When someone is missing, every minute counts. At Utah Drone, we provide aerial search and rescue support for county search and rescue teams, law enforcement, fire departments, and volunteer organizations across Utah. Our FAA Part 107 certified pilots conduct aerial searches and provide real-time situational awareness from the air, helping teams on the ground cover more terrain, work more safely, and find people faster.
Utah’s backcountry is vast, from the Wasatch Range and the Uinta Mountains to the canyons and desert of southern Utah. Drones give search teams a fast, low-cost view of terrain that is slow and dangerous to cover on foot. If someone is missing right now, call 911 first so your county search and rescue team can be activated.
Our services include
- Aerial searches and reconnaissance
- Live video for incident command and situational awareness
- Systematic grid searches over large areas
- Thermal and zoom camera searches
- Precise GPS coordinates for ground teams once a subject is located
- Aerial mapping and photo documentation of the search area
Finding missing people, kids, and pets from the air
Drones have quickly become an irreplaceable tool for search and rescue teams. Whether the mission is a lost hiker, a missing child, an adult with memory loss who has wandered from home, or a lost pet, we can put eyes in the sky within minutes of arriving at the staging area.
The value of drones for search and rescue shows in three main areas: responding quickly at a low cost, using sensors such as thermal imaging and zoom cameras that reveal what the naked eye cannot, and flying automated search patterns over a precise grid.
Local police and volunteer SAR teams have long relied on helicopters and airplanes to help locate missing persons, but manned aircraft are expensive and take time to launch. A drone is ready to fly in minutes at a fraction of the cost, and it can fly low and slow over the exact area the incident commander wants covered. When an exhaustive search pattern is needed to guide ground crews, we can fly a pre-planned grid over several square miles while capturing still images or video. Your team can watch the feed live or review the footage afterward, confident that the area was searched in a systematic, logical way.
Faster response times improve survival rates
In search and rescue, teams race against the clock. We can have a drone in the air within minutes of arriving on scene, often well before a helicopter or airplane can be requested and dispatched. Once airborne, a drone scans wide areas with cameras and sensors far more quickly than a traditional line search. When the subject is spotted, we give the team precise GPS coordinates so ground crews can go straight to the location.
Drones quickly scan difficult terrain
Search and rescue missions in Utah often take place in remote locations with dense brush, cliffs, hills, slot canyons, and ravines. A drone can fly over areas that would be difficult or dangerous to cross on foot and give the incident commander a clear view of the terrain before committing ground teams.
Teams receive better data in real time
A drone carrying a thermal camera shows rescuers information that is invisible to the naked eye. Search teams on the ground can watch a live thermal feed to look for human shapes, such as body heat in a forest or a person against a snowy slope, then zoom in with a high-resolution camera to assess the condition of the missing person and what kind of first aid might be needed.
Less expensive than helicopters or airplanes
While helicopters and airplanes can cost several thousand dollars per mission, a drone costs a fraction of that. Just as important, rescuers can stay safely on the ground at the staging area while the drone covers the terrain ahead of them.
Why Utah Drone
- FAA Part 107 certified pilots
- Utah-based, with service across the state
- We work under the direction of the incident commander and fit into your existing search plan
- Live video, systematic grid coverage, and precise GPS coordinates for ground teams
Ready to use drones to help save lives? Contact Utah Drone today to discuss your team’s needs, request a free quote, or schedule a consultation. Call (385) 417-4017 or email contact@utahdronevideo.com.