- A candidate is not a confirmed find.
- Pass location, context and uncertainty together.
- Retain covered and unresolved areas.
Assign the search area clearly
Record the area, the incident coordinator and any excluded zones before the flight. Use a naming scheme that another crew can follow. A visually busy flight record is not a coverage record unless the team can identify the assigned and unresolved areas.
Plan how a possible subject will interrupt the search. The operator needs a way to record that observation and resume coverage without losing the distinction between searched ground and the next assigned sector.
- 01SearchAssigned sector + coverage
- 02VerifyThermal candidate + context
- 03HandoffLocation + acknowledgment
Turn a candidate into an actionable handoff
| Step | Record or communicate |
|---|---|
| Observe | Candidate location, observation time and the relevant image. |
| Add context | Visual view, landmarks and any uncertainty. |
| Task the team | Receiving crew and the verification action requested. |
| Resolve | Acknowledgment, result and whether the search sector remains open. |
Thermal and visual are complementary
Treat a thermal candidate as a reason to investigate. Add visual context where the scene permits it, then use the incident team’s ground verification process. Keep uncertainty explicit instead of reporting a possible observation as a confirmed subject.
An integrated Matrice 4T kit is a portable starting point. A modular aircraft with H30T adds a different transport and support arrangement. Evaluate either option through the same ground-team handoff.
Close the coverage record
At the end of the task, record covered sectors, unresolved candidates and sectors still assigned. Give the next crew the same map references and naming. This makes a later search shift useful without requiring the original operator to explain every flight.
During training, have a second team receive the handoff with no extra verbal coaching. Missing coordinates, ambiguous landmarks or an unacknowledged task will become obvious before the procedure is needed at an incident.