20 minutes after launch, hobbyist’s drone finds man missing for 3 days

Electronic Products ^ | 07/25/2014 | Jeffrey Bausch

[null and void]

Model aircraft able to do what dogs, volunteers, and helicopters could not

After authorities spent three days searching for a missing, elderly man in Wisconsin, a hobbyist launched his personal drone in a volunteer search effort and was able to locate the lost individual 20 minutes post launch.

During the initial search phase, authorities used dogs, helicopters, and employed local volunteers to comb the Fitchburg countryside in search of Guillermo DeVenecia, an 82-year-old man suffering from Alzheimer’s. David Lesh, a drone enthusiast who uses his personal model aircraft to make videos for his skiing and snowboarding business, was in town visiting his girlfriends’ family when he learned of the community-wide search. He decided to join in and use his drone to look at areas the missing man may have wandered into.

20 minutes after takeoff, Lesh spotted DeVencia stumbling around in a bean field.

Fortunately, a medical check showed DeVencia was only mildly dehydrated, despite having been gone for some 72 hours. During the post-discovery interview, DeVencia stated that he thought he had only been out for a short walk.

This feel-good story comes at an interesting time for drone technology as a whole, as it was only just recently that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lost a court case brought by Texas-based firm EquuSearch, which had employed the use of small drones in its rescues missions (the company was barred by the FAA from the use of unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes in 2007).

Further driving the point home that drones could actually be useful and shouldn’t necessarily be limited under a blanket ban, in March 2014 a US court found that the FAA’s barring of the commercial use of drone was illegal because it had not done enough to solicit comment from the public.

While the FAA is appealing this decision, it has stated that representatives will take a closer look at rules governing drones, with the goal of having new laws in place by the end of 2015.

[Seizethecarp]

“It’s just a matter of time before some little Herkimer takes his toy drone out for a spin in the subdivision built at the end of the runway 25 years after the airport was built and takes out an engine on a 767 at takeoff.”

You’re on the right track, but having investigated this since 2006, it is not little Herkimer but little Muhammad who is more likely to be the problem. Also, it is not the end of the runway but the portion of the runway further back where the plane “rotates”...an area between two points pilots call V1 and VR for large airframes like a 767.

For more details, if you are interested (and don’t mind being a bit more nervous every time you or your family fly from now on):

http://runwaykillzone.com/2011/12/22/faq-the-v1-vr-terrorist-runway-kill-zone-rkz-frequently-asked-questions/

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Drones can not only locate lost or injured people (i.e. hikers, climbers, swimmers, traffic accident sites that re not readily reachable, plane crashes in rough terrain, etc.), but also deliver first aid/medical materials to them (in carrying pods), ropes if needed, flares and flare guns, cell phones, batteries, food/water, clothing, etc.

Let’s use drones for lifesaving projects. They are, as many people say, a “tool” and it can be used for good or evil, depending on who is using it.

But don’t let kneejerk opposition to the “tool” stop its lawful and safety oriented potentialities.

Who knows? One day a drone might save your life.