Military Drone Helping Search For Missing San Francisco Survival Teacher In El Dorado County
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — A military drone is providing leads in the search for a missing teacher who was last seen on a motorcycle in El Dorado County.
The El Dorado County Sheriff's Department made the request for help in the national guard's first search and rescue effort with a drone.
The MQ-9 Reaper drones were built for warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, but now they're being used to help find a teacher lost in the El Dorado County wilderness.
"It's able to provide very high tech, immediate imagery to the folks on the ground," said California National Guard Capt. Will Martin .
The search for Ed Cavanaugh, who teaches survival skills to students in San Francisco, is now 100 square miles. Trained professionals and volunteers are scouring the rugged land and have so far found no trace of him.
The drone is methodically scanning the search zone with infrared sensors, image-intensified cameras and laser illuminators to send detailed pictures to several labs across the United States for analysis.
His family is putting faith in his survival skills, praying he's somewhere in the deep backcountry, waiting to be spotted and saved.
"All the people who are out here today using this technology all believe in one simple thing: That Ed's out there," said his cousin Mary Connor. "We're going to find him."
So far, the drone images have given searchers new leads they hope to work on Thursday morning.