On Sat, 02 Dec 2006 16:32:43 GMT, "Travis Marlatte"
wrote:

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
.. .
Sam Spade writes:

With intelligent preflight planning and intelligent use of RNAV, the
odds of SAR finding a downed VFR aircraft aircraft are very good
especially when the ELT doesn't work.

If I put specific waypoints on my VFR flight plan and fly them, I'd
expect that SAR would be able to go directly to the point where I went
down, or nearly so. That's a lot easier and faster than searching
thousands of square miles.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

SAR is not going to be able to go directly to the point where you went down.
All they know is when where you started from, where you were going, and how
you were planning to get there. When SAR is initiated 1/2 hour after you

You are making an optimistic assumption that SAR is going to be
initiated a 1/2 hour after you don't arrive.

Real case in point. I arrived at Lee Gilmer Memorial (KGVL) NE of
Atlanta around 11:00 PM. The phones weren't working. It was
something line 2 or 3 hours later before I actually was able to
contact FSS (I could have driven in and knocked on the door faster).
to close my flight plan. I apologized for being late. The comment
was something to the effect of "Late? Oh, yah, I guess you are a
little on the late side".

IOW in some cases SAR may not even be alerted unless some one calls
and wonders where you are.

don't arrive, they have the entire route to search. But, at least they have
a route to search. The closer to the center line of that planned route you
are when you go down, the better the odds of them finding you. Lat/long

and those odds are pretty poor if most of the route is heavily wooded
terrain.

It's fairly well populated around here. A Bonanza went down headed
for MtPleasant. It's less than 20 miles from Midland to Mt Pleasant.
The pilot and copilot had walked out of the swamp and called well
before the plane was found. OTOH it was snowing like made. They went
directly over our house and went down about 6 miles west or here.

fixes or formal NAVAID fixes, it doesn't really matter.

With a flight plan AND flight following they are more likely to know
where you might be as the loss of transponder signal normally gets
their attention. Coming out of Kansas scooting under some really
nasty stuff I had precipitation static build up to the point where I
had to cycle the electrical system. As I recall they were calling
me when the radios came back to life.

However in *some* areas FSS is far more alert to over due aircraft
than others. Due to Denver ATC rerouting me around some *areas* and
threading our way between clouds containing tornados and giant hail I
was a bit behind schedule arriving at Jefferson County, Jefco (BJC). I
made certain to call as soon as we were on the ground. They were
still upset as I was pushing the limits.

I hate to burst that warm and fuzzy feeling bubble :-)) but SAR may
not even be notified until the next day depending on conditions.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com