#223918 - 05/19/11 11:02 PM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: chaosmagnet]
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Geezer in Chief
Geezer
Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
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Doing SAR, we routinely flashed our locations with signal mirrors by day and ACR/4F strobes at night, and the combination worked flawlessly. On one occasion, when my buddy and I stumbled onto a serious accident in the back country, we used a large bonfire to guide the helicopter in by night. At 174 lumens, your light ought to get the job done in style.
What really helps is bright colors and motion. Also, the pilot really wants to know the direction and velocity of wind on the ground at the LZ, so smoke of some sort is welcome. The standard practice is for the individual directing the helo to stand with back to the wind.
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Geezer in Chief
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#223929 - 05/20/11 02:05 AM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: bacpacjac]
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Old Hand
Registered: 04/16/03
Posts: 1076
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I'd add a note that keeping some essentials (i.e. PSK) on your person is a smart plan. Even if you lose your pack you'll still have those to help you survive. That's how I roll too. I wear a slim ArcTeryx waistpack that rides just below my bellybutton. That way it stays in the same place if I'm wearing a light daypack with no waistbelt or an overnight pack with full waistbelt. I wear it regardless of the outing type or duration. In the "belly pack" I have: - 1 liter water bag with 8 chlorine dioxide tablets - mini fire kit - Petzl e-Lite mini headlamp - a 2-person AMK heatsheet blanket - signal mirror - whistle - couple of safety pins - 5 feet of duct tape - neon pink flagging tape - Leatherman tool - SPOT-2 unit, with Type I dummy cord - lip balm - 50 foot piece of Kelty dyneema cord (1 ounce!) - an energy bar - slim 3"x5" Rite-In-The-Rain notebook - Fisher space pen - Suunto M3 global needle compass, with Type I dummy cord It's a pretty good setup even though I am a gram counting fanatic. There is further gear in my pack but the idea is for the belly pack to have the bare minimum to get by.
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#223971 - 05/20/11 06:27 PM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: hikermor]
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Geezer
Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
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The weather was bad when they were looking for him. In the Cascades, clouds right down to the ground is more the rule than the exception. I can't see that a mirror is much good without the sun. Helicopters aren't likely to fly at night in cloud cover, so you're wasting your zillion-cp flashlight. If you've got low cloud cover at night, a signal fire might not be seen, esp if the conditions are poor enough that the choppers aren't flying. With low clouds during the day, the smoke hangs along the ground, difficult to distinguish from clouds or fog. If you're in a narrow canyon on a clear night, it still might be tricky for aircraft to see your fire, or your flashlight, due to the narrow angle of vision. Missing WA Trooper sorry to have caused trouble So, this brings up the question of HOW to signal in poor weather and poor visibility conditions. As has been said before, you need to prepare for the worst possible conditions, not the best possible conditions. Sue
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#223993 - 05/20/11 09:25 PM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: Hikin_Jim]
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Geezer in Chief
Geezer
Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
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It would be informative to see the official report, which ought to give specifics and answer some of the questions raised here.. Just a couple of comments - a signal mirror will work, although with diminished range, in overcast conditions. Just how thick were the clouds?
At night, or in bad weather, a fire is one of the best signals. The light, if spotted, is quite distinctive, and the smoke, especially, will bring searchers to you. I have followed smoke upstream on a couple of occasions during damp searches.
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#223994 - 05/20/11 10:38 PM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: clearwater]
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Old Hand
Registered: 10/19/06
Posts: 1013
Loc: Pacific NW, USA
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According to a poster on nwhikers.net who said he was a relative of the lost hiker (sanderson), the Trooper carried a SPOT, not a PLB. And while a report might be interesting to us outside SAR community, I've never seen one posted after an incident.
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#224001 - 05/21/11 02:50 AM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: Glock-A-Roo]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 05/05/07
Posts: 3601
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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I wear a slim ArcTeryx waistpack that rides just below my bellybutton... I wear it regardless of the outing type or duration. In the "belly pack" I have: - 1 liter water bag with 8 chlorine dioxide tablets - mini fire kit - Petzl e-Lite mini headlamp - a 2-person AMK heatsheet blanket - signal mirror - whistle - couple of safety pins - 5 feet of duct tape - neon pink flagging tape - Leatherman tool - SPOT-2 unit, with Type I dummy cord - lip balm - 50 foot piece of Kelty dyneema cord (1 ounce!) - an energy bar - slim 3"x5" Rite-In-The-Rain notebook - Fisher space pen - Suunto M3 global needle compass, with Type I dummy cord There is further gear in my pack but the idea is for the belly pack to have the bare minimum to get by. Nice! Smart thinking, Glock! I'd love to see pics in an on-your-body-PSK thread.
Edited by bacpacjac (05/21/11 10:55 AM)
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#224023 - 05/21/11 05:09 PM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: Susan]
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Veteran
Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1419
Loc: Nothern Ontario
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If you've got low cloud cover at night, a signal fire might not be seen, esp if the conditions are poor enough that the choppers aren't flying. With low clouds during the day, the smoke hangs along the ground, difficult to distinguish from clouds or fog.
If you're in a narrow canyon on a clear night, it still might be tricky for aircraft to see your fire, or your flashlight, due to the narrow angle of vision.
In bad weather, the choppers will probably not be flying. However there is almost always ground SAR out searching. Even the fire may not be seen or the smoke spotted, the scent carries. Given that, I would think that most SAR who smell wood fire scent where there normally should not be, would factor this in the search pattern to determine if possible, the direction of where the scent is coming from.
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Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
John Lubbock
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#224116 - 05/23/11 12:35 AM
Re: Search for hiking WA state trooper, used SPOT
[Re: Glock-A-Roo]
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Veteran
Registered: 07/23/08
Posts: 1502
Loc: Mesa, AZ
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In the "belly pack" I have: - 1 liter water bag with 8 chlorine dioxide tablets - mini fire kit - Petzl e-Lite mini headlamp - a 2-person AMK heatsheet blanket - signal mirror - whistle - couple of safety pins - 5 feet of duct tape - neon pink flagging tape - Leatherman tool - SPOT-2 unit, with Type I dummy cord - lip balm - 50 foot piece of Kelty dyneema cord (1 ounce!) - an energy bar - slim 3"x5" Rite-In-The-Rain notebook - Fisher space pen - Suunto M3 global needle compass, with Type I dummy cord Super close to what I do too. I'd say Great minds but I am a plagerizing fool. Oh wait, [right click, Print]
_________________________
Don't just survive. Thrive.
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