Search and Rescue
"Search and Rescue - out to sea" RFDS Senior Pilot
On Friday, 9th March I received a phone call at 4.05am with a message to get to the airport ASAP to conduct a search to locate a distress beacon that had been activated earlier in the night.
A helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft had failed to locate the distress signal, so our RFDS aircraft was called into the search because it is fitted with directional finding equipment which is able to locate the distress beacons with quite good accuracy.
The RFDS night duty pilot, who had already been flying, was at the aircraft, had arranged fuel and had been in contact with the SAR authorities in Canberra who gave us an approximate position of the beacon in question.
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We were also able to talk with the crews of the helicopter and the other aircraft who gave us an idea of the weather conditions at the search location. The weather en route was fair, with only light icing encountered in the cumulous clouds on our track. Fortunately, the heavier cloud and rain observable on the weather radar was to the south of track, so no diversions were necessary.
The signal strength of the beacon was variable which caused a little concern as to its integrity. Much of the descent was in cloud and rain, but by the time we reached the search area, conditions were workable, with light passing showers and rather strong winds.
At 5 000 feet we noted the wind strength at 30 kts from the south east and because of this, the sea surface presented a lot of white caps. This always makes sighting a vessel difficult. With the co Pilot monitoring the DF equipment indicators, we tracked to overhead the beacon and noted its position using the GPS (Global Positioning System) in the aircraft.
Using this technique, we then carried out a procedure turn and tracked back to the most likely location using the GPS. This saves trying to memorise which white cap was closest to where we figured the distress beacon to be!
On our third run back to our fix, and at lower altitude with the now rising sun to our back, I was able to sight the vessel just moments before its crew set off a red distress flare. There was much jubilation amongst our crew of two pilots and two Flight nurses.
We turned on the aircraft light to inform the vessel that we had them sighted and were able to make limited radio contact with them via a hand held marine VHF transceiver.
We telephoned the authorities in Canberra who in turn directed some trawlers 28 NM away to proceed to the vessel whose two motors had failed. It was a good start for the day to have been able to locate the boat which was 162 NM to the north east of Rockhampton. In a unique way, the RFDS is able to provide a ‘mantle of safety' to those on the sea as well as those in the outback and remote areas of Australia.