This week marks the 5-year anniversary of the world’s first incident in which an sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial System) helped save a person’s life. In the early morning hours of May 9, 2013, Corporal Doug Green of the Saskatchewan RCMP flew the Draganflyer X4-ES drone equipped with a FLIR (Forward-Looking Infra-Red) camera to locate the injured driver of a single vehicle rollover accident. The driver had become disoriented and wandered away from the scene into a wooded area off of a Canadian highway near St. Denis, Saskatchewan, which is about 35km east of Saskatoon.
The initial 200-meter ground search conducted by the RCMP, St. Denis and Vonda Fire Rescue teams, and EMS personnel from MD Ambulance were unsuccessful in locating the missing driver. A STARS Air Ambulance was called in and conducted an aerial night vision search of 1000 meters surrounding the area, also without result. The Draganflyer drone was then brought in and within minutes, Cpl. Green spotted three heat signatures. With the aid of an aerial perspective and real-time live video feed, he directed rescuers to investigate the first hot spot. The heat signature turned out to be the injured driver, who was found unresponsive and curled up in the fetal position at the base of a tree next to a snow bank, 2 miles south of the accident scene. He was only wearing pants and a t-shirt, having lost his shoes. Because of the near-freezing temperatures, the searchers believed that had the driver not been located using the drone, he would not have been found until daylight and likely would not have survived the night, succumbing to the injuries sustained during the accident and exposure to the cold.
The successful search and rescue mission made history as the Draganflyer was determined to be the first-ever civilian sUAS to be credited with saving a life. This monumental moment in history was one of the highest achievements for the team at Draganfly Innovations.
The life-saving drone went on to join the permanent collection at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, the most-visited museum in all of North America.
Watch the RCMP video of the Draganflyer X4-ES with FLIR camera:
