AirFlare – the safety and rescue solution
AirFlare is revolutionizing outdoor safety by enabling the smartphone that nearly everyone carries to be a uniquely powerful rescue tool. AirFlare’s innovative technology leverages the modern phone’s hardware turning it into a rescue solution that has powerful in-cell-service and out-of-cell service capabilities. AirFlare reduces search time, improves outcomes, and keeps guests and personnel safer in the process.
AirFlare was started after our founders’ friend took a bad fall on a solo climb. He had a Personal Locator Beacon with him but was unable to press the SOS button. The recovery effort that followed inspired the development of AirFlare. A passive rescue technology that can be used to locate subjects quickly without them even needing to push that button. It was also important that this technology be widely accessible and affordable.
AirFlare Search Technology never blinks and sees through trees, foliage and other challenging terrain obstacles – enabling detection of lost adventurers who have gotten off trail, sought shelter, are incapacitated, have slipped into a tree well, or otherwise would be invisible to a passing search team.
AirFlare Search Technology makes otherwise formidable terrain searchable. Mounted on a backpack or drone, AirFlare Search Technology can punch through heavy canopies where cameras and thermal imaging devices alone are limited. Detection data is recorded throughout the search and can be analysed at any time.
AirFlare Search Technology is easy to use and readily integrates with standard search protocols and procedures. Compact and lightweight design, configurable within minutes, and easily deployable without extensive technical training – AirFlare Search Technology enhances search effectiveness without sapping resource time and focus.
With features like Location Return, AirFlare Search Technology can often determine a lost subject’s GPS coordinates before a search team can be assembled. In the field, AirFlare Search Technology far outperforms detection ranges achievable by visual sight and sound check. Once detected, AirFlare Search Technology pulls GPS coordinates off the lost subject’s phone within seconds.
When the lost subject is an AirFlare subscriber, AirFlare Search Technology is configured to search for their specific phone, eliminating the possibility of a false detection and more importantly no need to clear the area.
AirFlare’s goal is to be used by as many search teams as possible, so keeping costs as low as possible is in everyone’s best interests. The entire process from search initiation to configuration to deployment can be done in under two minutes. Additionally, AirFlare Search Technology can be deployed to teams not familiar with the technology and with minimal instruction. For teams on the ground and for drones in the air, AirFlare Search Technology is an extremely powerful set of tools with a very low deployment cost.
AirFlare’s technology and service would be nowhere without these visionary organizations, tirelessly dedicated to keeping those they serve–and their teams–safer tomorrow than they were yesterday!
“I wanted to reach out to you and let you know how stoked we are on Airflare and share another success story from this week. On Sunday we had two guests duck a rope and exit the resort on our backside. This unfortunately happens at least once or twice a season. Most times it results in an extended search including our local SAR group and often goes well into the night. We were able to use AirFlare and direct them to a place where our patrol met them and got them down the hill, within a matter of an hour.” ~ Wolfe Ashcraft, VP Resort Operations, Tamarack Resort, ID
A call came into dispatch during Powder Mountain Patrol’s AirFlare onboarding training. The injured skier, with a suspected broken jaw, was confused about their location. Dispatch sent an AirFlare Location Request text to the skier. Their coordinates were successfully returned, and it was revealed that the skier was 1 mile from their originally suspected location. After receiving accurate coordinates, Patrol was able to be deployed to the exact location of the injured skier. ~ Powder Mountain Ski Resort, UT
“Jay Peak Ski Patrol concluded another successful search yesterday. Three young customers ventured beyond the resort boundary. AirFlare was used successfully to determine their location, and with some coaching, by phone the group was able to struggle back to the base area under their own power.” ~ Dave Marchand, Ski Patrol Director, Jay Peak Resort, VT
“Tyson Wise skied out of bounds at Brundage Mountain Resort looking for untracked snow only to realize he had strayed too far from familiar territory and was in need of help. Wise, 47, of Boise, said he hiked for over an hour to get back in bounds. He realized that he was running out of daylight and the battery in his telephone was draining so he called the [Brundage] ski patrol for assistance. Instead of mounting a full-scale search and rescue operation, patrollers sent him a text linking to a smartphone app that helped pinpoint his location. Once they knew exactly where he was, two patrollers on snowmobiles drove directly to Wise and brought him back to safety” ~ Article written and published by The Star-News in McCall
“We have had great success with using AirFlare both via the web browser text version and via the Field Console application. Two favorite incidents were 1) two teenagers that were off trail and unable to describe well where they were and they had both fallen in a tree well so not easily visible. We were able to text them and get their coordinates back and sent that information on to the Patrollers out on the hill. The Patrollers skied easily to them and were able to assist them. 2) I was out of bounds myself digging a snow pit and got a call from the mountain manager. He was trying to locate some folks that were ‘lost’ in another out of bounds area. I had a good signal so was able to use the Field Console on my app to send the lost party a text, get their GPS coordinates, map those and send the map to the mountain manager. They were then able to go retrieve the lost party. We have several other success stories using the app and thank you for bringing this product to us.” ~ Denise, Patrol Director, Bogus Basin, ID
Transforms an adventurer’s mobile phone into a wilderness rescue beacon that provides search teams multiple ways to find them on and off grid. AirFlare adds no weight or bulk to a pack, works with limited or no cellular service, extends off-grid battery life to a week or longer and requires no user action to be searchable.
When an AirFlare subscriber becomes the subject of a search, a notification is sent to their phone. If the phone is in cellular service it will return its exact GPS coordinates. When a Detector comes within range of the lost subject phone, the Detector instructs the lost subject’s phone to return its GPS coordinates to the search team.
An app for search teams used to control AirFlare Search Technology. Search teams use Field Console to ping the GPS coordinates of an AirFlare subscriber’s phone when they become the subject of a search, to configure AirFlare Detector to search for the lost subject’s phone in the field, and to determine the exact location of the lost subject’s phone once a detection is made.
AirFlare Search Technology integrates with common GIS platforms. Search results can be viewed in the field or shared to Incident Command with the push of a button from a searcher’s mobile device. Visualization and analysis of search results provides valuable insights to support ongoing mission planning.
About the size and weight of a deck of cards, AirFlare Detector is used by ground and aerial teams to detect the location of a lost adventurer’s phone. It fits nicely in a jacket pocket or in the top of a backpack, and is specifically designed to be transported in the air via drone. AirFlare Detector performs well through trees and foliage, enabling searchers to see where eyes can’t and often beyond the range of sound check. Once a detection is made, AirFlare Detector offers powerful tools to home in on the location of the lost subject.
AirFlare Search Technology is an extremely powerful second set of eyes designed to be deployed on ground and aerial teams with minimal disruption to existing search protocols. The ability to see through trees and foliage significantly increases probability of detection. When a Detector detects the lost subject’s phone, the searcher is alerted the subject is in the vicinity, and very often can retrieve the exact location of the lost subject’s phone.
LOCATION RETURN:
A Lost Adventurer’s phone’s GPS coordinates are returned to a Search Team when they become the subject of a Search.
OUT-OF-CELL-SERVICE DECTECTION WITH LOCATION CAPTURE
Deployed when Location Return does not return a subject’s coordinates (e.g. out of cell service). Enables a Search Team to
deploy technology in the field to search for a specific phone belonging to a specific Lost Adventurer. The Lost Adventurer’s phone’s GPS coordinates are returned to a Search Team when a Detector comes within range.
LOCATION REQUEST:
Ability for a search team to send a location request via text to a mobile phone with or without AirFlare installed. Upon
receipt and approval, the phone automatically sends its GPS coordinates back to the search team.
LOCATION SHARING:
Ability for an AirFlare user to request the location of another AirFlare user (example a friend or family member) with preapproved permissions.
LOCATION MESSAGING:
An Adventurer can automatically pull their phone’s GPS coordinates into a text message and send to 911 or an emergency
contact.
We’re offering the following to resorts that demo and onboard before the end of 2021!
⬡ AirFlare’s technology is FREE to the resort and patrol
⬡ FREE AirFlare membership offered to all Season Pass Holders
⬡ FREE AirFlare membership offered to all Resort Staff
⬡ 6 month FREE trial and 1/2 off ($4.99 annual subscription) for life to Resort Guests
How AirFlare Works – Usage Scenarios