On the afternoon of September 4, Weihai Air Patrol Base received the instruction from the rescue center, “Qiong Chang Yu 20318 went missing about 17 nautical miles southeast of Chengshantou. Please send a UAV to assist in the search and rescue.”

The base immediately started the emergency procedures, accessing the impact of the typhoon and the marine safety in accordance with the safety assessment system; while the control group and ground team quickly got the UAV on standby. According to the available information, the flight search route was designed and reported to the air traffic control. At 1635, the flight was approved to perform emergency search in the declared airspace with a flight altitude of 1,000 meters. The maritime air patrol left the base at 1650 hours. After arriving at the accident area, it circled around the accident site. During this period, it used visible light, far-infrared and multispectral advanced equipment to conduct aerial carpet search. The total flight range was 105 kilometers, taking 80 minutes, and the search area was nearly 300 square kilometers.

This is the first time for maritime UAVs to carry out emergency missions after their trial operation. With obvious features such as high speed, wide field of view and carrying high precision equipment, UAVs are advanced equipment for maritime emergency response and search and rescue.