Saved By a Drone

Too often, we report on divers who become separated from their dive boat and cannot be spotted by the crew. More often than not, the divers are located quickly, but when they are not, a major search gets underway, frequently with military craft and planes. Last August, a couple drifted away from the MV Fling in the Gulf of Mexico and drifted for a day and a half before being spotted from the air. They were lucky; some are never found.

What about drones as a safety device? Should not every liveaboard operator carry drones and have skilled operators who can search the sea? A quadcopter drone with real-time video feedback could cover a far larger visual area than anyone on deck. We've seen how effective reconnaissance drones can be in the Ukraine war. Isn't it time to adopt them as a safety measure in diver/boat operations?

A drone can do more than just spot someone adrift. A Florida shark fisherman saved a girl's life on May 15 when he used his drone to drop her a flotation device after she was caught in a rip current while swimming. Andrew Smith had been fishing on Pensacola Beach when the girl's friend ran up to ask him to help as the girl was being sucked out to sea. He was not a swimmer, but he was using a drone to help him cast. He tied a flotation device to the drone and flew it out but dropped it too far away from the girl who had been battling the rip current for five long minutes. Someone gave Smith a second flotation device. "I lowered it until you could see her hands grab it, and then I lowered it a little more, and I released it." She climbed on and started floating.

Rescuers brought her back to the beach unharmed. First responders who arrived five minutes later told him the girl would not have made it without his help and his drone.

Drone technology has revolutionized warfare. Isn't it time the technology got adopted for diver-at-the-surface surveillance? If it's going to be a long wait, a drone could also drop off drinking water and even a spot of lunch. Or a paperback book.

-- John Bantin