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The trade · Use case

Searching for a person at night with several drones

A missing person, darkness, a large area. Several drones with thermal cameras split the area into sectors, each with its own pilot. First of all you know under which rules you are flying: it depends on who is leading the operation.

Sources checked on 13 October 2026

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Scenario

A person missing in the countryside or in a forest, at night. Whoever is directing the operation asks for drones. The area is too large for a single drone: three or four arrive, with thermal cameras.

Objective

To cover the area as quickly as possible without leaving gaps, and to pass a precise position to the ground teams as soon as something is seen.

Risks

  • Several drones in the same area, at night.
  • Rescue helicopters at low altitude.
  • Obstacles invisible in the dark: cables, trees, slopes.
  • Sectors that overlap or are left uncovered.
  • Batteries running out halfway through a sector.
  • A thermal false alarm (animals, warm stones) that sends the teams to the wrong place.

Category

First question: who is leading the operation. The European basic regulation does not apply to aircraft carrying out "search and rescue […] under the control and responsibility of a Member State, undertaken in the public interest by or on behalf of a body vested with the powers of a public authority" (Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, Article 2(3)(a)). In that case national rules apply. The State must still have due regard to the safety objectives of the regulation (Article 2(3), second subparagraph) and may decide to apply some parts of it to these activities too (Article 2(6)).

Each country does it in its own way. The national rules, with their sources, country by country: Italy.

If the operation does not fall under that, for example a private operator called in to help, the European rules apply:

  • Night: it is defined as "the hours between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight" (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947, Article 2(34)). In the open category the remote pilot must ensure "that a green flashing light on the unmanned aircraft is activated" (Annex, UAS.OPEN.060(2)(g)). In the specific category the operator must ensure that every drone is installed with "at least one green flashing light" (UAS.SPEC.050(1)(l)(i)).
  • Beyond visual line of sight: the open category requires the drone to be kept in sight (Article 4(1)(d)). A large sector flown beyond visual line of sight takes you into the 'specific' category.
  • One drone per pilot: in the standard scenarios the remote pilot shall "operate only one unmanned aircraft at a time" (UAS.STS-01.040 and UAS.STS-02.040), and EASA states the same for the open category (AMC1 UAS.OPEN.060(2)(d)). Four drones means four pilots.

Those who were not called stay out. Nobody may fly "close to or inside areas where an emergency response effort is ongoing unless they have permission to do so from the responsible emergency response services" (UAS.OPEN.060(3); for the specific category UAS.SPEC.060(3)(e)).

Equipment

  • Drones with thermal cameras and lights, one pilot per drone, if possible one observer per pilot.
  • One person who coordinates the drones and talks to whoever is directing the operation.
  • Spare batteries and a battery change point.
  • Radio or another voice channel, always open.

Recommended sequence

  1. Contact with whoever is directing the operation: area, last known position, incoming helicopters, radio channel.
  2. The area is split into sectors, one per drone, with clear boundaries. Decide how to keep apart: separate sectors, different heights, or both.
  3. For each sector: parallel tracks with the spacing calculated from the height and the field of view of the thermal camera, or an expanding square starting from the last known position.
  4. Every pilot knows how long their sector takes and how many batteries it needs.
  5. During the flight: a hot spot is confirmed by taking a closer look before sending the teams. Pass on the position, the time and the image.
  6. At the end of the sector: record what was covered and what was not.

Common mistakes

  • Two drones in neighbouring sectors at the same height, with no rule to keep them apart.
  • One pilot flying two drones.
  • Sending the teams to a false alarm, without a second look.
  • Passing a position by voice, without coordinates.
  • Not knowing which sectors are left uncovered during a battery change.
  • Volunteer drones that were not called, in the area of the operation.

What to deliver

  • To whoever is directing the operation: the positions of the finds with time and image, and the map of the sectors covered and of those left uncovered.
  • After the operation: the account of the flights.

What evidence to keep

  • The sectors, who had them and when.
  • The flight tracks and the images of the hot spots, with time and position.
  • Who saw what and when they passed it on to the teams.
  • The flights in the logbook. In the specific category the record of operations is kept "for a minimum of 3 years" (UAS.SPEC.050(1)(g)(iii)); for State operations national rules apply.

How it works in Dronetrake

  • Search areas: you draw the area and split it into sectors of equal surface, one per drone or pilot, each with its own colour.
  • For each sector: parallel tracks or an expanding square from the known point. The spacing between tracks is calculated from the height and the camera's field of view, taken from the manufacturers' data sheets when available.
  • Every sector has a length and an estimated time, compared with the real endurance of the batteries of the assigned drone.
  • Every sector becomes an exportable flight plan (KMZ for DJI Pilot 2, .plan for QGroundControl). The zones the sector touches are flagged.
  • Who creates the sectors and who assigns them stays in the record.
  • In the operations room, SarAlert watches the frames of the live stream and flags people and objects, and also smoke and flames, each with its own alert; with the thermal camera it flags when the maximum temperature exceeds a threshold. The operator chooses what to look for. The thermal camera measures, the vision interprets, the human eye decides: the alert helps the operator, it does not replace them.

Sources

The rules cited were read at the source on the date shown. The official text prevails. This chapter is information, not legal advice.

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