A 10-year-old boy who went missing from Edmonton on 23 July, has had a special visit to the POLAIR hangar in Cairns.
Kyuss Hicks’ father Jamie Hicks reported him missing around 8.50pm, sparking a major police search operation. Kyuss is level 3 non-verbal and has ADHD.
POLAIR was immediately deployed and projected a message to residents over a loudspeaker, prompting dozens of locals to join the search.
Members of public called triple zero after spotting Kyuss on Mount Peter Road around 9.10pm, before an officer from the Dog Squad caught up with him.
Kyuss was uninjured and reunited with his father.
On 18 August, Kyuss and Jamie were invited to meet the POLAIR Cairns crew and have an exclusive tour of the helicopter.
They also gifted him his own POLAIR plush toy.
Kyuss is one of 16 people POLAIR has helped locate in Cairns since 1 April.
POLAIR Tactical Flight Officer Senior Constable Andy Little said it was rewarding to meet Kyuss and show him and his father the aircraft.
“Just to see Kyuss interact with the helicopter it was fantastic, he seemed to really enjoy it and got to sit in the back which not a lot of people get an opportunity to do,” Senior Constable Little said.
“In this particular case we utilised the PA system which was absolutely phenomenal because once the PA system broadcast that information to the community, the community response was fantastic. We could see people coming out into their yards, onto the street looking for the young fella.”
POLAIR Chief Inspector Daniel Bust says POLAIR supports a wide range of operations, including tracking stolen vehicles, responding to serious domestic incidents, searching for missing persons and assisting in the arrest of offenders.
“Having POLAIR based in Cairns means we can quickly deploy aerial support to provide real-time situational awareness to support frontline and specialist policing response,” Chief Inspector Bust said.
“The crew used the PA system and advanced night imaging systems to search for the boy, communicate with officers on the ground, and ultimately bring Kyuss to safety.
“When Far Northerners see our aircraft overhead, they can be assured we are actively working to keep them, and their community safe.”
POLAIR and Kyuss’ family thank the community for their support.
For the period 1 April 2026 to 13 August 2026, POLAIR in Cairns:
- Directly enhanced frontline officer safety through the provision of real-time actionable intelligence by responding to 376 calls for service and being the first QPS response on scene for 169 incidents to provide situational awareness and support operational decision-making.
- Maintained safer communities by responding to 86 priority code 1 and 2 jobs in under 12 minutes.
- Assisted with locating 16 missing or vulnerable persons, including using the on-board public announcement system on 5 occasions.
- Minimised the impact to victims of crime by attending 35 stolen vehicle jobs.
- Employed airborne law enforcement tactics, techniques and procedures to support the frontline through the apprehension of 142 offenders, including 30 young offenders.
- Have attended 41 serious domestic and family violence incidents as a first response capability.
