Sedona volunteer died June 18 while hiking trails
Jerry Hajek Jr., 70, died on June 18, of natural causes doing what he loved: Hiking Sedona trails. Hajek was a member of the Verde Search and Rescue Posse volunteer auxiliary force for the last four years.
“Our hearts are heavy with the passing of Jerry Hajek,” Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes said. “He took his passion for aviation and turned it into a life-saving drone program. YCSO Search and Rescue volunteers are the backbone of our rescue operations. Jerry and his wife [Bernie Moyer Hajek] embodied the spirit of this service. We are grateful to Jerry, and our hearts and full support are with his wife, his search and rescue team, and the entire Hajek family.”
Hajek founded VSAR’s drone program which is used to assist in locating lost hikers, and wrote the program’s procedures and polices.
“Whenever we have a search where it’d take the ropes team or a helicopter significant time to reach someone — like recent calls with a subject at the top of Bell Rock or stuck on Capitol Butte, the drone gets deployed,” VSAR member Cindy De Sa Valente said. “[The drone] can get coordinates of where the subject is and relay them to the helicopter or hiking team, so we can pick the best route in, or hoist them out. And I think it gives the subject a sense of security — okay, somebody’s coming.”
Prior to relocating to the Verde Valley and piloting in the red rocks, Hajek lived in Texas and worked for Shell.
“As an industrial engineer and electronics specialist, he possessed an incredible love for anything mechanical,” YCSO stated. “His lifelong passion for aviation spanned from racing planes and working as a flight instructor to piloting his personal bush plane, which he could land on remote dirt runways.”
During May, Hajek was also helping YCSO field test its new Starlink-powered field communication equipment, which allows people in the field to communicate with dispatchers using Voice Over Internet Protocol. In November Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved a $500,000 satellite communications pilot program from state appropriations.
“The drone gathered intel that made it safer for our searchers in the field. Jerry’s wife, Bernie, is also an invaluable volunteer with VSAR,” VSAR stated June 26. “The married team brought a grounding and supportive quality to a close knit working ‘family’. We cannot express the profound loss we feel as a team. As we stand with Bernie, we remember our friend Jerry.”
