A Durango-based helicopter company is testing a new tool that could help helicopter search and rescue teams locate and communicate with missing and endangered people in Colorado’s backcountry within minutes, even if they’re stranded in an area without cell service.
Similar to a miniature cell phone tower, the technology attaches to the outside of the helicopter and allows searchers to pinpoint the location of any cell phones within a 3-mile radius using a map on a tablet, Dr. Tim Durkin, search and rescue program coordinator for Colorado Highland Helicopters.
“As we detect the phone, basically a blob appears on the map, and as we fly around that area, that blob gets smaller and smaller until we can see exactly where they are,” Durkin said.
“This process of detection, of focusing on one particular spot, takes about a minute – it’s actually not long at all.”
Depending on the situation, search and rescue teams may send ground crews with a person’s location or land a helicopter if there is a clearing nearby and conditions allow for a safe landing, Durkin said.
During a test mission in La Plata Canyon northwest of Durango, search teams found the two people they were looking for within two minutes and 14 seconds, Durkin said.
The technology, called Lifeseeker, was developed by Spanish company CENTUM research & technology and is in the process of being approved by the Federal Communications Commission before it can be sold to state or counties that hope to use it for their SAR efforts. he said.
La Plata Canyon is bordered by several 12,000 and 13,000 foot peaks on both sides with dense forest at the bottom. Several major search and rescue missions have taken place in the remote mountainous area looking for missing hikers and ultrarunners.
The rugged terrain, similar to many areas of Colorado, makes it extremely difficult for searchers to find people from the air or the ground. Some missions in the past have taken weeks before searchers called off ground missions without finding the person they were looking for.
“Even two full grown adults standing there under a tree, even though we can look at the screen and say, ‘we know exactly where they are,’ and we’re circling 30 feet from the trees in a helicopter, you can’t see them because the tree cover is so thick,” said Durkin, an emergency medicine physician.
“Trying to find a person without some kind of supplemental technology to see them is really quite, quite difficult, if not nearly impossible.”
It takes about three minutes to install the Lifeseeker unit in a helicopter for a search and rescue mission, said Dr. Tim Durkin, search and rescue program coordinator for Colorado Highland Helicopters. (Photo courtesy of Tim Durkin)
Radio technology needs a clear, unobstructed view of the terrain to pick up a cell phone signal. If the conditions and terrain are favorable, it can detect a cell phone up to a distance of almost 20 miles.
It takes about three minutes to attach the Lifeseeker unit inside the helicopter when it’s needed for a search and rescue mission, Durkin said.
SAR can also use the tool to send text messages to the missing person, for example advising them to stay in one area if they are injured or to move to a clearing where a helicopter will pick them up.
The tool also has a broadcast feature that allows SAR to send a message to a group of people within a certain range, similar to an Amber Alert for a missing child, to warn them of a wildfire or flooding, Durkin said.
The new technology could be another life-saving tool for the roughly 2,500 search and rescue volunteers statewide who respond to calls from people in the backcountry, said Jeff Sparhawk, executive director of the Colorado Search and Rescue Association, which represents the state’s teams that operate under county sheriffs.
Finding a person with dementia or a missing child without a cell phone, for example, may require a different approach than searching for a missing hiker last seen on the windy summit of a 14,000-foot mountain.
Air rescuers use a variety of technologies to search for people, such as high-definition video that is filtered through software that can identify colors not normally seen in nature, such as royal blue. SAR also has access to government aircraft that use infrared sensors to detect temperature differences on the ground.
Still, the success rate of search and rescue teams using visual searches from helicopters is not very high, Sparhawk said.
“Searching in our valleys, in our mountains is just very, very difficult. It’s also difficult when people wear muted colors – finding someone in gray among 10 billion gray stones is really hard,” he said.
Lifeseeker’s technology could make a huge difference for searchers looking for someone in an area out of cell phone range, but only if the person’s phone has power, Sparhawk said.
“It’s a balancing act. From our perspective, we’re concerned about cell phone batteries – if someone’s going on a hike, we teach people to turn off their phone, put it on airplane mode, or conserve battery as much as you can. It usually means disconnecting from the grid,” Sparhawk said.
“So if they’re saving their cell phone battery and they don’t hear the helicopter and they don’t turn it back on, it won’t make any difference to them.” But of course, when they get lost, they have to turn on their cell phone and try to get into coverage,” he said.
A task force designed to better support search and rescue operations across the state cited improving field communications as a way to keep first responders in the backcountry without passing any costs on to those calling for help.
Three T’s
Trip planning: Leave a detailed plan with someone at home, including the trailhead, where you will park, your intended route, your intended destination, who is with you, and when you are expected to return. If you did not return home in a reasonable amount of time for your schedule, the person should call 911 and report you overdue.
Training: Make sure you have the skills, abilities, experience and physical condition for the adventure you are planning.
Take the essentials: Carry 10 essentials plus any sport-specific equipment you may need.
The 111-page report, released in 2022, recommended giving sheriffs and backcountry search and rescue teams funding to buy and improve communications technology, as well as study the value of rescue helicopters.
Many search and rescue teams across the state have been overwhelmed by a dramatic increase in calls over the past few years.
“The success of our tourism industry is both a blessing and a curse for us,” Sparhawk said. “We support the tourism economy to the extent that we can and we don’t want to hurt it, but I think the increase in population and the increase in tourism is really giving us a lot to do.”
Most calls come in the summer, while winter missions typically require more energy, requiring searchers to go into precarious, avalanche-prone terrain, he said.
Colorado Search and Rescue advises people to make their backcountry recreation as safe as possible by following the three Ts: trip planning, training, and essentials.
“Most people go on adventures, of course they don’t expect to need help, so they go about their day.” They should do it,” said Sparhawk. “This is a what-if situation that not everyone thinks about.