Page 74 - 2022-08-01 Paddling Magazine

CANOEING

ILLUSTRATION: AMY MAY

CANOES
Help From Above

Unmanned aerial vehicles are revolutionizing search and rescue missions. Here’s how by conor mihell

SEARCH AND RESCUE VETERANS could percent of its 106 members employed drones. imaging works on the water, through dense forest
never have imagined the day would come when Uptake has been slower in Canada, notes Paul cover or in the dark, extending operations “when
first responders could use a drone to light up a French, the national prevention coordinator of we would normally have to wait till daylight,” says
rescue scene, deliver a life jacket, rope or radio to an the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of SARVAC’s French. Zoom lenses and spotlights
individual who’s in the water or stranded on a cliff Canada (SARVAC), with less than 20 percent of to illuminate search areas also allow searchers to
face, and have instant access to thermal imaging. Canadian organizations utilizing RPAS. stay out of harm’s way while rapidly increasing
But this is the new normal in search and rescue, The benefits of eyes in the sky are significant. the range of an operation.
with increasingly more teams of volunteers and Drones offer an overhead perspective otherwise However, drones suitable for search and res-
professionals across North America using remotely impossible to access without calling in a helicop- cue cost from $1,000 to $7,000, a significant
piloted aircraft systems (RPAS)—also known as ter or airplane. budget line item for volunteer organizations.
drones—in missions over land and water. “They’re particularly useful in searching hard Operators are also required to maintain a license
A search team first used drones in Texas in 2005, to reach creekbeds or ice-covered slopes that drop through the FAA or Transport Canada. Short
well before the U.S. Federal Aviation Administra- off or over the edge of cliffs,” says Peter Haigh, the flight times—usually 30 minutes or less—are
tion (FAA) began licensing users in 2013. Data is manager of Vancouver’s North Shore Rescue, one another limitation of the technology. They’re
limited, but Outside magazine reported a survey of of Canada’s busiest search and rescue organiza- also one more piece of kit for teams to carry into
the Mountain Rescue Association, an organization tions, which started using the technology in 2017. the wilderness, besides “equipment for first aid,
of search and rescue teams in the Rocky Moun- Drones also offer thermal imaging, which re- hypothermia and self-preservation,” adds Haigh.
tains, Alaska and the Appalachians, indicating 80 veals the heat signature of search targets. Thermal But French and Haigh agree drones are the
future of search and rescue—and many exciting
upgrades are on the way. The newest units boast
CASE STUDY 60-minute flight times and ranges of nearly 10
miles. Already, some drones can transport basic
Drone manufacturer DJI has mapped more than 400 successful rescues involving drones worldwide, includ- life-saving supplies to the lost and injured, and
ing 231 in North America. In one example, two missing paddlers on the French Broad River in North Carolina this capability will only increase.
were rapidly detected by the thermal camera of a drone last June. The paddlers missed the take-out and were Still, boots on the ground search and rescue
reported missing after nightfall. Whereas a ground search would’ve had to wait until the following morning, will never become obsolete, French insists. “As
Connestee Fire Rescue launched a drone. The missing men were detected after a mere five minutes and 30 effective as drones can be, they are still only a
seconds of flight time. tool in a large toolbox.”

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