Originally Posted By: rafowell
Tim Gorske, 62, became lost Friday in Colorado ... Around noon Monday, Tim spotted an aircraft, and signaled it with his mirror. The aircraft directed ground SAR to his location.

I just spotted a later article – since the original post is closed, I'll add it here. Also, it seems is full name is John Timm Gorsky, hence some articles call him John and some Tim.

There's a nice 2-page article on this rescue in the Winter 2015-2016 "Peaks and Planes",
Official Magazine of the Colorado Wing, Civil Air Patrol, in the article "Steamboat Squadron Aircrew Earns Save of Lost Hiker"
by Lt. Col. Mike Daniels, CAP COWG Mission PIO, pp. 35-36.
About 1" down column 1 on p. 36, it says:

Originally Posted By: Lt. Col. Mike Daniels
"... Lt. Col. Barkey spotted a light flash he thought might be a signal mirror.
... John Gorske ... started to see a plane in his area and then began signaling with a mirror.
The aircrew continued to circle over that point, and both observers saw multiple light flashes.
Being certain they had located Mr. Gorske, ..."

So this was a case of the survivor deliberately targeting the plane. Since both observers saw multiple flashes, he had margin.

Also, I hadn't posted John's account at the ACR Site - it mentions the mirror work again, and that he used a ResQLink™ PLB.


Edited by rafowell (06/01/16 05:39 AM)
Edit Reason: Mentioned the Tim/John confusion
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A signal mirror should backup a radio distress signal, like a 406 MHz PLB (ACR PLB) (Ocean Signal PLB)