When someone collapses in cardiac arrest in Clemmons, N.C., the first responder might not have sirens or tires. It might have propellers. Duke Health researchers and the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office are sending unmanned aircraft loaded with automated external defibrillators during real 911 cardiac-arrest calls, lowering AEDs by winch to bystanders while EMS crews drive to the scene. The goal is simple and high stakes: get a shock to a victim minutes before an ambulance arrives and give callers immediate, step-by-step help.
The project is billed as a first-of-its-kind U.S. study that tests whether drone AED delivery can plug directly into standard 911 care, according to Duke Clinical Research Institute. When a cardiac-arrest call hits the 911 center, the dispatcher loops in an on-duty drone pilot, who launches an aircraft that flies to the scene and lowers an AED for a bystander to grab while EMS continues in by road.
Why the first minutes matter
“There’s only really 10 minutes to help that person survive,” said study lead Dr. Monique Starks, who points to earlier research showing that AED use within two to three minutes can push survival rates as high as 70%. Duke Health also notes that EMS often takes eight to 10 minutes to reach out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, leaving a tense gap where a nearby AED can change how the story ends.
Local partners and the Drone-as-First-Responder program
Forsyth County has been quietly building out its drone program for years and now ties those pilots directly into 911 operations, according to WXII12. Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough has called the setup a gamechanger, saying drones often “get there before the patrol car” and give responders a real-time view of the scene while EMS closes in. Local reporting for KXAN adds that officers describe the aircraft as a “force multiplier” and that typical battery life runs about 35 minutes per flight.
How the drones reach patients
The aircraft take a straight route toward the emergency, then drop to a safe altitude and use a winch to lower an AED so a bystander can pull it free and bring it to the patient, as outlined by Duke Health. Local coverage reports that test flights have averaged roughly four minutes from launch to delivery and that the drones can cruise at about 40 miles per hour, which typically buys a few precious minutes ahead of slower ground traffic. The operation also depends on pilots who fly under FAA waivers that permit beyond-visual-line-of-sight missions for these calls, according to WRAL.
The pilot effort is funded in part by the American Heart Association and involves more than a dozen university and public-safety partners, the research teams report. Duke Clinical Research Institute says the work is designed to set the stage for a larger, multi-center randomized trial that would test how well drone AED delivery works, what it costs, and how it might be scaled up beyond the current study area…