Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Drone used to rescue surf swimmers
Short video at the link (sorry, can't embed) filmed by the drone as it dropped a flotation device to swimmers in heavy surf. Much more useful than delivering pizza or drugs.
A dramatic rescue at Lennox Head on the state's Far North Coast has made world history after new drone technology was used to save two swimmers struggling in heavy surf.
As lifeguards were training to familiarise themselves with the drone equipment as part of the NSW government's $16 million shark mitigation strategy on Thursday, a call came through of two distressed swimmers.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/world-first-a-drone-has-been-used-to-rescue-two-swimmers-struggling-in-heavy-surf-20180118-h0kg9m.html
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
As a general strategy though, it seems like it would be better to have distressed swimmers cling to the float outside the surf zone, to be rescued by a boat or swimmer. It looked iffy for these guys to swim in themselves with the awkward float - I'm guessing they were on the lower end of the fatigue scale to start with...
