Thanks you very much AKSAR for your information and views. I thought you would have good info...

In the halcyon pre-cell phone era, when Johnnie's mother made the call, we had "unnecessary" operations as well, finding that Johnnie was just a bit overdue, maybe appreciated a bit of water, etc. but was in no real distress.

Todays situation seems much better. Enhanced communication is almost always a good thing. AKSAR alluded to the Grand Canyon incident - a party activating their PLB on three successive days for trivial situations (the last was a complaint about the spring water tasting a bit too salty). This group was exceptionally clueless and probably would have generated a real emergency had they been left to the tender mdercies of the Grand Canyon.

I suppose that the bottom line is that SAR is generally now more efficient than in the "good old days."