By air: A day with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office air rescue unit
Jul 6, 2017, 5:00 AM
Editor’s note: In this multipart series, KTAR News’ Corbin Carson describes a day in the life — on land, water and in the air — of deputies who work on the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team.
Read part one and check back on KTAR.com on Friday for part three.
After touring the Arizona desert to learn what it takes to search for missing people on the ground, Deputy Christopher Pittmann, a senior coordinator for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit, showed me what it’s like from the air.
“Obviously, this is our fastest response,” he said. “If somebody’s really in trouble in the desert (and) we want to get to them quick, this is the way to do it.”
MCSO has two helicopters at its disposal that play an integral part in finding a missing person.
“They’re kind of the quick backbone of search and rescue,” Pittmann said. “With the development of cell phone technology over the last decade, we’re able to dial in where people are at quicker based on their GPS on their phones.”
I flew with Deputy Richard Dickner and tactical flight officer Deputy Andy Bahn over Saguaro and Canyon lakes and patrolled along the Salt River. While we kept an eye on tubers, they also talked to me about the benefits of cell phones.
“It can be difficult, but a cell phone is a life saver because, with our night-vision goggles, just opening up their cell-phone we can see that from three or four miles away,” he said.
Bahn also said he and Dickner have a lot of ground to keep an eye on from their perch above the desert.
“We fly over the whole county, so (more than) 9,000 square miles,” said Bahn.