, is thrilled to announce the integration of Automated Special Government Interest (SGI) Waivers into its Aloft Air Control platform. This new feature is set to revolutionize how drone operators access restricted airspaces, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and compliance with federal regulations.

Automated SGI waivers are available today for all Aloft Air Control enterprise customers.

The Automated SGI Waivers functionality simplifies the complex and time-consuming process of obtaining necessary permissions for drone operations in sensitive or restricted areas. This development reflects Aloft’s ongoing commitment to innovation and its dedication to supporting the operational needs of its clients across various industries, including public safety, emergency response, and infrastructure inspection.

Jon Hegranes, CEO and Founder of Aloft, commented on the new feature, saying, “We understand the critical nature of time-sensitive operations, especially in scenarios that involve public safety and emergency responses. Integrating Automated SGI Waivers into Aloft Air Control not only streamlines the approval process but ensures that our clients can deploy their drones quickly and legally, even in the most restricted airspaces. This capability is about empowering our users to focus more on their mission-critical tasks and less on bureaucratic hurdles.”

The Automated SGI Waivers are designed to interact seamlessly with existing features within the Aloft Air Control ecosystem, providing a comprehensive solution for airspace management that includes pre-flight planning, real-time traffic alerts, and post-operation analysis. This integration ensures a smooth, intuitive user experience and upholds the highest safety and compliance standards.

Key benefits of the Automated SGI Waivers include:

-Reduced Approval Times: Drastically cuts down the waiting period for gaining airspace access, facilitating rapid response and operational readiness.

-Enhanced Compliance: Ensures that all drone flights are compliant with current FAA regulations, minimizing legal risks and enhancing public safety.

-Streamlined Operations: Integrates with the overall flight management system to provide a unified workflow from planning to execution.

This innovative feature is expected to set a new benchmark for operational efficiency in drone technology, reflecting Aloft’s role as a pioneer in the industry. With one click, users can transform an existing mission in Aloft into an auto-generated SGI form ready to email to the FAA’s SOSC Office.

For more information about Automated SGI Waivers and Aloft Air Control, please email sales@aloft.ai or contact your Aloft customer success representative.

About Aloft Technologies, Inc.:
Aloft Technologies, Inc. specializes in developing advanced drone software solutions, empowering businesses and government entities to manage their drone operations with enhanced efficiency, safety, and compliance. Based in Syracuse, NY, Aloft continues to lead the way in airspace and fleet management technology. Aloft’s UTM network and Air Control platform is utilized by hundreds of government and public safety agencies.

Drones Credited With Life-Saving Rescues in Northern Ontario

 

Scott Grant, the chief of the Moosonee Volunteer Fire Department, says a $46,000 investment has already saved two lives in the last week alone.

A DJI 30 Matrice thermal drone, purchased by the department just over a year ago, has already flown to more than a dozen incidents in the region, including finding a man lost in the bush on Wednesday night.  

And on Sunday night volunteer firefighters located a woman  – already showing signs of hypothermia – trapped on an ice chunk in the Moose River. 

The dramatic rescue began with a call to 9-1-1 and local firefighters about 9:30 p.m.

"There's a woman, she's out there screaming on the ice," Grant said. "Obviously she seems lost and she's quite far out there." 

A couple of weeks earlier, the ice had begun its imminent, annual breakup, and several patches of open water were visible.

Grant said he contacted his drone team, who met him by the shore of the river. The sun had set, and crew's flashlights became nearly useless in trying to find the woman on the river. Grant spoke to the lady using a bullhorn, encouraging her to remain calm while teams planned a route across the treacherous ice.

"I'm sure it's quite terrifying being out there, especially when it's getting dark out," Grant said. "We could barely make her out at that point. And we can't send crews out on an ice surface without knowing the location of where they're going."

Out of fear or panic, the lady also began wandering across the ice floe, Grant said, making it difficult to pin her exact location down. It also put her in danger of plunging into the icy water.

While cold-water rescue teams and firefighters prepared on shore, Grant deployed the drone team. 

"We ended up locating her approximately 600 meters from shore," Grant said, adding that the drone's thermal camera was able to locate her in the dark, "locking on" her location.

"Once we had her location, we ordered the drone to hover directly over top of the individual. So even though we could not see her, we knew exactly where she was."

Rescue teams then were able to navigate to the point, set the woman in an inflatable vessel, and pull her back to shore.

The entire operation, he said, took about 40-45 minutes, in a situation where every minute counts.

Once on shore, Grant said, the woman was taken to a local health clinic with signs of hypothermia. She has since been "feeling better," Grant said, and is resting at home.

The Drone in Action

Grant says the drone represents a "fantastic opportunity" for search and rescue operations.

"Even if we know where the individual is, let's say, on the ice," Grant said. "We can use that drone and put it up in the air and get a good 360 degree view of what we're going into."

"It definitely gives us a lot more confidence to be able to know exactly what we're getting into or give us a better idea of what we're entering," Grant said. "It gives us a really good ability to plan further a few steps ahead of time."

The drone allows for a full aerial survey of the area, saving hours of work for rescue teams, who typically will search an area by arranging themselves and covering ground in a grid-pattern.

"It really also helps ensure that no area gets missed," he said. "No area gets passed over."

The Moosonee Volunteer Fire Department joins a list of emergency services using drone technology to save lives, or in some cases, investigate crimes.

In 2021, SafeSight Exploration announced they had developed a new drone specifically adapted to operate in underground mine rescue situations, where debris and smoke can obstruct rescuers.

Ted Hanley, vice-president of Ontario Mine Rescue, said a rescue scenario underground presents a more challenging environment in which to operate a drone, because there are many unknowns, and smoke, fire and debris can impede their sensors.

"The UAV [drone] or any robotic technology that's unmanned, being able to inspect an area during an emergency is potentially bringing us back that missing percentage of information that can allow us to make a safe decision on whether to send or not send rescuers into an area," Henley said.

Shared from CBC.CA

11 ways police departments are using drones

 There is a paradigm shift occurring in law enforcement as drones become a critical element in almost every aspect of emergency operations

As drones continue to evolve, law enforcement agencies around the world are using them in more ways to save lives and enhance the safety of officers.

Drones have had a major impact in the areas of traffic crash reconstruction, reconnaissance before tactical deployments, SWAT overwatch, hostage situations, forensic investigations, patrol-deployed operations, searches for lost persons, tethered operations, traffic pattern evaluation and first response. Let's take a look at these specific applications.

Read More; Police 1

Drones and Image Analysis Help Locate Gravesites

Loc8 is pleased to announce that it will be collaborating with Texas State University and the University of Missouri on a $280,000 grant to utilize drones to locate human remains and detect clandestine graves. This grant, which was awarded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), continues the groundbreaking research conducted in 2015 by Gene Robinson, president of GRC Consulting, and the Texas State Anthropology Department.

Dr. Daniel Wescott of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State states that this two-year project is challenged with documenting the ways drone technology and their payloads (various multispectral cameras) can be used and how it differs with traditional ground-based studies. Loc8 is collaborating with the project to bring its patent-pending image analysis algorithms into the field of aerial forensic science.

Pilot for the NIJ project Gene Robinson stated, “The ability of Loc8 to scan down to the individual pixel level in each image is going to change the way remote sensing is used in search and rescue (SAR) missions and crime scene investigations. The Loc8 software has only been available since 2019 and we have already realized successes in the field. We are just now scratching the surface in the different ways Loc8’s image analysis algorithms can be used.” The NIJ project is slated to handle a wide array of remote sensors from standard RGB, to near infrared (NIR), to thermal (FLIR) and multi-spectral imagery to detect subtle changes in the environment resulting from human remains on or under the ground from the vantage point of a deployed drone.

The NIJ Grant project data collection flights began in late January 2020. Over the next two-years, the flights are scheduled to continue on a near daily or weekly basis depending upon the stage of the study. The research is being conducted in the Texas State University’s 26-acre open-air forensic laboratory. Under the NIJ project, eight to ten science pledged body donation volunteers (cadavers) will be studied under various scenarios designed to mimic ground conditions of undiscovered clandestine sites. The University of Missouri is tasked with the image/data analytics and will act as the repository for all the data collected.

Robinson added, “The Texas State Forensic Anthropology Research Facility replicates conditions and environments of some of the tough cases we have encountered in the past 15 years. We can really bring the current technology to bear in a scientific way that will be a tremendous benefit to both law enforcement and the search and rescue community.”

The research has already begun at the Texas Hill Country facility and will simulate different environments and seasonal effects on the forensic investigative process. The project will identify best practices for drone utilization, determine the most effective sensors, and explore the advantages of using an image analysis software like Loc8 to enhance the effectiveness and thoroughness of the search and rescue or recovery investigative process.

As part of the NIJ Project, Gene Robinson will be cataloging the changes in the color palettes of the volunteer subject’s skin, soft tissue, and skeletal remains during the natural decomposition process. These color palettes will then made available as sample data sets for Loc8 subscribers to use during their search and rescue/recovery missions. The Human Remains color palette dataset is one of many datasets Loc8 is developing to assist subscribers.

Loc8 (www.loc8.life) is a patent-pending image scanning technology that analyzes the individual pixels in a digital image (still or video) by searching for colors that match a userdefined color palette. Once the defined pixel color(s) are detected in the scanned images, Loc8 reports the latitude, longitude, and the altitude of the geographical location of the detected item(s).

Loc8 was originally developed to scan digital images (still or video) quickly and thoroughly collected during search and rescue/recovery (SAR) missions. However, since its release, the Loc8 algorithm has been tested as a tool in crime scene investigation, accident reconstruction, debris field mapping, precision agricultural management, wildlife population management, and utility infrastructure inspections, to name a few of the many potential applications.

What are the Benefit of Oblique Aerial Drone Imagery for Search and Rescue?

Have you ever thought of collecting oblique videos for search and rescue?  Watch this great video from 2018 where Jon McBride VP of Technology at RMUS discusses an alternative drone search technique for searching in heavy vegetation and or terrain.  The technique involves the drone flying a pattern collecting video vs still images with the camera in an oblique position vs nadir.  Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Search And Rescue Teams Use Drone To Help Injured Hiker - How Does Your SAR Team Utilize Drones?

While looking back at some recent search and rescue operations that utilized drones, I came across a rescue on January 20^th and an earlier one in December in Snow Canyon State Park, Utah.  Read on about a couple of methods used by search and rescue crews.  

Photo from video by: Mike Thomas

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, a drone helped rappel a hurt hiker more than 400 feet during a daring rescue in Snow Canyon State Park Sunday.

It’s the first time the Washington County Search and Rescue team used a drone this way, but likely won’t be the last.

Search crews helped a 65-year-old woman who got hurt hiking on the top of Island in the Sky around noon. She had fallen several feet and could not put weight on her foot.

To bring her down, they’d need to be creative.

“We were trying some different ideas,” Darrell Cashin said.

The problem? It would take four men to carry up the rope needed to rappel the woman down nearly 40 stories.

A special gun that launches the rope up fell about 100 feet short.

So they put 660 feet of twine on a drone and sent it up.

“We gave that a shot and it actually worked,” Cashin said. “The canister was light enough for the drone to handle, didn’t have too much wind and so we flew the drone all the way up to where the guys were literally right to their hand. Disconnected that, flew the drone back down.”

At the bottom of the mountain, the twine was attached to the main rope and was pulled up the bluff.

“They just rappelled her off down to there and we carried her out,” Cashin said.

In December, a drone was used as a spotlight to help rescuers see better in the dark while helping a lost hiker on the same mountain.

The drones also help spot lost hikers, send messages and transport small items such as a radio or bottle of water, according to Cashin.

“We are finding new ways to utilize them and find their capabilities and limitations and new things we can do with them," Cashin said.

Three other people who were with the injured woman also rappelled down the bluff with the help of rescuers.

Has your SAR team found any new ways to utilize drones in search and rescue, tell us about it in the comments?

Drones, helicopters and horseback used in search for Evelyn ‘Vadie’ Sides found alive after more than 48 hours in the woods with her dog.

Montgomery Real-Time News Mar27, 2020

A 4-year-old Alabama girl survived more than 48 hours alone in the woods with only her dog to keep her company and watch over her.

Evelyn “Vadie” Sides was found alive late Friday afternoon by volunteer searchers after her disappearance about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. She was walking, talking, smiling and taken by ambulance to be medically checked out.

"I’m so happy and grateful to God for watching over my beautiful granddaughter and bringing her safely back to us,'' said Vadie’s grandmother, Harriet Sides. “I’m on the way there now.”

Lee County sheriff’s officials were elated that she was found safe. "The dog was with her protecting her the whole time,'' said LCSO Andrew Peacock. The dog, however, ran away again amid all the excitement. They expect the dog will return home.

Vadie was last seen in the 5000 block of Lee County Road 66 in Loachapoka, a town about a half mile west of Auburn. Authorities said she was under the supervision of her caretaker, who is in her 70s, and walking her dog when she and the dog “essentially just disappeared.” The caretaker also watches Vadie’s infant sister.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies were on the scene Wednesday night searching for the little girl. The search effort continued Thursday and Friday with the use of helicopters and drones and even horseback. The search area was wooded, though not dense, and sparsely populated.

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

On Friday, sheriff’s officials announced that volunteers are now welcome. “Able-bodied persons in good physical condition are preferred due to dense wooded terrain and the scope of the search,’’ officials said.

Within hours of allowing the volunteers to join in, Vadie was found. She was within a mile of her home.

How Drones Are Supporting Mountain Rescue Teams

Drone Base, March 12, 2019 By Malek Murison

We all know by now that drones are incredibly useful. They can gather data quickly and effectively. They can carry out tasks in ways that remove the need to put humans in danger. They are cheaper and more versatile than manned aircraft. And best of all, they are empowering emergency teams and helping to save lives around the world.

More often than not, successful drone applications have to do at least one of the above to get off the ground. When it comes to mountain rescue, drones have every single one of those bases covered.

A Life-saving Perspective

Mountainous environments are often unforgiving, hazardous and difficult to navigate. All of which makes searching for missing people a difficult challenge.

Unless a team on the ground knows exactly where to look, precious time will be spent on an often slow and methodical sweep of a general area. During that time, conditions can deteriorate and injured survivors are increasingly exposed to the elements and at risk.

Unless survivors are fortunate (or smart) enough to be wearing distinctive clothing, spotting them at ground level from a distance is another challenge. Drones offer an aerial perspective that makes it easier to sweep areas and spot people from above. That also provides the ability to rule out certain locations quickly; a factor that can’t be understated.

Search and Rescue teams on the ground can call out, listen and respond to cries for help. But they have to be in the vicinity first; drones can help make that happen.

Rapid Deployment and Mobility

As mentioned above, the unforgiving terrain is a major challenge for any SAR operation in a mountainous area. It’s often the reason that a rescue mission is required in the first place.

Although not as quick or as useful for evacuations as helicopters, drones provide SAR teams with a versatile tool that can be deployed at a moment’s notice for a fraction of the price.

With a few spare batteries and multiple drones, the technology also offers a degree of persistence that you wouldn’t otherwise get with manned aircraft.

When you’re working around the clock in a race against time, being able to commit to searches with aerial support at the touch of a button can make a huge difference.

Supporting and Protecting Ground Teams

SAR teams are made up of brave men and women putting themselves on the line to save the lives of others.

Drone technology offers a tool that SAR teams can use to minimize the risk rescuers face, plotting safe routes through challenging terrain and sometimes removing the need for exploratory searches entirely.

When conditions are hazardous, any time that rescue teams spend rescuing rather than searching is valuable.

From an operational standpoint, drones can provide aerial intelligence that helps rescue teams find missing people faster. But it’s also about preparation. Knowing what’s around the corner and, where possible, what state any survivors are in can help SAR teams arrive on the scene with the right equipment to assist immediately.

Versatile Accessories

As we discussed in a recent post, drone technology is improving and becoming increasingly specialized.

Part of that process is the development of accessories that, when placed in the hands of SAR teams, can speed up searches, direct teams on the ground and improve operational safety.

For example, the new DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual can be flown with a range of situational payloads, including a 2,400 lumens spotlight for search and rescue at night, a strobe beacon designed to make sure the drone is visible, and a 100-decibel loudspeaker to communicate with people on the ground during missions.

But the most useful SAR accessories are arguably the latest generation of portable thermal cameras.

For operations at night, the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual now offers a side-by-side 4K sensor and FLIR Lepton thermal micro-camera. The XT2, another joint DJI-FLIR undertaking, offers greater image quality and can be flown with DJI’s enterprise range.

Earlier this year the Department of Transport announced new rule proposals that could remove many of the regulatory hurdles preventing first responders from flying at night.

The move could open the way for search and rescue teams to use drones and thermal imaging to help save more lives each year. You can read more about that here.

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

Drones for Search and Rescue (SAR) – Another Tool in The Toolbox

“In order to realize the true value of a drone’s capabilities, Drone Pilots and SAR authorities from the Incident Commander (IC) on down need to gain experience by employing drones on actual SAR operations and in training.  Only then will you realize that drones provide another tool in the toolbox for the Incident Commanders that can and will prove invaluable”

Drones have quickly become the most widely used tool for many industries. From Police and Fire Departments to agriculture and energy operations, drones have become essential to boosting safety and productivity.

A search and rescue drone used by emergency services, such as police officers, firefighters or volunteer rescue teams, is ideal for searching over vast areas for missing persons and crime victims in need of rescue and in any environment.  Search times can be significantly reduced while limiting potential risk to the party being rescued as well as rescuers. There are many options and benefits to using drones for search and rescue.

Thermal imaging or forward-looking infrared (FLIR) is a major benefit for search and rescue. Body heat naturally makes humans stand out from plant life, making them easy to spot very quickly.  Most thermal cameras also have the option to change temperature search range and the color palette for a wide variety of options to make sure you can see exactly what you’re looking for.

Almost all commercial drones come equipped with GPS, allowing the pilot to offer rescue teams the exact GPS coordinates of the subjects once they have been spotted. With the live view feature of any drone used for search and rescue, the pilot can also guide rescue crews to their location.

There is no point sending any aircraft into the air for SAR if the visuals can’t be relayed to the ground search team or incident command as is often the case for manned aviation.  Many drones have the capability to stream live video from the controller to a monitor for on-site viewing or to a broadcast terminal to send to a remote incident command center on a larger monitor for easier identification of subjects in real-time.

This allows pilots or incident command crews to guide rescue teams to the precise location of their subjects, and the aerial view also aids in guiding those crews around any obstacles or hazards that may be in their path.

Too find out more on how you can develop a drone program for your search and rescue organization, contact Dave Crago at cragod1@gmail.com

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

Drone And Life Flight Respond To Injured Woman And Family Of 4 Stranded

SANTA CLARA — Washington County Sheriff Search and Rescue responded to two calls Saturday, starting with an accident that happened on the Bear Claw Poppy trail just off Navajo Road.

Washington County Sheriff Search and Rescue Liaison Darrell Cashin told St. George News that at approximately 12:55 p.m., a man called into dispatch to report that his wife had crashed on her mountain bike and needed help.

Later Saturday evening, just before 10 p.m., the search and rescue team responded to another call of a family of four – a husband, wife and two teenage daughters with a dog – that had been hiking Red Mountain trail when it got dark. They lost their way and became stranded, Cashin said.

The search and rescue responders were sent to hike the area toward the GPS coordinates.

“We sent up our drone, located them, and just had them stay put,” he said.

Responders found them and hiked them off the mountain. No injuries were reported.

“They were fine,” he said, “just couldn’t get down, couldn’t find a way down. From the time we got the call to the time we got done was about three hours.”

With so many people out and about, Cashin said he expected to stay busy.

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

Public Benefits of Drone Technology

Drones have become a familiar aspect of our contemporary world. Over the past decade, they’ve graduated from expensive toys of the rich to affordable items that many of us have the opportunity to experience. They are used in photography and deliveries, and have even become the subject of their own racing events. But drones also have a vital part to play in the public sector. 

This isn’t necessarily limited to their military applications, either. Governments and public services — local and national — have begun to explore ways in which drone tech can make a real difference in our lives. Public leaders are embracing the benefits of these small aerial devices beyond the limited applications most of us are familiar with.  

Drones offer some promising solutions to some of our perennial public challenges. We’ll take a look at a few key areas in which they’re already starting to make a difference across various community issues. How are they being used, and what innovations do they offer?  Read More

Multiple crews – and a drone – combine forces to rescue 2 hikers hours apart in Red Cliffs Reserve

ST. GEORGE — Two separate rescue operations in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve kept emergency personnel, flight crews and search and rescue teams busy until late Tuesday night.

The first rescue was called in shortly after noon when a hiker suffered a fractured ankle while hiking the Church Rocks loop near Exit 13, a slickrock trail about 2.6 miles in length that rises to an elevation of more than 185 feet from the wash to the highest point on the ridge in the reserve.

The woman was hiking with a group who called 911 for help.

Washington City Police, as well as Washington City and Hurricane Valley Fire responded with ATVs to search for the injured hiker. Washington County Sheriff’s Sgt. Darrell Cashin said Washington County Search and Rescue was also called in to conduct a ground search, and Intermountain Life Flight was launched to provide aerial assistance.  Read More

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

Dye-dropping DJI Mavic 2 drones to help stop drownings in Australia

In Australia, the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Drone program has commissioned a number of dye-dropping DJI Mavic 2 drones, that can drop sea marker dye into the ocean that allows lifesavers on the beach to more easily spot riptides and help stop drownings. Read more 

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

Tampa Fire Rescue using drone technology to improve safety in emergency situations

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Fire Rescue is launching a new tool to help improve safety in emergency situations.

The agency has purchased two drones, using the equipment for the first time this week.

"It’s really a force multiplier when it comes to manpower. The information that these systems provides pertain to almost every asset of what we do in the fire service," said Captain John Bogush with special operations at Tampa Fire Rescue.  Continue Reading

How are drones used in search and rescue - Pix4D Interview

Gene Robinson, the “grandfather of search and rescue drone operations” sat down with Pix4D to discuss the view from aerial SAR.

For over a decade, Gene Robinson has been a leading expert in drones for search and rescue. Robinson sat down with Pix4D’s Angad Singh, to discuss all things aerial. 

Pix4D: Thank you for agreeing to talk to us today, Gene! Let’s begin at the beginning: What is search and rescue?

Robinson: Search and Rescue - SAR - is a service that is provided across Public Safety agencies. It has historically been the purview of fire departments, but now a team can be made up of specialists within a municipal police department, or a county sheriff’s department or even an Office of Emergency Management, or OEM, at the county level.

The emergence of private SAR teams such as TEXSAR and Texas Equusearch in the United States, has bolstered the capabilities of any local agency requiring that skill set or expertise they may not have. Additionally, because private SAR organizations are operated on donations, they may specialize in a certain field such as drones, boats, dogs, or foot searchers that utilize the latest of technologies to perform searches. Read the complete interview here

Another post on Water Rescues Thanks To Drone Mapping

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

Drone - Dry Lifesavers Take To The Skies - Surf Life Saving NSW

Surf Life Saving NSW has had a long association with aviation over its 112-year history – operating both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters for search and rescue and marine creature surveillance. Now a new breed of ‘dry lifesaver’ is being trained to use unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) technology to help keep beachgoers safe on the NSW coastline.

SLSNSW February 18, 2020

In 2018 Surf Life Saving NSW became a gazetted emergency service organisation. Volunteers can be asked to respond to calls for assistance alongside police, ambulance and other emergency service organisations.

To enhance its capability, SLSNSW has established an extensive unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program to assist with beach safety, coastal surveillance, surf sports event management and search and rescue. UAVs, or drones as they’re more commonly known, have quickly become an integral part of surf life saving operations.

In December 2018, Surf Life Saving Australia partnered with Westpac to launch the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Drone Program. This saw 35 drones take to the skies across the NSW coastline as part of Australia’s first comprehensive approach to search and rescue using innovative drone technology.

The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Drones are used by surf lifesavers and lifeguards to support rescue operations along Australia’s coastline and assist with critical response surveillance during emergencies.

In addition to search and rescue operations, SLSNSW has partnered with the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) for marine creature surveillance and operates 30 UAVs through this partnership. An additional 25 training UAVs will be added to the SLSNSW fleet during 2020.

UAVs are now used extensively in surf life saving patrols. The UAVs used are in the sub-2kg category and incorporate a high-definition camera and loudspeaker. Operating in almost 50 locations, SLSNSW currently has almost 70 drones working constantly along the NSW coastline.

“We initially introduced drones as a tool to complement all our other assets and resources. With the increase in technology, they’re becoming an essential part of our search and rescue operations,” said Paul Hardy, UAV Operations Coordinator and Chief Remote Pilot.

With over 70 drones in the air along the NSW coastline, keeping track of their exact location can be challenging. SLSNSW employs a number of flight tracking technologies including AVCRM (a cloud-based regulatory and compliance portal for all UAV operations) and AIRDATA (a cloud-based system to provide additional visibility to the UAV team on flight compliance and aircraft diagnostics) - which is used to track and log all flights.

Surf Life Saving operates in both the Commercial Excluded and Remote Operators Certificate (ReOC) categories and has advanced RePL trained pilots in many locations. It adheres to all the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) safety requirements.

UAVs are becoming an essential tool in surf rescue

SLSNSW Seeks Dry Lifesavers

New UAV technology has enabled SLSNSW to create a new breed of “dry lifesaver” – volunteers who needn’t have any swimming ability to become a patrolling surf lifesaver. Pilots come from diverse backgrounds and include Qantas pilots right through to people with little or no aviation background whatsoever.

“We train pilots from diverse backgrounds. We encourage anyone who’s interested in becoming a UAV pilot to contact us, regardless of previous surf life saving or aviation experience,” said Paul Hardy from SLSNSW.

SLSNSW is actively recruiting and training pilots to boost its pool of 80 paid and 190 volunteer UAV pilots. SLSNSW runs its own pilot training programs along the NSW coastline.

Training consists of an internal training package delivered via a mix of theoretical and practical coaching and assessments. This is delivered to UAV pilots operating in the sub-2kg Commercial Excluded Category and exceeds CASA’s training requirements.

Beach Safety and UAV Awareness

Surf Life Saving NSW is focused on safety and procedures are in place to ensure that CASA rules and regulations are adhered to at all times.

Surf Life Saving NSW’s primary responsibility is to keep beaches safe for the public and its UAV operators actively educate private drone operators about the laws surrounding UAV use on and above beaches.

“Members of the public are increasingly aware that because SLSNSW is an emergency service organisation, they are unable to fly private drones at the beach when our UAVs are operating in the area,” said Paul Hardy, SLSNSW UAV Operations Coordinator.

“Beaches are an attractive place to fly drones and are used widely by the public to film activities like surfing and sailing and marine life like whales, dolphins and sharks. However, there are strict guidelines in place for the operation of UAVs near people and marine life.

“We encourage all private UAV pilots to familiarise themselves with rules for flying drones at the beach before they launch a drone,” he said.

With a presence at 129 of the most visited beaches across NSW, surf clubs are a frontline for communicating flight safety messaging to private drone pilots who may not be familiar with the regulations.

Surf Life Saving NSW continues to adopt new technology as it strives to achieve its goal of zero preventable deaths on the NSW coastline. Given its early success in surf life saving operations, it’s clear that UAV drone technology will continue to play an important part in coastal drownings prevention measures.

Police use drone to find blind man who had been missing for 33 hours

Police used a drone to locate a missing blind man in Connecticut who had become lost in a wooded area for over 30 hours.

A family member of the blind man contacted the Enfield Police Department on Feb. 15, saying they were concerned as they were unable to make contact with him, police said in a statement posted to Facebook. The police statement does not name the individual.

Officers determined that the man had not been seen since 10 a.m. the previous day. Based on their investigation and understanding of the missing man’s previous behavior, officers determined that it was likely that he had walked away from his home and become disoriented.  Continue Reading

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

Training - Integrating UAS Into Ground Search and Rescue Operations

Are you an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) Pilot with a current FAA Part 107 Certificate looking to learn more about your UAS and how you and your aircraft can be safely and efficiently utilized on search and rescue (SAR) operations to help improve search and rescue results? 

Join EMMU Aerial and Cibola Search and Rescue on a training exercise where we will integrate UAS into ground search training.  Learn what the various members of the incident UAS team are responsible for from the remote pilot in command (RPIC) to visual observers (VO) and data specialists.

   

Training events have proved to be invaluable in order for the UAS Team and other SAR elements to be ready when a search mission suggests that the use of a UAS is both feasible and beneficial.

Date;                     March 7, 2020 0900

Location;              Embudo Trailhead in the foothills of the East mountains of Albuquerque,

Information;      Contact Dave Crago at cragod1@gmail.com

Utah drone searchers may have solved missing hiker’s disappearance at California national park

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah-based nonprofit group that uses drones to seek missing people may have solved the mystery of what happened to a hiker who disappeared at Joshua Tree National Park more than a year ago.

Park officials announced on Saturday they had recovered human remains in the 49 Palms Oasis area of the park the previous day. That came after Western States Aerial Search, which is based in Salt Lake City, alerted them that images taken at the park indicated possible human remains. Continue

Do you have a story of drones coming to the rescue or assisting your agency? Please share in the comments.

CAP Debuts sUAS as Search and Rescue Tool in S. Dakota

CAP Debuts sUAS as Search and Rescue Tool in S. Dakota: Civil Air Patrol’s first two searches using small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) are in the books after a pair of South Dakota Wing missions.

The wing began deploying drones with a missing-person search in Custer State Park in Custer County, on the state’s western border, after a 22-year-old South Dakota School of Mines and Technology was las...