The Book
The Thermal Recovery Field Guide
Finding downed deer and lost pets with a drone — from a working operator.
- PDF + EPUB, instant download
- The printable Field Pack — intake card, client prep sheet, go/no-go checklist, decision trees
- Free updates when state laws change
Also on Amazon
Kindle $9.99 · Paperback $29.99 (full color) — Prime shipping on the paperback.
See what comes with each one →
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Inside the guide
What you'll know after reading
- Whether thermal recovery is legal in your state and how to verify it
- What the FAA actually requires (Part 107, night rules, protective paperwork)
- What gear is worth the money at $8K vs $15K budgets plus the cheap stuff that matters more than a backup drone
- How to read heat signatures (dead vs bedded deer, species at altitude, how long after death an animal can be found)
- Why you never fly in direct sunlight and the conditions that kill a search
- Search patterns that find animals
- The 1,000% confirm rule
- What to do when the animal is alive (the legal line)
- How lost pets behave and the trap-and-trail-camera method
- The panicked midnight phone call
- Delivering a no-find honestly
- The contracts and records that protect the business including the live-animal clause
- The ethics line (recovery vs scouting)
- The truth about year one
Same book, three ways
Which one you want
All three are the same 116 pages. What changes is what comes with it and where it lives.
Here — cthmediaco.com
Field Edition
$39
For the pilot who is going to work. This is the only place the field paperwork comes from.
- PDF + EPUB the second you pay — read it tonight, no waiting on an email
- The printable Field Pack: intake card, client prep sheet, go/no-go checklist, decision trees. Print them, keep them in the truck, fill them out on a job.
- Free updates for as long as the book exists — when a state changes its law you get the new file, you don't buy it again
- Read it on a phone, a laptop, or printed — it's your file
Get the Field Edition — $39
Amazon
Paperback
$29.99
For the one you throw in the truck. Paper works at 2 a.m. with no battery and no signal.
- The physical book — 6×9, 116 pages, printed in full color, so the thermal screens actually read the way they look on the controller
- Prime shipping
- Hand it to a buddy, mark it up, leave it in the door pocket
- Book only — no printable Field Pack, no update file
Paperback on Amazon
Amazon
Kindle
$9.99
For reading it first. Cheapest way to find out whether this work is for you.
- The whole book on your phone or tablet in about a minute
- Reads on the Kindle app — you don't need a Kindle
- Search it with your thumb while you're standing in a field
- Book only — no printable Field Pack, no update file
Kindle on Amazon
Straight answer on the price: the Field Edition costs more than the Amazon paperback because it is more than the book — the printable Field Pack and the free updates only come from here. If all you want is the reading, buy it on Amazon. We'd rather tell you that than have you find out later.
Who wrote this
A working thermal recovery operator
Written by a working thermal recovery operator based in Foley, Alabama, with three years of real recoveries behind it — the deer, the pets, the finds, and the searches that didn't end the way anybody wanted. This is the field guide the author wishes existed before the first flight.
Questions
Is this a course?
No — it's a field guide book. You read it, you keep it, you take it to the truck. PDF + EPUB, delivered instantly after purchase.
Which one should I buy?
If you're going to fly recoveries, the Field Edition — you get the printable Field Pack and the free law updates, and neither of those comes with the Amazon versions. If you want a copy for the truck, the $29.99 paperback on Amazon. If you're just trying to figure out whether this work is for you, the $9.99 Kindle. Same 116 pages in all three.
What format is it?
The Field Edition is PDF and EPUB, both included, with download links right after checkout — no waiting on an email. On Amazon it's a full-color 6×9 paperback or the Kindle eBook. Side by side here.
What about refunds?
It's a digital product, so downloads can't be returned. If something went wrong with your purchase or download, contact us through the site and we'll make it right.
Read it before your first flight.
Everything above, in one guide. $39, instant download.
Get the book — $39