Spring Rescues and Rising Stakes: SAR Times Weekly, April 30, 2026
Cases
Cliffside Rescue
A 25-year-old man who injured his ankle was left unable to move from a cliffside position approximately 10 feet above the waves at Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint near Depoe Bay, Oregon. A Coast Guard helicopter crew based out of Newport conducted the rescue Saturday morning.
KLCC
AI and Body Recovery
Volunteer searchers covered thousands of miles of wilderness over 11 days before recovering the body of 27-year-old Kaden Sites near Tabeguache Creek in Chaffee County, Colorado. The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office had used AI-generated imagery of Sites to assist the search, one of the more notable technology applications in the operation.
Natalie Krebs
500-foot fall, and lived to tell about it
A climber fell approximately 500 feet on a remote Eastern Sierra mountain and spent a freezing night stranded on a ledge before being spotted and airlifted to safety by helicopter. The rescue required precision flying in difficult high-altitude terrain.
Gregory Thomas
Tornado Strike
Destructive tornadoes struck Oklahoma this week, causing damage across residential neighborhoods and at Vance Air Force Base, triggering immediate search and rescue operations. SAR teams deployed across affected areas as emergency responders assessed the scope of the storm.
Missing in the Outback
An Australian woman went missing while descending Mount Santubong in Sarawak, Malaysia, prompting an overnight SAR operation by the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department. She was found safe the following morning after approximately 11 hours missing.
Malay Mail
Five days missing in AZ, found alive
A 76-year-old Vietnam veteran survived five days lost in the Yavapai County mountains of Arizona, enduring rattlesnake encounters and extreme conditions before being rescued. His family expressed gratitude to the SAR teams whose response brought him home safely.
By: Lillian Donahue
Technology
Search Dogs find woman
Search dogs in San Bernardino County located a missing 49-year-old woman in dense brush that human searchers had covered for hours without success. The case is a useful reminder of the operational advantage trained detection dogs retain in terrain where aerial and ground visual searches fall short.
Charlotte Phillipp
The AI Bat
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are proposing ultrasound navigation modeled on bat echolocation as an alternative guidance system for SAR drones operating in darkness or smoke. The approach could allow rescue drones to navigate effectively when building collapses or wildfire smoke renders camera-based systems useless.
Print this Article View Comments
Policy
Drone Incursion Issues
UK air ambulance pilots report a growing number of drone incursions near active rescue operations, with some warning that a mid-air collision could be catastrophic. The trend is prompting calls for stricter enforcement of drone exclusion zones around emergency aircraft.
Community
Canada's CAP
A CBC profile of Canada's civil air search and rescue volunteer network highlights how retired aviation professionals continue contributing to SAR operations after their careers end. Canada's CASARA program provides a significant force multiplier for official search agencies at minimal cost to taxpayers.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/civil-air-rescue-volunteers-missing-people-9.7176516
Maryland SAR Drills
Multiple agencies conducted a large-scale rescue drill at Gunpowder Falls State Park in Baltimore County, Maryland, practicing coordinated response to floods, hurricanes, and extreme emergencies. Joint exercises of this scale are increasingly common as agencies prepare for more frequent severe weather events.
By: Jeff Morgan