Dear Doug and forum readers,It occured to me that a discussion of basic air/sea/land search methods would help us understand what rescuers are doing.This would harmonise our actions to those of our benefactors.My own experience was to see if a floatplan was filed, estimate a general position by elapsed time and then launch a standard search pattern.The truly great SAR people always went further.We call this 'a hunch',but I learned it was that near intangible quality of experience,knowledge of local conditions and profiling the missing party.<br><br>

There are a number of tactics employed in land SAR. It depends on the management of the search which are used. Hopefully Incident Command (IC) brings in air scent dogs and mantrackers first. <br><br>Air scent dogs track primarily by scent. They can follow a trail at a jog or running pace so can make up time if the lost subject is walking. Mantrackers look for sign left behind by the subject. Footprints are the most obvious but broken limbs, crushed ground vegetation, scuff marks, etc are also good indicators. <br><br>At the same time, hopefully IC has dispatched Hasty Teams. Hasty teams go to obvious landmarks: buildings, road crossings, train tracks, bridges, water and look for signs the lost subject has reached that area. Typically lost subjects will head towards something prominent if they can. They will tend to stay there. Hasty teams sprint to these areas and determine if the subject has passed that way. If the subject passed, then IC should send a dog team or mantracker team to follow the new lead. If they haven't passed, then IC can narrow the search between the point last seen (PLS) and the landmark. Periodically during the search, Hasty teams should re-check these points to see if the subject has arrived.<br><br>People tend to head towards water. Any size water. Lakes, streams, creeks, ponds, puddles, drainage ditch. If there is any water near the PLS, send hasty teams to check for signs. Every search I have been on, the subject was found where they could literally reach out and touch water without moving. <br><br>Adults tend to head down hill. Children tend to head up hill.<br><br>The age old method of line searching where you line up hordes of people and trample everything in sight as they move through an area looking for a subject is the least effective. Usually the "searchers" are untrained and are ignoring clues like dropped cigarette butts, candy wrappers, clothing, footprints, and other signs left behind by a subject. It uses lots of manpower and has the lowest probablity of finding a subject. The line search also destroys any clues that dog teams or mantrackers might have used.<br><br>Searchers should be looking for any distrubance to the area. Rocks, sticks, pebbles overturned. Crushed vegetation, dropped wrappers, cigarettes butts, used matches, bits of torn clothing, broken bush and tree limbs, dew and dust wiped off leaves as the subject brushes by, color and pattern differences caused by subject bruising and brushing against stuff.<br><br>If you are lost, make it easy for people to find you. Drag a stick behind you leaving a line in the soil pointing to you. Stack rocks or sticks into obvious manmade piles. Make the piles in the shape of arrows pointing in the direction you are heading. Drag your feet when you walk making a line of scuff marks leading up to you. Break tree and bush branches at waist to shoulder level leaving a trail. Make the most mess and obvioius disturbances in the terrain you can so any untrained person could track you. <br><br>Carry a whistle so you can signal. Carry a mirror so you can signal. Carry a compass and map so you know where you are headed. Leave a note on the dashboard of your car giving an estimated time of return as well as intended route. Leave a brief description of clothing and gear. A polariod of the group left behind before you head out would be perfect.<br><br>Fold the paper over to reduce the information showing to potential thiefs. On the outside, mark it plainly and in large letters something like EMERGENCY INFORMATION. Law enforcement could open the vehicle and use the clues to help find you. <br><br>Before you leave, take a folded towel or blanket and put a piece of foil about 12" long on top of the towel. Step straight down on the foil. Press firmly in all directions. Lift foot straight up. You just made a perfect impression of the sole of your shoes. Write your name and date on the foil. Now the mantrackers have a definitive print to compare against so it is easier to track you. Think about cutting an extra notch in your soil with a knife to differenate your lug boot sole from all the other lug boot soles on the trail.<br><br>Stay in one place. Noone ever stays still when they are lost. They keep moving hoping they will find their way out. I would have a hard time sitting and waiting for someone to find me. I would want to move towards anywhere. Likely this is because most people did not tell anyone where they were going or when they would be back so they realize that noone will come looking for them.<br><br>Be prepared. Take water and some snacks with you. As you travel, periodically turn around and look back down the trail so you could recognize what it will look like. Leave yourself markers by piling small pebbles, sticks or other natural material to the side of the trail so you can confirm your path. Carry a map of the area and periodically locate landmarks and check against the map so you know your general location. <br><br>

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The audience rises to its feet cheering,showering roses and anonymous hotel keys.Id cover marine rescue, but you know your information is dated when;A.your uniform doesn't fit and the military collector next door has a manniquin for it B.a pleasure cruise becomes like a woods walk without familiar songbirds.Who took away my morse code on the radio?I want names! You gave lots of good information that my own local unit er,overlooked to clarify.Now it's Doug's turn.Your sitting in a fully restored Beechcraft Staggerwing owned by a CAP friend.A meteor has just collided with an ultralight,forcing it down somewhere along the salt river.<br><br>

Hope that you are inside the statistical limits if your IC stops the search within these guidelines.<br><br>Ted Fisher<br>Coordinator<br>Vermilion County Search and Rescue<br><br>

Thats when the knowledge and equipment here should be present. My interest was renewed a few years back. A scout became separated from his troop on a day hike above Los Angeles. They found his candy wrappers and pocket camera with self photos and then nothing. I still find myself looking at those mountains from the freeway and wondering. <br><br>

I concur!! Kudos for the information!!<br><br>

I would agree that I did not cover all the possible techniques for land SAR. Nor did I give a complete start to finish dissertation on land SAR. Entire books have been written on how to search, probabilities of detection, rate and direction of travel, common habits of subjects based on age and experience, etc.<br><br>I would suggest that those interested in more information about land SAR review a number of the books available on the subject. The National Association of Search And Rescue, NASAR, maintains a web site that lists a number of texts.<br><br>Once a subject is identified as missing, a data gathering process begins. This would include information like physical description, habits, clothing worn, experience operating in the terrain, prior survival training, hobbies like fishing, hiking, hunting, orienteering that might effect the subjects travel patterns, current relationship with family, pending events like divorce, job loss, extreme debt, medical problems, etc.<br><br>The Point Last Seen, PLS, is identified. That area should be closely examined for signs left the by the subject indicating direction of travel. Topographical maps of the area should be reviewed. The lay of the land will have natural boundaries that will effect the speed and probable direction of travel.<br><br>Dog teams and Mantrackers will hopefully find some sign at the PLS and begin tracking. Hasty teams will be sent ahead looking for clues. If no sign was found at the PLS, then dog teams and mantrackers will travel in a ever increasing circles from the PLS looking for sign.<br><br>Subjects and their circumstances will effect the search. Some subjects are lost and want to be found. Other subjects are not lost, they are running away and do not want to be found. Some subjects will aid searchers, others will hide. <br><br>We searched for a boy age 3-5 who had been taught not to talk or interact with strangers. The SAR teams were strangers and he actively hid from them. We searched for an elderly man who walked away from a nursing home towards the "family farm". His family never had a farm but in his altered mental state, he struck out towards a non-existent destination. We searched for a mother who was afraid of the dark with her son who required regular doses of medication. The son's mental state was deteriorating and he was relying on a mother who was making irrational decisions because of her fear.<br><br>Political decisions are often made that effect the search. An elderly woman was discovered missing from a nursing home. The nursing home would not allow searching within 100 yards of the building because it might upset the tenents. The woman was found two days later dead of hypothermina in a drainage ditch within 10 yards of the building.<br><br>Since this is the survival forum, instead of going into additional lengthy comments about SAR techniques, maybe we should direct the discussion back to the area of tools for staying found and increasing survivability while actively participating in helping SAR to locate you.<br><br><br><br><br>

Chris,<br><br>I asked a good friend, Steve White, to write up a summary of how CAP prosecutes a search. Steve has about a zillion times more experience than me, has done about everything in the AZ Wing. Here's his summary with a few comments from me in brackets:<br><br>Doug has asked me to describe the SAR methods for aerial search used in CAP, and I'll do so based on my experience in Arizona. Different Wings (state level organization) modify their procedures considering terrain, weather, and inter-agency relationships, so there may be important differences in other states.<br><br>For a missing aircraft search, we (Arizona) might have the departure point, the point of intended landing, or be in the anticipated route of flight. Last know position might be the departure point, a position report with air traffic control or another agency, or an intermediate fuel stop. Because aircraft have a wide range of possible paths, and can travel hundreds of miles in an hour, our deployment of assets will depend greatly on the type and quality of information we have about the intended flight. The pilot's known skills, proficiency, habits, and educated guesses play a part in where we'll look first.<br><br>(A specialist or two are assigned to gather information, interview family members, etc. to find out as much intelligence as possible about the pilot and his habits or their expectations, the plane, etc. <br><br>Typically, a chaplain is assigned to work with family members offering comfort and assistance during the long and difficult wait for news and they are also generally the one charged with keeping the family in the loop. A very difficult job.)<br><br>We typically conduct electronic and visual searches simultaneously, using DF gear and observers. (Typical crew is a pilot and two observers, one in the right seat and one in the rear left seat. CAP "corporate" (meaning owned by CAP) aircraft in the West are usually Cessna 182s, in flatter terrain usually Cessna 172. Private aircraft belonging to CAP members are also used in many searches.)<br><br>One or more aircraft will search the route of flight, listening for an emergency radio beacon and looking for gross signs<br>of the missing aircraft (smoke, a wide swath of broken tree tops, active distress signaling) and check airports near the route. Additional units will be assigned a specific area to search, usually a 15-minute latitude/longitude square (roughly 15 miles on a side) in the lower 48, a full degree square in Alaska. <br><br>(In areas where communications are difficult, such as many mountainous areas of the West, a high cap aircraft circling at higher altitude may be used to maintain communications with aircraft searching at lower altitudes. ) <br><br>Depending on visibility, weather, vegetation, snow cover, and the steepness of the terrain, in fairly flat land we fly parallel tracks between 1/2 and two miles apart, at altitudes of 500 to 1000 feet above the ground. In mountainous terrain we use a contour search pattern, starting at the highest elevation and flying at a given altitude around the mountain, then descending a few hundred feet and flying at that<br>contour level, and repeating the process on down the mountain. If there are significant canyons or drainages we can't get to on the contour paths, we climb to the top of the terrain and fly down the canyon. Sometimes we have to do that a lot. In our experience, the expanding square and creeping line search patterns are less generally useful here.<br><br>The incident commander will evaluate the quality of the search, based on the objective factors (visibility, weather, vegetation, snow cover, terrain, track spacing, search altitude) and the crew's own evaluation of their performance (turbulence, airsickness, and low contrast light are performance reducers) to assign a "probability of detection" for that area for that search. If the POD is low, additional searches of the same area can be made until the POD rises to an acceptable level.<br><br>Hopefully this will give you some idea of how we look for missing aircraft. The techniques for missing vehicles and persons are similar, with appropriate adjustments.<br><br><br><br>Doug Ritter<br>Editor<br>Equipped To Survive