Our Work

How we operate.

Search and Rescue Aerial Association – Scotland (SARAA-Scotland) combines mountain rescue experience with drones to find people faster and keep teams safer.

When we're called

Deployment scenarios

SARAA responds to a wide range of search and rescue incidents across Scotland's mountains, moorland, woodland, and coastline.

High-risk missing persons

Police Scotland tasks SARAA for vulnerable missing people where thermal imaging can narrow the search area before teams enter hazardous ground.

Mountain & coastal incidents

Drones survey cliffs, gullies, sea stacks, and waterfalls to locate casualties and guide rope and technical rescue teams to safer access points.

Historic case reviews

Image-analysis tools such as Focalise, Eagle Eyes, and MRMap help revisit historic missing person locations, highlighting terrain disturbances human eyes might miss.

Protecting ground teams

Live video reduces exposure by confirming avalanche risk, cornices, river crossings, and unstable ground before teams commit.

Fleet & sensors

Built for Scottish conditions

Primary platforms

  • Varied fleet of drones, including DJI Matrice, DJI Mavic, and Autel Evo Max models.
  • 20–30 minute flights per battery.
  • Some platforms are weather-rated for operations in wind and rain.
  • Thermal imaging, optical zoom lenses, and laser rangefinders for accurately marking locations.
  • Spotlights, speakers, and night-vision payloads for communications and locating subjects in low-light conditions.
Orange Autel drone over dramatic Scottish coastline

Process

How we deploy

1. Tasking

Requests arrive via SARCALL (the national callout system) or Search Managers with details on requirements.

2. Planning

Pilots assess the requirements, covering weather, terrain hazards, airspace restrictions, and coordination with other aircraft.

3. On-scene

Pilots deploy and carry out the required flight operations.

4. Handover

Flight logs, imagery, and lessons are secured and handed back to the Search Manager for reporting and future planning.

Two SARAA team members preparing drone equipment
Two-person teams—pilot and sensor operator—coordinate with Police Scotland control before every deployment.

Governance

Safety & oversight

Regulatory compliance

  • CAA-certified pilots operating under SARAA’s Operations Manual and Pilot Operations Handbook
  • Annual servicing of drone fleet plus pre-flight technical checks
  • Insurance for SARAA-Scotland pilots
  • Standard operating procedures, risk assessments, and safety briefings to ensure safe flight even in challenging environments
  • Checklists, sensor operators, and airspace coordination with other aircraft

Insurance & oversight

SARAA operates under Police Scotland tasking throughout each mission, ensuring a clear command structure. Proficiency flights, independent sensor operators, and structured debriefs build continuous improvement into every callout.

Readiness

Training & mentoring

Skills we practise

  • Airspace knowledge, rapid risk assessment, and weather interpretation
  • Terrain-following flights around cliffs, rivers, and steep corries
  • Search strategy, patterns, and grid search techniques to increase coverage and reduce search times
  • Detection workflows in-flight and post-flight
  • Mentoring programmes so new pilots develop skills and experienced pilots can pass knowledge across teams
Mountain rescue training above cloud inversion
Scenario-based exercises replicate real-world conditions, from night flights to high-mountain operations above cloud inversions.

Equipment

Rugged by design

We prioritise weather protection, endurance, and rapid battery cycling. Portable kits fit in backpack-ready cases, enabling rapid deployment anywhere in Scotland when Search Managers request aerial intelligence.

Support our mission

Help keep our teams ready

SARAA-Scotland is entirely volunteer-run. Donations fund aircraft, sensors, training, and software that helps us locate missing people faster.

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