Sean Henady
has been playing with radio-controlled model planes
since he was a kid.
The only difference today is that his "toys" are far
more expensive and their purpose more serious.
Henady, 34, is founder and president of Aerial Image
Corp., a West Lafayette business that offers aerial imaging, mapping and photography services.
And when he's not working on projects for the military
or real estate and other commercial customers, Henady volunteers his time and equipment to help search for missing persons.
"With the radio-controlled equipment and imaging tools
we have, it is just a natural that we help out," he said.
"We work long enough and hard enough during the week
to have a little profit so we can do this on the side."
Henady got involved in missing-persons searches about
two years ago, when he was asked to provide a remote-controlled helicopter equipped with a thermal-imaging camera to help
police look for a missing woman.
A search dog eventually found the woman alive, Henady
said, but the experience showed him the potential of his equipment and what he needed to do to refine its capabilities.
Since then, he has helped with about a half-dozen
other searches -- all at no cost to the families or police -- including efforts to locate missing Purdue University student
Wade Steffey. It was during searches for Steffey that Henady hooked up with IN Hope, Indiana Missing, a new group that helps
families and law enforcement agencies searching for missing persons.
Henady also provided the imaging equipment that helped
police in Carmel find the body of Charles Rickey, who went missing after the Super Bowl, in a gravel pit. His work on those
two high-profile cases has created more demand for help, including requests to assist with searches in Kansas and Ohio.
Henady said his firm is one of about a half-dozen
companies in the United States that have the equipment to do the high-tech aerial searches.
"With the remote-controlled equipment, you can cover
so much territory in a little time -- and at a fraction of the cost of using a full-size plane or helicopter," he said.
"And it's not like we're just flying over an area,
hoping to see something. We're capturing high-quality images that we can review from the ground and then study more in-depth
later."
When Henady sends up a plane or his miniature blimp,
he monitors the aerial images from the ground in real time to make sure they are getting the best perspective and to direct
searchers on the ground. He also can review the images on equipment that provides filtering and other enhancements to make
certain items "pop out" in photos.
Patti Bishop, founder of IN Hope, said Henady has
been a great addition to the group, which is hoping to work with others like him who have specialized equipment that can be
used in searches.
"However we can get a camera in the air in the fastest
and most efficient way, that's what we are trying to do," Henady said of volunteering with the group.
"When you have the tools that can do the work, you
just feel obligated to help out."
