Scottish Charity SC048519
Using drones to save lives in Scotland's mountains.
Search and Rescue Aerial Association – Scotland (SARAA-Scotland) uses drones to locate missing people faster and keep volunteers safe. We operate 24/7 across Scotland's mountains, coasts, and remote terrain.
Snapshot
What we do
Established in 2018 after a Scottish Mountain Rescue feasibility study, SARAA-Scotland provides governance, training, and on-call drone support across Scotland.
Search & locate
Zoom and thermal payloads let us search complex terrain fast, sharing real-time findings with search managers and teams operating on the ground.
Assess & protect
Zoom lenses and terrain-following flights let us check cliffs, avalanche paths, and river crossings before teams commit to hazardous ground.
Real-time intelligence
Live feeds go straight to search managers and incident commanders so decisions stay current and ground teams deploy safely.
Capability
Why drones save lives
Drones change how mountain rescue teams search for missing people and reduce exposure to dangerous ground.
Quick and focused deployment
Portable, weather-resistant aircraft deliver 20-30 minute sorties per battery, enabling focused, repeatable sweeps of large, complex areas.
Risk reduction
Drone reconnaissance helps keep rope, water, and avalanche specialists off unstable ground until safer routes are confirmed.
24/7 capability
Thermal, low-light, and spotlight payloads keep searches active after dark, when exposure risk is highest.
Enhanced awareness
Detection tools flag anomalies in imagery, helping teams focus effort on the most promising areas quickly.
People
Who we are
Every SARAA pilot is already an operational member of a Scottish Mountain Rescue team, adding aviation skills to their rescue role.
Established governance
SARAA-Scotland became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation in July 2018 (SC048519) and operates as a national capability team within Scottish Mountain Rescue (opens in new tab), available to any of the 25 volunteer teams when drone support is needed.
Professional standards
Pilots hold CAA certification (A2CoC, GVC and PDRA-01) and fly under a detailed Operations Manual and Pilot Operations Handbook. Independent servicing, checklists, and secure data handling keep aviation-level safety on every mission.
“Whether being used for a search or in a risk-reducing role such as floodlighting a technical rope rescue site at night, drones provide our search and incident managers a view that has previously only been achievable with a hugely expensive, and scarce, helicopter asset.”
Tom NashFormer SARAA-Scotland Team Leader, ex-RAF Tornado GR4 Navigator
“Search and incident managers now have another valuable resource in their toolbox.”
Kev MitchellFormer Vice Chair, Scottish Mountain Rescue
Field notes
In the field
Regular training keeps crews ready for mountain, moorland, woodland, and coastal terrain, day or night.
Support
Help keep Scotland's drone rescue teams mission-ready
Operational costs—from aircraft and batteries to software licences—are funded almost entirely by donations.
Fund capability
Your gift pays for all-weather aircraft, thermal sensors, batteries, training flights, and the software that helps us review imagery.
Support our missions (opens in new tab) →Corporate partnerships
Equipment manufacturers, outdoor brands, and technology companies can sponsor aircraft, payloads, or software licences with operational reporting.
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