Search and rescue

Starbright · Mar 17, 2022

My 3rd drone is the M2EA. I live on a 14,400 foot mountain at 8500 feet. Frequently climbers are lost or killed on these mountains and in need of search and rescue. What is the procedure to authorize an altitude restriction release within the 400 foot distance from the mountain face? It is difficult to climb to a higher takeoff location. Any ideas would be helpful.

eEridani · Mar 17, 2022

First off, during S&R drones really aren't a good idea unless integrated into the local S&R operations because having drones inside the S&R region will prevent helicopter flights into an area. Also, flights like this are 100% Part 107, and during that training you'd learn the resources needed to get waivers required for legal operation. So grab your dunce cap and start studying for your Part 107 ticket

Gagey52 · Mar 17, 2022

Welcome to the forum from the land of Oz. S&R is not an easy gig, very stressful and technically difficult to do it properly. Look forward to hearing how you get on.
Regards

old man mavic · Mar 17, 2022

welcome to the forum
as others have stated ,although your reasons for wanting to do SAR may be admirable ,it is a specialised form of UAV flying that has a lot of rules and regs to follow ,and requires a lot of training which will cost ,and also a commitment as well to be available when needed ,good luck in your endeavors

MA2 317 · Mar 17, 2022

Hello from the Crossroads of America Starbright.

Good luck and welcome to the Forum.

sar104 · Mar 17, 2022

Starbright said:
My 3rd drone is the M2EA. I live on a 14,400 foot mountain at 8500 feet. Frequently climbers are lost or killed on these mountains and in need of search and rescue. What is the procedure to authorize an altitude restriction release within the 400 foot distance from the mountain face? It is difficult to climb to a higher takeoff location. Any ideas would be helpful.

Are you asking how to legally fly above 400 ft AGL within 400 ft of a mountain? Or are you asking how to override the DJI firmware limit?

If the former, then while the Part 107 structure exception doesn't apply to terrain that's usually not a problem unless it's a sheer face.

If the latter then you would have to get your aircraft registered in the DJI QEP program, which then removes the restrictions. That will require endorsement and some level of oversight from a government agency of some kind.

Skywatcher2001 · Mar 17, 2022

Welcome to the forum. An impressive and noble venture you are undertaking. I agree with the comments above. Do your research and apply it accordingly. Nothing is impossible with the right plan in place for accomplishing it.

Good luck to you. All of us are rooting that this works out for you. We can only benefit from such a selfless act.

Phantomrain.org · Mar 17, 2022

Welcome to the Forum and the Search and Rescue Fleet.

Gear to Fly your Mavic 2 and Search in the Rain. Land on the Water.
Phantomrain.org

eaglesurfing · Mar 18, 2022

Welcome to the forum from south central Florida

and enjoy.

tibadoe · Mar 18, 2022

Welcome

Laborous · Mar 18, 2022

Welcome to the forum from the beautiful woods of Maine!

wjkrysak · Mar 18, 2022

Welcome to the forum. We look forward to your participation and your view of the world.

RkyMtnHigh · Mar 18, 2022

Starbright said:
My 3rd drone is the M2EA. I live on a 14,400 foot mountain at 8500 feet. Frequently climbers are lost or killed on these mountains and in need of search and rescue. What is the procedure to authorize an altitude restriction release within the 400 foot distance from the mountain face? It is difficult to climb to a higher takeoff location. Any ideas would be helpful.

Welcome to the forum. I also live in Colorado and my house is at 8200ft and often fly up at the 12K foot range, depending on the winds of course. I'm also a member of our fire department and SAR is a normal thing for us. While we don't use personal type drones for SAR there are other options out there. We just looked at drone made for first responder use. Very impressive. Can fly in winds up to 40mph, is tethered to it's control base and can be plugged into a command vehicle which theoretically gives it unlimited airborne time, and doesn't need a certified drone pilot. There's so many other capabilities to it that I'm not mentioning. Like I said, it's very impressive, but it should since it has a $60,000 price tag. In our State, especially at altitude, I'm not sure how practical a smaller, personal type of drone would work for SAR. The winds are just too strong and gusty most times, at least in my area of Estes Park.

GFields · Mar 18, 2022

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama, welcome to the forum!

BigAl07 · Mar 18, 2022

WELCOME to the forum.

Your desires are COMMENDABLE indeed but you need to circle back and approach it from a different point of view. Reach our to your local Sheriff/EMS Department and look into becoming a member of the SAR/IMT group and seek the proper training to be embedded in their group. If you're not operating as a part of the "Group" you could be taking resources away from them. If you're flying over an incident and not part of the group then your actions could GROUND other aircraft and end up hampering search operations as opposed to helping.

There are a TON of other things to keep in mind when doing SAR that most people don't think about and it's quite daunting when you start going through the list to get ready to go. Learn to work WITH the team way before you're services are needed because an Active Search is the absolutely WORST possible time to be learning the ropes.

A few things to consider when dealing with UAS/SAR:

Any DATA (Pictures/Video etc) you create could be confiscated if the scene goes "Criminal". Be prepared to surrender your SD cards to the IC in order to maintain Chain of Custody processes.
You need to be 100% self sufficient (food, water, clothing, heat, charging etc etc) as to not drain resources from the group.
You need to understand the "Lingo" because everything is abbreviations etc and make no sense if you aren't informed. Otherwise someone from the group has to "Translate" and again you're pulling resources from the group.
When flying your drone, if Manned Aircraft approach and see your UAS they will pull off until the area is UAS clear so you MUCH be a part of the group because it's common to dispatch manned aircraft once the search gets organized.
Many Many more . . . .

We have a ton of experienced UAS operators on this forum to help answer questions and I have several years of UAS/SAR experience if you need to reach out.

SethB · Mar 18, 2022

BigAl07 said:
…Reach our to your local Sheriff/EMS Department and look into becoming a member of the SAR/IMT group and seek the proper training to be embedded in their group…

As above in many posts. I’ll add that in my area of the Pacific Northwest there are volunteer SAR teams - their doors are open!

Reach out to any teams that have a drone group in your area. It’s been emphasized to me by coordinators that pilots are fully trained SAR first, and drone pilots second. These teams offer SAR training - it’s a time committment!
Study for and pass a Pt. 107 pilot exam, if you’ve not done so already.
Wait for the call for your team to join SAR, which would typically come from a County Sheriff’s office.
Wait for the call from your team to deploy drones as specified in a search area and pattern. Typically, drones are used to “clear” an area that is open (not under tree cover) but is unsafe, difficult, or time-consuming for ground teams to clear.

As mentioned above, Search and Rescue is a team sport, and follows a strict incident command structure. Chaotic individual efforts by the untrained and unintegrated have proven to sometimes magnify the number of individuals needing SAR.

My comments about the command structure of volunteer teams supporting Sheriffs are based on my local/regional conditions; it may be different in Colorado or other locations. I defer to BigAl07 and others’ comments above for conditions in other areas. In ALL cases in the U.S. SAR is under the jurisdiction of local government agencies like Sheriffs, Fire, Forest Rangers, National Park Rangers, etc., and airspace is controlled and actively managed within the incident command structure.

BigAl07 · Mar 18, 2022

SethB said:
As above in many posts. I’ll add that in my area of the Pacific Northwest there are volunteer SAR teams - their doors are open!

Reach out to any teams that have a drone group in your area. It’s been emphasized to me by coordinators that pilots are fully trained SAR first, and drone pilots second. These teams offer SAR training - it’s a time committment!

Study for and pass a Pt. 107 pilot exam, if you’ve not done so already.

Wait for the call for your team to join SAR, which would typically come from a County Sheriff’s office.

Wait for the call from your team to deploy drones as specified in a search area and pattern. Typically, drones are used to “clear” an area that is open (not under tree cover) but is unsafe, difficult, or time-consuming for ground teams to clear.

As mentioned above, Search and Rescue is a team sport, and follows a strict incident command structure. Chaotic individual efforts by the untrained and unintegrated have proven to sometimes magnify the number of individuals needing SAR.

My comments about the command structure of volunteer teams supporting Sheriffs are based on my local/regional conditions; it may be different in Colorado or other locations. I defer to BigAl07 and others’ comments above for conditions in other areas. In ALL cases in the U.S. SAR is under the jurisdiction of local government agencies like Sheriffs, Fire, Forest Rangers, National Park Rangers, etc., and airspace is controlled and actively managed within the incident command structure.

Very well said Seth!

You nailed it on "typically used to clear". Drones are but one tool of many in the SAR toolbox. We get up and look/clear areas that we can do efficiently so that other resources are allocated in other areas.

One thing I didn't mention.... all of our local UAS/SAR members are dual role which means we fly UAS when the conditions allow it but we are an integral component of the SAR/IMT for other positions. I've been on a HUGE multiagency search (local, state, and Federal all at once) and conditions were not flyable and I ended up helping serve coffee and assist with parking attendant duties. I'm now a weather coordinator for our IMT. I gather current Wx conditions and then collect forecasts to help decide what our immediate and long-term weather is going to look like. From this the IC is better able to decide who/what to send where/when.

A key point I'd like to stress for ANYONE wanting to use drones in SAR.... it's not nearly as fun or as easy as you'd think. It's one thing to take pretty sunset or Architecture pictures and a whole other to climb into a rough, muddy, dangerous area to be able to search with your UAS. It's usually in some of the worst possible conditions and for many long, cold, wet, miserable hours. Sometimes we see things that can NOT be unseen and like it or not we carry some portion of that with us going forward. It's a huge TIME, Equipment, Money, social, and emotional commitment that you have to think it all the way through. It can be tough but at the same time when we are doing this we are hopefully helping save a life or bring some type of closure to the family and loved ones of the missing people. It's gut wrenching at times but it can bring peace to a family who might not otherwise get that closure.

To circle back to the OP's original question, once you are embedded with an official group you can easily get the needed approvals to fly higher than normally allowed and in some instances BVLOS. It's just a process to get to the point.

Pepperbr · Mar 19, 2022

I have been doing SAR for over 30 years. My first suggestion is to find a local SAR team and join it. Once you get the basics of SAR, integrate sUAS into their program.
This will not be as easy as it sounds but well worth it in the end. You of course will need your Part 107, also please try to find other sUAS pilots in your area to help with your skills. It will also be necessary to start working on mapping missions.
A final suggestion is look into the Civil Air Patrol; we are currently working on our sUAS program. Enjoy your sUAS and flying.