Search & Rescue

Missing hikers found, thermal cameras at night, drones over floodwater — SAR missions, documented.

340

Articles

Beats covered

Reporters on beat

Oct 26

Last updated

A heavy-lift cargo drone hangs in a gray sky above Devighat, Nepal, with a bundle of relief supplies suspended on a long line beneath it

Disaster Response

Nepal Asks Abroad For Cargo Drones As China Flies 47 Next Door

Nepal ran its first 220-pound cargo drone test four days after the flood and asked other countries for heavy-lift drones. China had 47 flying by Thursday.

Haye KestelooAug 30

Orange remote-controlled rescue USV powering through breaking surf under an overcast sky.

Search & Rescue

Jersey Shore Firefighters Buy $10,000 Rescue Robot as Lifeguards Leave

Harvey Cedars volunteers are training on the Dolphin 3, a remote-controlled rescue craft that runs 15 mph, before the island drops to two guarded beaches.

Haye KestelooAug 28

Thermal drone image showing the heat signature of a missing hiker against the cool forest terrain near Breitenfurt, Austria

Search & Rescue

Vienna Police Drone Finds Missing Hiker In 75 Minutes

A Lower Austria police drone with a thermal camera located a missing 47-year-old hiker near Breitenfurt just 75 minutes after his sister's call — the heat signature glowing against the cool forest night.

Rafael SuárezAug 4

Overhead drone view of two swimmers in green ocean water, one reaching for a yellow inflated Restube flotation device

Drones for Good

Ocean County's DJI M300 Dropped a Rescue Tube Into a Rip Current, and the FCC Wants That Drone Class Off the Shelf

An Ocean County Sheriff's Office pilot dropped a Restube beside two swimmers caught in a Surf City rip current. The aircraft was a DJI M300 RTK, and a July 21 FCC notice proposes cutting off that class of drone.

Haye KestelooJul 31

Rescue drone reaching stranded hikers near Loveland Pass in Colorado

Search & Rescue

Colorado Rescue Drone Talks Hikers Through A Lightning Storm

A camera-and-speaker drone reached two stranded hikers near Loveland Pass before ground rescuers could, guiding them through a lightning storm.

Rafael SuárezJul 31

Escaped black Angus bull moving through thick kudzu in Iredell County, North Carolina

DJI Avata 2

DJI Avata 2 Guides Escaped Angus Bull Out of I-40 Ravine

A DJI Avata 2 helped Foothills Aerial Services guide an escaped Angus bull out of a kudzu-covered ravine near Interstate 40 in Iredell County, North Carolina.

Rafael SuárezJul 30

Paws Patrol LV thermal drone donation for animal rescue searches in Las Vegas

Search & Rescue

Paws Patrol LV Gets Two Thermal Drones After Sky Knockdown

A Montana hotel owner donated two thermal drones to Paws Patrol LV after people in a Las Vegas wash knocked the animal rescue group's $7,000 drone out of the sky during a search for an injured dog. The dog remains missing.

Rafael SuárezJul 28

Ocean County Sheriff's Office drone delivering a flotation device to a swimmer off Surf City, New Jersey

Search & Rescue

Ocean County Drone Reaches Swimmer After Lifeguards Left

An Ocean County sheriff's drone dropped a Restube flotation device to a young swimmer caught in a rip current off Surf City after lifeguards had gone home for the day.

Rafael SuárezJul 25

Search & Rescue

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