The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) just returned an aerial surveillance balloon that it borrowed for two days in an effort to capture a man wanted for the murder of a trooper last month. Thomas Kelly, a PSP spokesman, told Ars on Wednesday that the “Blimp in a Box” was returned because it was ineffective.
"Due to the tree canopy and rugged terrain of our search area, the balloon was not as helpful as everyone hoped it would be,” he said by e-mail. “The tree canopy is too thick, we couldn’t see through it. It’s that simple. The balloon was offered to us as an alternative technique. We tried it and just didn’t work. It's best suited for open spaces, not heavily wooded forests.”
The manhunt is focused on finding Eric Frein, a suspected murderer now on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Six weeks ago, Frein allegedly shot and killed a Pennsylvania trooper while wounding another outside the Blooming Grove Barracks in Pike County. After the incident, local and federal authorities named Frein, a local survivalist and amateur military historian, as the prime suspect.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
[Frein's] passion was military history and the minute details of Eastern European military uniforms and weapons. In particular, he focused on the modern Serbian Army and paramilitary groups, more interested in their unusual uniforms than the politics of those who butchered Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s. He traveled around Pennsylvania acting out mock battles between Serbs and Croats, including at least one reenactment he appears to have planned and directed himself.
Last month, the Associated Press quoted Frein's father, retired Army Major E. Michael Frein, as saying the man taught his son to shoot well. “[He] doesn't miss.”
Not quite flying high just yet
The Blimp in a Box came from an Ohio organization called the Drone Aviation Holding Corporation (DAHC). (Ars covered the Blimp in a Box product in August 2014.)
According to the company's most recent investor materials, the blimp can be “launched after a hurricane to provide cellular or two-way communications, or be flown over a disaster site to provide immediate live footage to locate victims.” DAHC's highest model, the BIB 300, advertises an ability to detect humans within a radius of six kilometers via its thermal infrared cameras. For years, this type of inflatable spy technology has been sold to the military for ISR (intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance) missions.
Curiously, DAHC was incorporated in late April 2014 as part of a reverse merger with MacroSolve, a publicly traded penny stock. MacroSolve was a patent troll outfit that was famously crushed in a landmark legal case by online retailer Newegg. By June 2014, DAHC acquired the company behind Blimp in a Box—Lighter Than Air Systems, a subsidiary of another firm known as the World Surveillance Group.
So far, it’s been slow going so far for DAHC. In the first half of 2014, the firm's own financial records show that it sustained a net loss of about $391,000.
24 Reader Comments
Good luck finding him. You'll need it...
Well maybe perpetually "close to this guy". From what I've read he is leading them around.
I wonder what kind of IR gear they are using? Night time over flights with good IR sensors should find any camp sites he is using within a short time period. Even well camouflaged and shielded heat sources still need to let their exhaust out. And, that is what you look for.
I wonder what kind of IR gear they are using? Night time over flights with good IR sensors should find any camp sites he is using within a short time period. Even well camouflaged and shielded heat sources still need to let their exhaust out. And, that is what you look for.
Unless he's in South Carolina sipping champagne and laughing at the news as they slowly discover the troughs of evidence he'd been planting in the woods for the past 6 months...
This will probably be one of the cases like you said -- missing for 5 years and discovered dumpster diving by some busboy as opposed to the all out police search.
Good luck finding him. You'll need it...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083944/
This will probably be one of the cases like you said -- missing for 5 years and discovered dumpster diving by some busboy as opposed to the all out police search.
Except they found a journal where he wrote about the shooting, describing in detail what it was like to shoot the two state troopers.
I think the police have no idea where he is, but are afraid to admit to it for fear of causing a panic. I just don't understand how you wouldn't be able to find him with infrared.
Then again, the PA State Bears are pretty much hapless morons. The last time I saw one in person he was harassing random people on the way to a concert rather than actually doing something worthwhile.
If it's not deer hunting season yet, it will be soon, and I'm guessing that's when they'll catch this guy. Someone with a $50K credit limit at Cabela's will catch him with some of that awesome high-tech hunting gear.
From what I've read aerial IR monitoring has been ineffective so far. The forest canopies in Pennsylvania can be quite thick, you aren't seeing much anything through them even with the best technology. Sure if he was dumb enough to light a sizable camp fire out in the open, but it seems he knows better than to do that.
The PSP have stated they're hopeful that aerial surveillance will prove more effective once all the leaves are off the trees for the fall. Should be getting close to that point now.
From what I've read aerial IR monitoring has been ineffective so far. The forest canopies in Pennsylvania can be quite thick, you aren't seeing much anything through them even with the best technology. Sure if he was dumb enough to light a sizable camp fire out in the open, but it seems he knows better than to do that.
The PSP have stated they're hopeful that aerial surveillance will prove more effective once all the leaves are off the trees for the fall. Should be getting close to that point now.
I wonder what they are doing wrong then? They use these sensors to find tiny little fires in the other heavily forested areas. The trick is to look for the temperature difference in the smoke / exhaust. Unless it is windy even a small fire will be detectable with the right gear. Maybe they should ask the DEA for help.
From what I've read aerial IR monitoring has been ineffective so far. The forest canopies in Pennsylvania can be quite thick, you aren't seeing much anything through them even with the best technology. Sure if he was dumb enough to light a sizable camp fire out in the open, but it seems he knows better than to do that.
The PSP have stated they're hopeful that aerial surveillance will prove more effective once all the leaves are off the trees for the fall. Should be getting close to that point now.
Thermal blanket?
Good luck finding him. You'll need it...
They've just found him!
There's no reason to assume he's lighting a fire - that would leave obvious traces . He's probably using a small backpacking stove of some sort, possible shielded in some way (surrounded by rocks; in a cave; against the side of a big tree). This doesn't put out a lot of heat, particularly because it tends to be under a pot with water and a lid. So at best, if the IR plane were flying directly over his stove, during the 10 minutes per day when he was using it, it might detect that the pot's lid is 120 deg F.
Of course living like this requires a good supply of ready-made meal ingredients like MREs; obviously if you are trying to support yourself by hunting you would need a more extensive infrastructure.
I do give credit to the involved departments for not handling this like the Christopher Dorner manhunt that had near tragic consequences for a number of citizens from overzealous officers.
Then again, the PA State Bears are pretty much hapless morons. The last time I saw one in person he was harassing random people on the way to a concert rather than actually doing something worthwhile.
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