RWS 87 – Search and Rescue at AMSA with Luke Brandley

We spend a lot of time training for emergencies in the air but how much do you know about what happens next or what kicks into gear if you go missing? Luke Brandley is an ex-Huey pilot now working as a Senior Search and Rescue Officer with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). He and …

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Luke Brandley is a Senior Search and Rescue Office with AMSA and used to fly Iroquois for the Australian Army.

We spend a lot of time training for emergencies in the air but how much do you know about what happens next or what kicks into gear if you go missing? Luke Brandley is an ex-Huey pilot now working as a Senior Search and Rescue Officer with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). He and the rest of the team co-ordinate the emergency search and response once an aircraft is in distress or missing.  

Located in Canberra, ACT, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) in manned 24 hours a day and is charged with looking after a vast portion of the Earth’s surface as you can see in the coverage map below. They respond to around 7000 incidents per year.

This episode covers what happens behind the scenes when something goes wrong. While it is Australian focused in content, the same types of procedures and assets will be applicable worldwide with other aviation rescue and response organisations. The more you know about this part of the aviation infrastructure the better prepared you can be if you ever have to be on the receiving end.

There are a number of different ways that AMSA get involved: when aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) are activated, an aircraft is overdue or there is concern for its safety, on declaration of a MAYDAY or alert by local authorities. They remain the chief agency up until the aircraft is found safe or until any survivors are delivered to primary care.   

The massive area Australian search and rescue assets have responsibility for.

At their disposal is a fleet of 4 contracted Bombardier Challenger 604 jets located in Perth, Melbourne and Cairns on a 30 minutes (60 minutes by night) notice to move with a nominal endurance of 8 hours. The aircraft are fitted with homing equipment, electro-optical turret, multi-mode search radar, fixed staring three-camera array with anomaly detection software and have the ability to drop emergency equipment.

The Co-ordination Centre staff also have the ability to call on a wide range of mainly Government fixed and rotary wing assets in the different States to assist with search.

How can you help rescue agencies help you?

Luke’s advice for aircrew is to always let someone know where you are going and the times you are operating. This could be via submitted flight plan, company operations or a responsible person. The more information that AMSA is able to access, the quicker they are able to make decisions to get the right rescue assets on scene with the least amount of time spent searching

Don’t delay contacting AMSA. If the safety of a flight is in doubt don’t hold off from letting AMSA know. If the aircraft is contacted or arrives safely it is easy to stand down the alert. There are cases where people have held off contacting authorities after an aircraft has failed to show and then when AMSA was alerted there was now limited time before sunset to start a search.

Know your equipment. Know where to locate and how to use your aircraft’s ELT and other emergency equipment. Because we interact with it so infrequently our ability to operate emergency equipment at short notice and under pressure is degraded unless you refresh that knowledge.

Correct disposal of ELTs. False or inadvertent activation of old or disposed of ELTs can tie up expensive rescue assets that then may not be avaliable when you or other aircrew need them. Each beacon is coded and should be registered with the national database which speeds the contact of the registered owner and verification of an actual emergency or false activation. When a beacon is disposed of the owner should update the database.

Instructions for the disposal of ELTs and beacons can be found here and include the removal of the batteries. Environmental considerations also come into play for the disposal of the long life battery itself.

Every year, thousands of dollars are spent in Australia searching for beacons in rubbish dumps.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority Website

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Links from this week’s episode:
Support the podcast on Patreon
Australian Maritime Safety Authority – AMSA’s Search and Rescue webpage
AOPA Emergency Locator Transmitter Page – good source of info about aviation ELTs
Flight Safety Australia Article – Bump goes the beacon: dealing with false ELT alerts
FAA Information for Operators – False Alerts on 406 Megahertz (MHz) Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT)
When must an ELT be carried – CASA requirements (Australia)
Cospas-Sarsat – International Satellite System for Search and Rescue

Have a comment or feedback about Episode 87? Have you ever had to activate an ELT – what happened? Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.

The post RWS 87 – Search and Rescue at AMSA with Luke Brandley appeared first on The Rotary Wing Show Podcast.