# Presentation: 379876

## Emergency ServicesSearch Coverage

- Mission Pilot
- CAPR 50-15
- Attachment 10
- Paragraph d

- Richard Shulak
- Wasatch Sqdn.
- RMR-UT-008
- February 2000

## Vision Characteristics

- Central vision is about 10 degrees
- If search object falls in this area, you will probably recognize it
- Peripheral vision is **NOT **effective
- Best vision is straight ahead
- Scanning requires head movement
- Vision to the side is blocked by the nose

## Scanning Range &Search Visibility

- Scanning range
- Distance from aircraft ground track to maximum range where scanner has a good chance of sighting the object
- Search visibility
- Range at which an automobile can be seen and **recognized**
- Scanning range can be shorter than search visibility
- Aircraft debris can be smaller than an automobile

## Factors Affecting Scanning Range

- Atmospheric conditions
- Rain, pollen, dust, smoke, haze, inversions
- Position of the sun
- Best time is when sun is 30 degrees or more above horizon
- Clouds and shadows
- Terrain and ground cover
- Mountains, ground cover, trees (evergreen and leaf bearing)

## Factors Affecting Scanning Range 

- Surface conditions
- Snow
- Light aircraft in snow that don’t burn are very hard to locate
- Cleanliness of window areas
- Dirty windows can reduce visibility by as much as 50%
- Condition of scanner
- Colds and sinus problems
- Fatigue
- Motion sickness

## Scanning Techniques

- Central vision is a 10 degree diameter circle
- A fist at arms length covers about 10 degrees
- Scan must STOP at each 10 degree point to be effective
- Pilots use this technique to scan for other aircraft
- Duration of stop should be about 1/3 second
- Practice your scan!
- Always use it when flying

## Scanning Patterns

- A set pattern of scan lines must be used
- Diagonal pattern
- Used when sitting in the rear seat of a small aircraft
- Scanning line is followed left to right
- If in the right seat, start close to the airplane and scan to the end of the scanning range
- If in the left seat, start at the end of the scanning range and end under or close to the aircraft ground track
- All scan lines are parallel

## Diagonal Scanning Patterns

## Scanning Patterns

- Vertical pattern
- Same as diagonal, except scans start directly under the aircraft

## Coverage of Horizontal and Vertical Scans 

## Sighting Characteristics

- Visual clues
- Light colored or shiny objects
- Smoke and fire
- Charred areas
- Broken tree branches
- Local foliage discoloration
- Fresh bare earth
- Breaks in cultivated fields
- Water and snow discontinuities
- Tracks and signals
- Birds and animals (crows, buzzards)

## Aircraft Wreckage Patterns

- Hole-in-the ground
- Nose first at high speed
- Deep hole
- Dirt and debris around small area
- If in wooded area, very hard to locate
- Corkscrew or auger
- Uncontrollable spin
- Small area
- Still looks like an airplane
- Considerable damage to trees

## Aircraft Wreckage Patterns

- Creaming or smear
- Impact at high rate of speed
- Wreckage in a long and narrow path
- Near point of impact may be the battered and recognizable tail and wings
- Four winds
- Mid air collision or explosion
- Parts scattered over large area
- Hedge trimming
- Ricochet off crest of hill or ridge
- Impact could be some distance beyond first impact
- Tops of tree may be trimmed

**Notes:**
Controlled flight into terrain.

## Signaling Techniques of Survivors

- Fire
- Three fires in a triangle
- Smoke or flares
- Signal mirrors
- Panels on the ground
- Wreckage, tarps
- Messages
- Rocks, tree branches, driftwood
- Nighttime signals
- Flashlight, fire

## More Definitions

- Meteorological visibility
- The maximum range at which large objects, such as a mountain , can be seen
- Search visibility
- Distance at which an object the size of an automobile can be seen and recognized
- Scanning range
- The lateral distance from a scanner’s aircraft to an imaginary line parallel to the search aircraft's ground track within which the scanner has a good chance of spotting the search objective

## More Definitions

- Ground track
- Imaginary line of the ground over which the aircraft flies
- Search track
- Area between ground track and scanning range
- Track spacing
- Distance between adjacent ground tracks

## More Definitions

- Possibility area
- Largest geographic area in which the aircraft might be found
- Usually determined from the last known position (LKP)
- Probability area
- Geographic area within the possibility area in which the aircraft is most likely to be found
- Determined by ELT signals, civilian reports, radar plots, etc.

## Probability of Detection

**SEARCH****VISIBILITY**

**SEARCH****VISIBILITY**

**SEARCH****VISIBILITY**

## Cumulative Probability of Detection