Desert searches : effectiveness of helicopters.

Bibliography: p. 32

Arizona Revised Statute 11-441C states that the Sheriff of each of the 14 Arizona Counties shall conduct or co-ordinate search and rescue within their jurisdiction and assist the sheriffs of other Arizona Counties upon request. The Pima County Sheriff's Department has assumed an active role in both search and rescue. Two deputies assigned to the sheriff's Search and Rescue (SAR) section are responsible for the investigation and management of SAR related incidents. This department has managed 663 search and rescue missions during the period of 1975 through 1980. These missions occurred throughout the State of Arizona and in Mexico; 371 of these SAR missions began as searches for people lost or overdue from a wilderness outing. Upon examination of Pima County's historical SAR data involving the helicopter resource (for the period January 1978, through February 1981), it is noted that the median time spent on an air search was 4 hours. An extreme case involved 55 hours of unsuccessful air searching. In daytime mountain searches (elevation 4,000 to 10,000 feet) of all the victims found as a direct result of the SAR effort, 53% were found by the helicopter resource. In daytime desert searches (elevation 1,500 to 4,000 feet) af all the victims found as a direct result of the SAR effort, 78% were found by the helicopter resource. However, it should be noted that clue conscious ground search teams provided significant guidance to the air resources in many of these successful finds. Nevertheless, these data show that the helicopter air-search is a valuable search aid