Amboy Crater in San Bernardino County, California is an extinct volcano and a prominent feature in the desolate Mojave Desert. Tourists can hike a 1.5-mile trail from a parking lot off of Old Route 66 to the cinder cone. The terrain is rough and air temperatures can reach 120 degrees, the ground up to 160 degrees. On June 3, 2018, Park Rangers at Amboy Crater noted a car had been parked overnight in the visitor parking lot. On June 12, Park Rangers again noted the vehicle and investigated its ownership. Family members of Susan and Bill Schmierer, a mid-sixties couple from Williamsburg, Virginia, confirmed it was their parents’ car and they were overdue for a visit. On June 16, a ground search team discovered the body of Bill Schmierer but Susan was not found. A subsequent ground search again failed to find her.
In this presentation, we discuss how drones were used over four weeks, in multiple phases, facing extremely harsh desert terrain for this search and recovery mission.
The presentation includes:
• The coordination with law enforcement and the nearby Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.
• How we managed the extreme environmental conditions, barely avoiding a disaster ourselves.
• Our overall approach and how we used autonomous flights to capture hundreds of 360-degree images.
• Crowd-sourced analysis of the collected images and data utilizing our pilot community.
• Search pattern determination and why we sponsored a manned flight mission to create a 27 square mile orthomosaic image of the entire area.
• The use of drones to individually investigate 433 clues resulting from the crowd-sourced analysis.
• The unique way we used wildlife behavior to direct our drone capture.
• Image resolution, night flights, thermal imaging and what we learned about desert search and recovery operations.
• Delivery of Air Support Packages (ASP) to deployed teams.
Finally, we will share the outcome of our efforts to help bring closure to the family.
This class is sponsored by DroneUp.