SAFA Skysailor Magazine

40 SKY SAILOR November | December 2021 What happens when you press the SOS button? This is where the real difference between tracking/messaging devices and beacons comes in to play. When you hit the red button on a Spot/ inReach/Bivy, a signal is sent to the satellite constellation along with your GPS position. This then makes its way to a ground station in North America. To my knowledge, Garmin, Spot and ACR each appear to operate their own S&R coordination centres, but I may be wrong. Regardless, their S&R folk will look up your details, find out where you are from, who your emergency contacts are, and where the signal has originated from. They then alert the local S&R authorities (AMSA) and your contacts. When you push the SOS button on a PLB or EPIRB, the alert goes straight to AMSA. When AMSA get an alert, they swing straight into S&R mode and things happen very quickly. Now, back to the original Alice Springs area event that I mentioned at the beginning. The concern is that the extra time taken for a signal to get from North America to AMSA and the emergency contacts will eat into a very small window of survivability in extreme environments. Carrying a GPS-equipped PLB as well as a satellite tracker/messaging device makes a lot of sense because that PLB signal cuts out the middleman. Of course, you must be conscious to operate either of these. If you have live tracking operating, your position will be within a certain area of your last logged position; this will depend on your speed, course and track messaging frequency. Consider upgrading to more frequent logging if you are going remote. To finish up, here are some tips for remote flight operations. • • Carry a GPS-equipped PLB as well as a satellite tracker/messaging device. • • Make sure your rechargeable device is fully charged or you have a battery bank connected. • • Carry a spare pack of batteries if your device is not rechargeable. • • Fly with live tracking switched on and upgrade the logging frequency. • • Never fly alone. As a minimum, have someone on the ground following you, or leave instructions to be followed if you have not checked in by a certain time. • • Go equipped for extreme weather at either end of the temperature range. • • If you get into trouble in extreme conditions do NOT hesitate to hit the SOS button. Stay safe. Sending out an SOS