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(SLIRs), and Backward Looking Infrared Air Ambulance/EMS
(BLIRs) imagers, but they didn’t stick.)
EMS and commuter service pilots use
Where Are They Used Today?
thermal cameras to help them identify ob-
Thermal cameras give every profes- stacles to landing zones in congested ur-
sional helicopter pilot the ability to see ban areas and around complex hospital
both airborne hazards and their earth- facilities, enabling them to respond faster
bound counterparts, including people, and get people the help they need quickly
trees, raising terrain, and other airborne and safely.
traffic. Even nascent, isolated cloud layers
show up clearly to thermal cameras, mak-
ing it easy to avoid inadvertent flight into
Fire Fighting
IMC. Airborne firefighting operators use
thermal cameras to see through the thick
Law Enforcement
Airborne cops use thermal imagers tac-
tically to find and follow fleeing suspects,
smoke layers that blanket forest and brush
fires, allowing them to quickly identify
hot spots and drop their loads of water or
provide support to ground operations, and retardant on the areas that need it most.
provide public safety missions like crowd
monitoring and search and rescue (SAR). Continued on page 26
vanced reconnaissance imaging technolo-
gies. Scientists mounted a thermal imager
inside a large plane and pointed it (the im-
ager) straight down. As the aircraft flew
over its target area, the camera would scan
back and forth, creating a mosaic of im-
ages that were stitched together for later
analysis.
At some point an enterprising engineer
got the idea, “Let’s point this thing for-
ward so we can see where we’re going,”
and Forward Looking Infrared was born.
(There were also Side Looking Infrared
www.ROTORCRAFTPRO.com • September 2009 25
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