A pilot of a helicopter belonging to an emergency service in the USA told how an iPhone was used to save several victims of fires in the city of Queensland in the USA. As you can see from the picture, the roads are completely covered by water and the crew of the helicopter sent to help the victims had only some maps on board and no effective GPS system. One of the crew members had an iPhone terminal with him and used the Maps application, the integrated GPS and Google Maps they did it to realize where the people who needed help were.
"There were still many people trapped on rooftops and it was extremely difficult to have to fly away and leave them to their fate," Kempton said in the statement. The death toll was 17 people, with three missing presumed dead.
Using the iPhone terminal, the helicopter crew managed to reach several injured people on the roofs of some houses. Apparently the pilot admitted that without the iPhone it would have been quite difficult to reach the locations to which they were sent. The story is impressive but also strange considering that the helicopters of the emergency services are usually quite well equipped. True or not, the man would have given a statement in front of a commission of inquiry, so he assumes what he said. If iPad tablets will be used in airplanes instead of classic maps, why wouldn't an iPhone also work in an emergency situation?
