Mesa County Sheriff’s Office (Grand Junction, CO, USA) received a complete Falcon system consisting of two Falcons and a ground control station. During the three day training, two Deputy Sheriff’s learned to operate the system from launch to recovery without any incidents. Additionally a simulated search and rescue mission was executed along the canyon walls of the Colorado River using the dual EO/IR gimbaled payload to locate lost mountain bikers. During the training the two deputies executed 10 flights for 7.5 hours of total flight time.
The aircraft cost $14,000 and will be used in investigations and in search and rescue operations. “If we get the description that (a missing) mountain biker has a red shirt on or a yellow helmet, we can search for the bright yellow, but also if they are somewhat concealed under foliage, we can go to infrared and look for their heat signature,” said Ben Miller, who runs the department’s remotely piloted aircraft programme.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Department is one of three law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. operating unmanned aircraft.
Mesa County authorities are called to an average of 70 rescue attempts a year. Officials said the plane could also be useful for observation during wildfires.
The plane has manual pilot capabilities but is most useful and efficient on autopilot, allowing its operators to type into a computer where they want the plane to fly.
“You tell it where to go, and it will continuously fly over those parameters you set for it,” Benjamin said.
Sources: Falcon, Denver Post