Firefighter's Personal Drone Assists In Rescue Of Stranded Hikers | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

 Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-10.06.25

AirborneNextGen-
10.07.25

Airborne-Unlimited-10.08.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-10.09.25

AirborneUnlimited-10.10.25

Mon, May 28, 2018

Firefighter's Personal Drone Assists In Rescue Of Stranded Hikers

Two People And Their Incapacitated Dog Became Disoriented During A Canyon Hike

When two hikers and their dog became lost in Otero Canyon in the Tonto National Forest just east of Phoenix, NM, their rescue was helped by a local firefighter flying his personal drone. But it was not part of the search effort.

Television station KOAT reports that one of the hikers called 911 on May 12 about 1700 local time to say they were lost. A five-person SAR team was dispatched, including the firefighter and his drone.  

Within an hour, the hikers had been located, according to Bernalillo County Fire Department Lt. David Lujan. But then the team also became disoriented, he said. The firefighter who was part of the team and had packed his drone into the canyon deployed the aircraft and had it hover over their location. The aircraft helped the team find their way out of the canyon.

Lujan said that the department had been considering purchasing drones before the rescue, but "this particular mission ... proved that it could work," he said.

(Image provided by the Bernalillo County Fire Department)

FMI: Original report

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (10.16.25)

“This integration marks a significant step forward in cockpit connectivity and safety. It is one of few solutions offered to business aviation and rotorcraft operators that p>[...]

Airborne 10.15.25: Phantom 3500 Confounds, Citation CJ3 Gen2 TC, True Blue Power

Also: Kodiak 100 Joins USFS, Innovative Solutions & Support Renamed, Gulfstream Selects Honeywell, Special Olympics Airlift The Phantom 3500 mockup made an appearance where the>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.16.25): Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS)

Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) An EFVS is an installed aircraft system which uses an electronic means to provide a display of the forward external scene topography (the natur>[...]

True Blue Power and Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics Power NBAA25 Coverage

Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics and True Blue Power ANN's NBAA 2025 Coverage... Visit Them At Booth #3436 True Blue Power Unveils 50 Amp-hour Lithium-ion, Main Ship Battery >[...]

NTSB Final Report: Bellanca 17-30A

Shortly After Takeoff, The Engine Completely Lost Power Analysis: The pilot reported that the engine start, run-up, and takeoff were without incident. However, shortly after takeof>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Change Display

Headlines Only | Headlines w/ Teasers | View Everything

Advertisement

Top Videos

Airborne 10.03.25: Phantom 3500 Buy, ‘Chinese Military Company’, NOTAM Redesign

Airborne Affordable Flyers 10.02.25: MOSAIC Start Date, AFE25 Tickets, ePulitzer

Airborne 10.01.25: New Gulfstream G300, Affordable Flying Expo Tkts, Starship 11

See All

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC