Drone helps find man suffering from heart attack         by Matt McFarland   @mattmcfarland   July 15, 2016: 12:52 PM ET   



            
   Iowa first responders turned to a new colleague when searching for missing boaters Wednesday night.   A 20-person team was searching for a grandfather and granddaughter who  were stranded in a logjam on the East Fork of the Des Moines River.  David Penton, emergency management coordinator for Kossuth County, could  faintly hear the cries of the missing persons, but the setting sun was  making it more difficult to see them amid the thickly wooded riverbank.
   So Penton called a colleague and had him rush to the scene with a drone.
   Within three minutes of takeoff, they'd found the duo by watching the  live stream from the DJI Phantom's camera. The drone then hovered  overhead so that the first responders could use its location to guide  them to the grandfather and granddaughter.
  Related: New drone rules could curtail cell tower deaths
   Penton said he expected the victims would have been found without the  drone, but using it allowed them to find them faster. Once discovered,  the man fell to his knees as he was suffering from a heart attack.
  "Without the help of that drone, time could've been an issue for him," Penton said.
   The man, Thomas Fitzpatrick, was rushed to a hospital. Penton said late  Thursday that Fitzpatrick was expected to be upgraded from critical to  stable condition.
  Related: How to catch drones smuggling drugs into prison
   Drones are proving valuable to people such as Penton, who can benefit  from inexpensive aerial photos and videos. Drones are expected to become  increasingly common in August as thefederal government's rules for commercial drone usewill  go into effect. The drone industry estimates that by 2025, drones will  lead to 100,000 new jobs and an economic impact of $82 billion.
   Since acquiring the drone in May, Penton had only used it in test  flights. He said the drone performed so well that he plans to get a  second one. The drone Penton relied on -- a DJI Phantom -- weighs three  pounds and costs about $1,000.
  "It gave that patient or that  victim reassurance that they have been found," Penton said of the  missing persons first seeing a drone hovering overhead. "We're here.  We've rolled out every asset that we have to find them."
     CNNMoney (Washington)  First published July 15, 2016: 12:52 PM ET

Great it's nice to hear a good story about drones

Another great tool for this. Aerial coverage is faster than ground coverage. Great to see a story as this.

Great to see this story.

Aloha CCP,

     Aside from our own personal uses, this is really what the new technology is all about.  Notice Penton wants another one.  Probably for redundancy.  Mahalo for the article.

Aloha and Drone On!