The use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the mountain rescue service

Abstract

The theme of paper is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the Mountain rescue service. At the beginning, a brief summary about the history and development of unmanned aerial vehicles is made, starting from the very beginning to their gradual integration into the rescue systems all around the world. This part is followed by an analysis of the currently valid Slovak legislation regulating the rules of flying with unmanned aerial vehicles on the territory of Slovak Republic, which also affects the flight operations of mountain rescuers. Author also included an analysis of the European legislation, which should gradually replace the currently valid Slovak legislation and unify the rules of operation of unmanned aerial vehicles on the territory of the member states. The third chapter describes the use of specific types of unmanned aerial vehicles used by the Mountain rescue service of Slovak Republic and also of other European countries. We focused on the operational advantages and disadvantages compared to other types of aircraft technology used in the mountain rescue systems. The last part consists of an analysis of available equipment used in conjunction with unmanned aerial vehicles during avalanche accidents. Part of the work is also researching the possible extensions of mountain rescue operations by the implementation of modern avalanche beacons attached on the unmanned vehicles. In a research we focused mainly on the possible interference caused by the operation of unmanned aerial vehicle in close vicinity of an avalanche beacon.