At Candrone Demo Day 2025, we sat down with Nick Rivers, Search Manager and President of Arrowsmith Search and Rescue (SAR) on Vancouver Island, to talk about how drones are reshaping wilderness response. Interviewed by Jacky Heshi (Candrone), Nick shared candid stories, cost realities, and an exciting vision for the next frontier: drone-deployed mesh communications for large-area search operations.
Why Drones Matter in Search & Rescue
Helicopters are the traditional airborne tool in SAR—but they’re grounded after dark. Drones aren’t. With high-resolution thermal imaging, Arrowsmith SAR now searches at night, scanning forest, cutblock, coastal, and mountainous terrain long after manned aircraft are parked. That alone has changed outcomes.
Beyond detection, drones give incident command live situational awareness: where teams are deployed, what terrain lies ahead, and how dense the vegetation is in the next grid. That means better tasking, safer routes, and smarter commitment of volunteer hours during multi-day operations.
The Cost Equation: Helicopter Hour = Drone Program
Nick did not mince words: helicopters run about $8,000 per hour, and full search days can stretch to 8–10 hours. When you compare that to the relatively low hourly operating cost of enterprise drones, the economics speak for themselves. In some cases, one hour of helicopter time equals the purchase price of a capable SAR drone. Arrowsmith now leans on drones for wide-area search and reserves helicopter flight hours for rescue transport or extraction—where manned lift is still irreplaceable.
Payloads with Purpose: Thermal, Spotlights & Visual Signals
Arrowsmith SAR flies multiple platforms, including the DJI M30T and M350 RTK with the H30T payload. Nick called the H30T “an unreal machine” for thermal detection—so sharp that white light isn’t always necessary to confirm what you’re seeing.
Still, lighting tools matter. The team equips drones with spotlight payloads like the CZI GL60 Plus and GL60 Mini. These do more than illuminate terrain:
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Target confirmation: Light up heat signatures to visually verify a subject.
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Psychological reassurance: The GL60 Mini’s red flashing emergency light helps lost persons recognize that help is overhead.
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Prompting self-rescue behavior: When people see or hear a drone, they often wave, make noise, or move into the open—actions that dramatically increase detectability.
Speakers are next on Arrowsmith’s wishlist: a way to broadcast instructions (“Stay put,” “We see you,” “Turn on your light”) that can stabilize situations before ground crews arrive.
A Save That Still Gives Goosebumps
One mission sticks with Nick. A man and two dogs went missing in a trail system that funneled into vast logging country—a maze of cutblocks and roads that can swallow search time. The drone found him fast. If he had moved just another 100 meters, Nick estimates the search could have stretched to a week. Because the drone intercepted him early, rescuers avoided a large-scale, high-cost mobilization—and likely saved his life. Sometimes success isn’t dramatic hoist videos; it’s prevention through speed.
Funding Reality: Community Powered
In British Columbia, SAR teams receive only ~10–15% of their annual budget from the province. The rest? Community fundraising. Drone footage—thermal tracks, nighttime searches, dramatic terrain flyovers—has become a powerful public education tool. When communities see what drones make possible, they step up. That support directly translates into better equipment, faster response, and more lives saved.
What’s Next: Air-Dropped Comms Networks
Nick’s next project is ambitious: pair a heavy-lift platform like the FlyCart 30 with deployable radio/IP mesh nodes. Picture drones winching down Pelican-cased comms stations that auto-link via satellite, Wi-Fi, and VHF—instantly extending voice and data across mountains where handheld radios fail. After the mission, the drone retrieves the nodes. Portable, reusable, fast.
