Well done to Jonathon Le Mesurier, Aaron Wallace, Mike Malherbe, Steven McDonald, Mathew Webber and Lachlan McDonald on being the club's first UAV (Drone) Pilots.
The club also has a SLSNSW supplied UAV (Drone) for club use on patrols to perform shark spotting, extended surveillance and search & rescue supporting our patrols on Stanwell Park Beach.
This is the first drone to come into service for Illawarra beaches.
Look out for the distinctive Red & Yellow Drone in operation on Stanwell Park Beach this summer.
6 members from Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club, 5 from North Wollongong SLSC, 1 from Wollongong City SLSC and 1 from Surf Life Saving Illawarra Support Operations.
The training including identifying hazardous and non-hazardous sharks, identifying marine creatures, rules around flying from the beach, surveillance techniques, performing autonomous search and rescue flights, and general maintenance and care of the UAV.
A full day of flying and aircraft familiarity was held, with 6 drones in the air simultaneously on Rex Jackson Oval.
All trainees successfully completed the training.
Thanks to Aviassist for providing the training today.
Thanks also to Westpac and Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopters - Official Site for making the SLSNSW Drone Program possible.
A big thanks to Surf Life Saving NSW for making this training available to the Illawarra clubs.
