Life-Saving UAS Now Enshrined in the Smithsonian

    
        
            
        
        
            
        
    

A Draganflyer X4-ES, similar to the one now in the Smithsonian’s collection. Photo courtesy Draganfly Innovations Inc.

By Brett Davis



A small unmanned aircraft that was used to save a man’s life in Canada last year has now made its way to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.



The Draganflyer X4-ES UAS was used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in May 2013 in the investigation of a single-car accident in rural Saskatchewan. The driver was seriously injured but left the vehicle and could not be found by ground units or a manned helicopter.



The RCMP then used the Draganflyer system to locate the man using thermal imagery via its FLIR Tau camera. 



“Had the driver not been located, it was determined that he would have died from the injuries sustained during the crash and exposure to the cold,” the company wrote in press release. 



The small UAS is now in the Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.