There is an interesting and developing search for a downed aircraft. There is at least one survivor who was able to send cellphone and text messages from the yet to be found crash site.

Duncan, B.C. — Search and rescue crews are looking for survivors from a commercial flight across Vancouver Island that crashed this morning with seven people aboard.
A survivor of the Pacific Coastal Airlines crash appears to have made contact with rescue crews through cellphone text messages, but communications have been challenging in the rugged terrain and details are still unclear, said Gerry Pash, a spokesman for the Victoria Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

The Grumman Goose left Port Hardy, B.C., on the east coast of Vancouver Island at 7 a.m. with six passengers and a pilot. It was due to arrive at Chamiss Bay on the west coast about 25 minutes later.
Lt.-Cmdr. Pash said the company conducted its own search before calling for a formal search at 10 a.m. Fixed-wing aircraft from the Comox air force base located the crash site about half-way across the island.
“The aircraft was fully consumed,” he said. “It burned.”

Full news story here:

Google map here:

This is why DR has a signal mirror in the PSP.

Interesting story. Hope the survivor makes it, hope there's more than one, and peace to the families of those whose luck ran out.

With the cell/text thing, SAR at least knows that there is a survivor, within walking distance of the wreck, up the mountain. Bet they'll have him/her located in no time.

I've seen a fair bit of the Island. There's some very darn rugged terrain in the middle. With the dense, high canopy, I doubt a signal mirror would be visible; though higher up the trees might thin out. Even a signal fire could be obscured, or the smoke dissipated, and nobody would see it.

Wonder if a cell with GPS set up would help on either end?

Staying tuned, hoping for the best.

Just an afterthought:

I wonder if a person should have a "cell phone will" left with family that would immediately authorize the cell phone company to release location/GPS information to police and SAR organizations? With privacy laws as they are, this could save a lot of time and red tape in a critical situation.

Thoughts?

They found the crash site and there are two survivors.

There is more info here:

The aircraft that went down, I have seen it featured a few times on a local aviation show and other local interest programs. It was kept in what many say, was excellent condition despite it's age. It will be interesting to see what was the cause of the crash.

The person was able to send text messages throughout the day even though voice send and receive weren't available! Note to self ....

I know very little about Search and Rescue procedures, even less about the protocols involved in searching for the victims of a plane crash but I was struck by something in the news report about this incident.

The report claims that the plane reportedly went down 10 minutes after takeoff of a 20 minute flight at approximately 7:00 AM but that authorities weren't notified for 3 hours. The company apparently started their own SAR operations before notifying the authorities.

Is that normal?

How can a company wait that long before declaring an emergency?

What if some or all of the victims could have survived had they been reached sooner?

It was a 20 minute flight, how late can a flight like that be before it's obvious that something's gone wrong?

Am I totally off base here?

Too many question marks?

John E

Yes text messages only take a tiny fraction of a second to transmit and the phone can queue them up and wait until it gets a signal and send one out then. right after 9/11/01 I replaced our phones with ones that were text capable even though we don't have a text plan the few cents for a message would be worth it if ever needed.

These are very valid questions and I am sure the that the same or similar questions have to be answered by the company once the investigation begins.

It should be noted that the aircraft is a Grumman Goose and is amphibious and can set down in water in case of minor mechanical problems. Consider that the area where the plane went down is surrounded by water, the company may of initially thought that the aircraft set down with this scenario in mind....just my WAG.

To add to the WAG (and not to detract from the seriousness of the event) ...

An industrial charter flight could conceivably have different rules than a commercial airliner. These guys drop into rocky coves surrounded by cliffs and mountains, and radio comms might be a bit more sketchy. If you go whole hog right away and trigger a full-scale coast guard / military search, and they find the guys fishing in their favourite trout lake (on company time), there will surely be "heck" to pay in the press and in SAR charges.

Just a notion, worth what you paid for it ;-)

A Grumman Goose? There are (were) only something like 60 of them left flying in the entire world!

I watched a BC evening news broadcast tonight, and didn't see a thing about this...

There are still quite a few sitting @ Davis-Montham AFB outside of Tucson, Az. The USCG was phasing out the last of them when I entered the service back in 1977.

They wer and are some tough old birds!

Lotsa neat stuff at Davis-M. Unfortunately, most of it will never fly again...

If you have a good hi-speed connection, you can see a Global News video here. The video will auto-start on the left side of the screen within a few seconds.

This report (runs just shy of 6 minutes) regarding the crash includes a 3-4 minute phone interview with a person from Canada's Transportation Safety Board....which is the equivalent of the US NTSB.

At least I don't feel completely stupid for asking.

If the initial news report is to be believed, they were on a scheduled flight that was expected to take 20 to 25 minutes. I wouldn't want to fly with a pilot that would drop into my favorite fishing hole without notifying someone of our modified flight plan.

Nor would I work for a company that would wait as long as these folks apparently did before notifying the authorities that something was wrong.

The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking that some heads are gonna roll over this. I can only imagine what the families of those who died will be thinking.

Hope I'm just playing devil's advocate and that there are some logical reasons for whatever actions did or did not take place in a timely fashion.

John E

Thanks, but my aircard is slower than dialup. I think (it was ending as I turned the TV on a few minutes ago) that he has been rescued...

I can't speak for your side of the pond, but a lot of cellphones in the E.U. come with a G.P.S. built in. Depending on the operating system there are several freeware programs that will let you obtain a position in Hrs, Degree's, Mins, Sec format.

In my case I am using a PDA running Windows Mobile 6 using gpsVP2000.


I set that up aftert Bear Grylls (yes, he who you love to hate) mentioned a case in the Florida everglades of a couple on a boat breaking down. being able to talk to the emergency service's but unable to give a position.

Good points, and good questions. The delay does seem unreasonably long.

My "fishing hole" post was a bit over the top, in retrospect.

And once again we see how reliable the ELT was.