Skydio X10 Drone Helps Illinois Police Rescue Three People Trapped in Kishwaukee River

Skydio X10 Drone Helps Illinois Police Rescue Three People Trapped in Kishwaukee River

In the late hours of June 25, 2026, the Cherry Valley Police Department in Illinois deployed a Skydio X10 drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera, spotlight, and onboard speaker to locate and guide three individuals trapped along the Kishwaukee River to safety. Cherry Valley Fire Protection District personnel then met the subjects on the riverbank and escorted them to safety. No injuries were reported.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Shortly after 9 p.m., the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office requested drone support from Cherry Valley. The riverbank terrain was dark and complex — the kind of search environment where ground crews could be within a few meters of a subject and still fail to find them.

The X10 was airborne within minutes. The thermal camera picked up all three subjects almost immediately, while the onboard spotlight and speaker transformed the drone from a pure sensor platform into a two-way communications device.

From launch to recovery, the drone remained airborne for approximately 72 minutes — the equivalent of two full battery cycles on the X10. That window determined whether the rescue could be completed before midnight or would extend into an overnight ground search.

How the Rescue Unfolded

According to WREX, Cherry Valley was not the originating agency for this mission. Winnebago County Sheriff's deputies were already searching the riverbank before requesting drone support from Cherry Valley.

Image credit: Cherry Valley Police Department

Once airborne, the X10 moved downstream along the river and used thermal imaging to detect all three subjects through dark vegetation. After locking onto the targets, the drone operator activated the onboard spotlight to mark the location and used the speaker to communicate directly with the individuals.

The three subjects followed the drone's guidance toward the riverbank, where Cherry Valley Fire Protection District personnel were waiting to escort them out. No injuries were recorded either during the rescue or in subsequent medical evaluations.

This outcome is precisely the type of mission the program was designed for — a scenario that ground search teams could ultimately resolve, but at greater cost in time and risk to everyone involved.

Why the X10 and Not the DJI Avata 2

Cherry Valley operates a small mixed fleet: the Skydio X10 for outdoor operations and a DJI Avata 2 cinewhoop for indoor searches and confined-space flights. For this mission, there was no choice to be made.

Image credit: Skydio

The Avata 2 is an FPV-class drone weighing 410 grams (14.5 oz), fitted with a 4K visible-light camera and no thermal payload. It is purpose-built for rapid indoor maneuvering, breaching support, and short-range flights through obstacle-dense environments — and it excels in those roles.

But it cannot detect human heat signatures in cold river water at night. That is the exclusive domain of the X10 and its FLIR Boson+ thermal core — which is exactly why the X10 flew while the Avata 2 stayed in its bag.

Cherry Valley's decision to operate both a Skydio and a DJI airframe is a smart one, driven purely by operational need: thermal-core search and rescue goes to Skydio; indoor entry missions go to the Avata 2.

It is worth noting that just days earlier, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office used an Avata 2 to subdue an armed barricaded suspect.

The Advantage of Combining Spotlight, Speaker, and Thermal Imaging

The X10 is the platform used by the Denver Police Department, the airframe Arvada Police used last week to track a Target retail theft suspect, and the drone Orlando Police deployed this month across an 11-unit urban drone network. What makes it the go-to platform for search and rescue is its payload combination.

The thermal core handles detection; the high-magnification visible-light camera handles confirmation; the NightSense spotlight illuminates the scene for both the camera and ground personnel; and the integrated speaker allows the operator to issue instructions directly to subjects without needing a megaphone, a phone call, or relay through a command center.

NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) procurement compliance is another reason smaller agencies choose the X10 over cheaper alternatives. In this case, a DJI Matrice 30T could have performed the same mission — but in the current federal procurement and grant environment, that is no longer a straightforward choice.

What This Means for Small-Agency Drone Programs

Cherry Valley is not a large police department. The village recorded approximately 3,100 residents at the last census, and the department is sized accordingly.

A small agency building a dual-fleet configuration — Skydio X10 plus DJI Avata 2 — is increasingly becoming the new standard. The X10 covers outdoor search, tracking, incident scenes, and surveillance; the Avata 2 handles indoor entry, confined spaces, and tight tactical access that no fixed-gimbal platform can manage.

The total hardware investment, depending on docking station, payload options, and training, falls in the range of $30,000 to $50,000. That sits within the scope of a single federal annual grant application for most municipal agencies — and missions like this one provide the operational ROI that justifies the request.

DroneXL's Take

Cherry Valley's rescue is the most compelling argument for small-agency drone programs I have read this month. Three civilians were located in a dark environment, guided by a speaker mounted on a flying robot, and walked safely off a riverbank — without any ground unit having to enter the water.

The 72-minute mission flight time should appear in every small-town search and rescue grant application going forward. This was not a demonstration flight. It was the actual performance record of an X10 paired with a trained operator on a Thursday night mission.

The X10-plus-Avata 2 split-fleet model also deserves attention — it is becoming a trend. Over the next 12 months, more small agencies will adopt this dual-airframe configuration because it covers the full operational spectrum at a price a 3,100-person village can defend at its next budget meeting.

Police departments operating multiple brands are not a new concept. It is called having the right tool for the job.

Cherry Valley chose the Avata 2 for indoor work and the Skydio X10 for long-range and search-and-rescue operations because they matched the right platform to the right mission. Other departments should take note.

Image credits: Skydio, Cherry Valley Police Department

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