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If you live in North Alabama and want to train in Drone SAR techniques

RCdancer

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If you live in North Alabama (or southeast), are Part 107 certified and want to train with us in Drone SAR (search/rescue) techniques, please message me. (Non-certified are welcome to train with us but cannot fly real-world SAR missions.)
 
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You should be applauded for your efforts. Will you be the one training people? Have you been doing volunteer SAR yourself? Are you just lloking for AL people? Sometimes volunteers are willing to travel hundreds of miles just to help.

I think it's a great idea. So many police and fire departments rely on their volunteers, so anyone who can help train them is doing us all a favor.

I hope you get a good response.
 
Yes, I do volunteer SAR work myself. I'd like to put together an organization of drone SAR volunteers in the southeast. Where we get together maybe once/month (or every 2 months?) to train together? I see you're in Duluth; I'm in Huntsville. We could agree on a training location central to everyone making travel easier for everyone that is interested. Change the location every time to use different terrain.
 
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This is a wonderful idea. There are many civil services that could benefit from your program. Can you give some more info about which equipment you, as an SAR pilot, prefer to use for SAR?

If you decide to go forward with a monthly or bi monthly training session, would each person need to bring their own drone, equipment, etc? I see that one prerequisite is a part 107.
 
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My background: I'm retired military and hold a private single-engine certificate with instrument rating, along with a 107 certificate. I'm interested in starting a volunteer drone SAR organization in the Southeast United States.

I'm thinking bimonthly on a Saturday for training is realistic. Meet in a central location for everyone, choosing different terrain each month. Pilots from TN, GA, AL, MS are probably most likely, although further ones are welcome.

Drone requirements can vary widely according to situation. While sophisticated speciality larger SAR drones have their place, fast deployment of first-on-scene small drones also have their place - i.e., rising flood waters and you want to try and identify anyone in jeopardy on rooftops, treetops ..... or someone trapped on a cliff, etc.

Everyone would be encouraged to bring their own drone. Anything from a Spark up is enough for realistic training. Training would include:
  • preplanning waypoint flights
  • flying waypoint flights
  • efficient utilization of drone resources
  • Drone search techniques: i.e., Route (line), Grid, Expanding Square, Parallel Line, Creeping Line, Helix, etc.
  • multiple drone searches
  • techniques for searching different kinds of terrain
  • multiple drone operations
  • joint operations with ground search teams
  • importance of solid incident onsite command structure
  • equipment a drone pilot should ideally show up with on a SAR mission
  • etc.
Aside from Thunderdrones, if anyone else in the southeast U.S. is interested, message me. I have a web site I'm creating, but an admin deleted the link to it (probably because they mistakenly believed it was a commercial site?) I'll send you the link if you message me.

Would like to try and kick this off on a Sat perhaps in Mar or Apr?
 
There are a few volunteer S and R members here who are already doing it in the SE USA. For those who are interested but have not had any training in it yet, this is a free opportunity for you to learn how to help people in distress, and possibly save lives and/or property.

.... and do it using your own drone(s) :)
 
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Sounds like a great idea. I'm in Mentone, AL (over by Fort Payne). I'm a member of Desoto Rescue, we have a drone team we're trying to get up and running. Right now, there's only two 107 pilots, myself and another guy. He and I both have a Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual on order. I imagine both of them should be here sometime next week.
 
Sounds like a great idea. I'm in Mentone, AL (over by Fort Payne). I'm a member of Desoto Rescue, we have a drone team we're trying to get up and running. Right now, there's only two 107 pilots, myself and another guy. He and I both have a Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual on order. I imagine both of them should be here sometime next week.

Outstanding. You might be a central location given that Thunderdrones is in Duluth GA and I'm in Huntsville. This week I'll start messaging to collect contact info and produce a roster.
 
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If a person doesnt live in the SE, but still wants to come, would they be welcome? Are you considering putting a cap on the number of people who can attend?
 
If a person doesnt live in the SE, but still wants to come, would they be welcome? Are you considering putting a cap on the number of people who can attend?

Absolutely. Anyone is welcome, even brand new pilots. While 107 certification is a requirement to fly real-world SAR missions, anyone can participate in the training. All are welcome.

We're planning our first training session in late Mar or early Apr in NE Alabama near Ft Payne.
 
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Absolutely. Anyone is welcome, even brand new pilots. While 107 certification is a requirement to fly real-world SAR missions, anyone can participate in the training. All are welcome.

We're planning our first training session in late Mar or early Apr in NE Alabama near Ft Payne.

Maybe that will encourage those who dont have their 107 to get it so they can help in SAR missions.
 
Yes!

FYI. We're planning the first collective training session to be on advanced waypoint flights with Litchi. (You can do waypoint flights with even a Spark using Litchi.)

We've already got 4 that that are interested in the training. :)

If a person lives outside of the SE USA area, can they still attend?
 
If a person lives outside of the SE USA area, can they still attend?

Absolutely. Anyone is welcome. We're got a web site we're putting up that explains more on this volunteer organization. One benefit to participating in the training is that we will produce a contact list of trained SAR drone operators. In the event of an emergency, we can contact pilots closest to the incident area. While we're in the SE, it would be great to have a list of trained SAR pilots across the U.S.

www.dsar.info
 
First training session is tentatively scheduled in Ft Payne, AL for Sat Mar 30 (weather dependent) and will be on advanced waypoint flight planning with points of interest using the Litchi app. (Even a Spark can do that with Litchi.) Then we will have everyone program and fly waypoint flights with POIs with their drone.

Location and time is forthcoming.
 
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