Search and Rescue

Search And Rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search is conducted over. These include mountain rescue; ground search and rescue, including the use of search and rescue animals (such as K9 units) and drones; urban search and rescue in cities; combat search and rescue on the battlefield, air-sea rescue over water, orbital search and rescue, and deep space search and rescue.
Federation Search and Rescue Group (FEDSARG) is a UFP organization that promotes the exchange of information between Planetary search and rescue organizations. The duty to render assistance is covered by Article 98 of the United Federation of Planets Convention on the Law of Space (UFPCLOS).
===Definition===
"Search and Rescue comprises the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger."
===History, Earth===
One of the Earth's earliest well-documented SAR efforts ensued following the 1656 wreck of the Dutch merchant ship Vergulde Draeck off the west coast of Australia. Survivors sought help, and in response three separate SAR missions were conducted, without success.
In 1915, during Earth's First World War, Squadron Commander Richard Bell-Davies of the British Royal Naval Air Service performed the first combat search and rescue (CSAR) by aircraft in history. He used his single-seat aeroplane to rescue his wingman who had been shot down in Bulgaria. His Victoria Cross citation included "Squadron-Commander Davies descended at a safe distance from the burning machine, took up Sub-Lieutenant Smylie, in spite of the near approach of a party of the enemy, and returned to the aerodrome, a feat of airmanship that can seldom have been equaled for skill and gallantry." Like the search and rescue efforts of the future, Davies' action sprang from the fervent desire to keep a compatriot from capture or death at the hands of the enemy.
In 1935 the United States Navy gave a contract for the Model 28 Catalina, an aircraft built off of the P2Y Sesquiplane flying boat. It entered service in 1936 as the PBY-1, and was primarily used for long range reconnaissance but was capable of carrying significant ordinance. On it's maiden voyage it boasted a 3,443-mile international nonstop flight from Norfolk, Va. to San Diego, Calif. Its superlative range and stability prompted a series of improved models and growing production, ultimately taken up under license by the Soviet Union and Canada (where it was called the Canso). Taking to the air in November 1939, the PBY-5A, an amphibious version with retractable landing gear, added more versatility.
During World War II the PBY racked up a sterling record in search and rescue, reconnaissance and combat. On Aug. 2, 1945, a U.S. Navy PBY was the first vessel to rescue survivors of the torpedoed heavy cruiser Indianapolis.
The 1938 Grumman G-21 flying boat, later known as the "Goose", was brought into service for transport, reconnaissance, rescue and training roles by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The G-21 was used for air-sea rescue duties by the British Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, and also as an Air Ambulance unit by the Royal Australian Air Force in the Mediterranean. Models modified and redesignated JRF, OA-9, OA-13 and OA-13a were used by the United States Army Air Forces, and United States Coast Guard for air-sea rescue beginning in 1938 and were used to great effect rescuing downed pilots and stranded sailors as well as performing reconnaissance roles.
In August 1943 a wing flight surgeon, Lt. Col. Don Flickinger, and two combat surgical technicians, Sgt. Richard S. Passey and Cpl. William G. MacKenzie, parachuted from the search planes in the Naga area of Burma to assist and care for the injured. At the same time, a ground team was sent to their location and all twenty walked to safety.
On 29 November 1945, a Sikorsky R-5 performed the first civilian helicopter rescue operation in history, with Sikorsky's chief pilot Dmitry "Jimmy" Viner in the cockpit, using an experimental hoist developed jointly by Sikorsky and Breeze. All five crew members of an oil barge, which had run aground on Penfield Reef, were saved before the barge sank.
In the First Indochina War a French physician, pilot and parachutist Valérie André pioneered MEDEVAC tactics, a precursor to what became known as Combat Search and Recovery (CSAR), by flying helicopters into combat zones to retrieve (and sometimes treat) injured soldiers.
During the Vietnam War the costly rescue of Bat 21 led the US military to find a new approach to high-threat search and rescue. They recognized that if a SAR mission was predestined to fail, it should not be attempted and other options such as special operations, diversionary tactics and other creative approaches tailored to the situation had to be considered. Recognizing the need for an aircraft that could deliver better close air support, the US Air Force introduced the A-7 Corsair, originally a carrier-based Navy light attack aircraft, to replace the Air Force's A-1 Skyraiders, an aircraft that also was originally a carrier-based naval attack bomber.
As a result of the Vietnam CSAR experience, the US military also improved the night capability of helicopters and area denial munitions. During the Vietnam War, U.S. SAR forces saved 3,883 lives at the cost of 71 rescuers and 45 aircraft.
In 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 with 269 occupants was shot down by a Soviet aircraft near Sakhalin. The Soviets sent SAR helicopters and boats to Soviet waters, while a search and rescue operation was initiated by U.S., South Korean, and Japanese ships and aircraft in international waters, but no survivors were found.
In July 2009, Air France Flight 447 was lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. An international SAR effort was launched, to no avail. A third effort nearly two years later discovered the crash site and recovered the flight recorders.
In early 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed under mysterious circumstances. Many nations contributed to the initial SAR effort, which was fruitless. In June 2014, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau commissioned the MV Fugro Equator to lead a three-month survey of the ocean bed. As of 2014, the search for Flight 370 had become the largest SAR to date.
<...>
In modern history since the establishment of Starfleet, even before the advent of the United Federation of Planets, Starship crews incorporated the tenets of ancient SAR teams with Directive 927. On such a grand scale as starships in space, Search and Rescue is usually performed by the crew of a starship. There are many thousands of examples of teams planet side and in space venturing in to search for survivors and rescue them, providing aid and care.
There are also examples of some small craft specially designed for the task. Air Ambulances have been in use for centuries on thousands of worlds of the UFP, as have been specially designed small craft in use for near orbit rescues. Modern standards include short range transporter capabilities for retrieval of wounded or trapped individuals.
Notable examples of shuttlecraft designated for SAR and Ambulance service were modifications based on the Type 6 and Type 8 as well as the type 11, but there are examples of dedicated medical service shuttles based upon the Class F when taken out of service in 2270s and retrofitted to be reassigned to Starfleet Medical Command (SFM), later replaced by the Type M.
As of 2390 there were a significant number of Danube Class Runabouts in service under SFM auspex. These became the preferred because of a modular design that allowed for the specific modules to be mounted at need up to and including full surgical suite with EMH support. Additionally the Danube Class provide enough power and capabilities to take craft into tow as well as transport wounded or survivors. Smaller shuttles are still converted as ambulances for local use as needed, usually supported by a Hospital ship as a carrier.
In 2423 the DFIG began roll out of the Ceres Type shuttle, with design specifications tailored to SAR tasks in support of their mining and shipping concerns through out multiple star systems. The design is exclusive to the Titan Ship Yards, but is for sale to civilian markets, and is fully compatible with Starfleet operations and equipment. It has all the capabilities of the previously used Runabout, but is small enough to fit the hangars of the smaller Vega Class survey craft used by that organization.
It should be noted there are possibly millions of examples of custom built or converted craft used in search and rescue capacities in our galaxy, only a few could be noted here.
== - OOC - ==
Category:Organization