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Tuesday, 18 September 2007 |
AusCAP conducted a joint exercise on the 25th August with WICEN Radio Communications (http://www.nsw.wicen.org.au) and PLUNGE Diving (http://www.plungediving.com.au) groups. The practice search exercise was conducted off the coast of Sydney, East of Vaucluse lighthouse. Two sorties were flown out of Bankstown Airport in a Partenavia and C172RG, with suport provided from a mobile coastal marine radio station established by the WICEN team. The following aspects of training were exercised on the day:
Pilot Mission planning and navigation
Crew Resource Management techniques
Marine Radio Communication techniques
Observer identification of targets
location of body in the water
Surface to air signalling and response
The Observers were given a description of a stricken vessel which had to be located and identified. The pilots were provided an area of operation from which a search pattern was planned, taking into account the busy traffic flow of the VFR route along the coast of Sydney. Due to Marine radio technical problems, the backup of UHF CB and Airband VHF were used on this occassion.
The search was conducted at 500ft AMSL with a line spacing of 1nm (approx 1.8km). Visibility on the day was greater than 10km and the sea state was slight (3) making for excellent search conditions.
The practice search was a great success and the Australian Civil Air Patrol wishes to thank all the participants of the operation.
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