tommcb6016 Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Over the years I've been on this forum I have heard mumblings about volunteer search / rescue via Paramotor.. has anyone ever got anywhere with this? Obviously the reason I bring it up is because of the poor little girl in Wales, It got me thinking that a bunch of Paramotors could be quite useful for searching a defined area, maybe not as good as a helicopter but as an addition maybe. say 5 pilots searching on a grid basis could cover a fair bit of ground quite quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommcb6016 Posted October 4, 2012 Author Share Posted October 4, 2012 and were slow, can fly low with reasonable safety and have great visibility.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I'm part of a rescue team and we are on standby for the next few days to search the old mines, adits and gulleys once the search area expands - I had thought about suggesting a search by paramotor but the there are currently several helicopters operating there and also the weather has been awful, although it looks flyable for Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganers Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I've though about this one often after seeing a you tubevid of an American sheriff dept using one to search an open area. The problem with a paramotor here is weather and terrain, as a search manager you need to know what resources you can count on and our limitations with weather really restrict our usability. Also you have to know that an area is searched and clear before its discounted and you can move on despite our low slow flying ability could a pilot hand on heart say a grid section is truly clear ? All it takes is a bit of foliage and we could miss something and it's back to the need for boots on the ground. The helicopter has the same problem, but it offsets this with thermal imaging ability, although even this is fallable. Anyway that's what was exPlained to me when I looked into it, however personally I think for a quick response, cost effective initial area search a paramotor would be very useful weather allowing, for my money you can't beat a mark one eyeball from an elevated position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Just had an update, all aerial searching has been completed for now. It has been intensive using thermal cameras, etc. and several helicopters for two days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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