Search and rescue scenario

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Dave Krall CFII

Final Approach
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Dave Krall CFII SEL SES, Cmcl HELI
A solitary SAR volunteer team with only one set of team equipment available gets notification simultaneously of two separately downed pilots. One is listed as "out there somewhere on a route with flightplan, between Seattle, WA and Helena, Montana". The other is listed as "emitting a SPOT locator signal with co-ordinates XYZ" which is in a mountainous terrain route as well. All other factors are equal and no other rescue resources are available.

Which pilot should the solitary SAR volunteer team go searching for first, and why?
 
The one they have the best option of finding. That would be the SPOT signal. Go haul their butts out of the mountains post haste, and then go get the others.
 
The first one because it will take more time to locate ? :skeptical:
 
absolutely the one you can get to first - having the coordinates for them makes it a simple turnaround and you can get back out there after the other folks. Going after the other folks might mean that, by the time you find them, it's too late for the ones you already knew how to locate.
 
Interesting question. Of course in the real world, in most locales, there will always be someone who can assist. But assuming information about urgency and injuries is unknown (or equal) the known location will get most of the resources. Simple matter of efficiency.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
What Greg said. :yes:
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Ditto with the caveat that "Search" and "Rescue" are really two distinctly different functions requiring significantly different assets so there really shouldn't be any conflict between searching for the first and rescuing the second once the first are located from the air (assuming air search is possible). IOW send the airplanes to search the flight plan route and send the paramedic/rescue crew to the SPOT location.
 
gismo said:
Ditto with the caveat that "Search" and "Rescue" are really two distinctly different functions requiring significantly different assets so there really shouldn't be any conflict between searching for the first and rescuing the second once the first are located from the air (assuming air search is possible). IOW send the airplanes to search the flight plan route and send the paramedic/rescue crew to the SPOT location.
Click to expand...
not in THIS situation: "one SAR team with one set of team equipment". But the answer remains the same. Ya do the known first, then try and find the ones you don't have a location for.
 
But! What if they have the known location, because the airplane was in ice at 17,000 ft and came spiraling down off of radar. Then you might know his location but, I bet you aren't going to find him in very good shape. Just an idea.
Bob
 
First rule of triage in mass casualty: You try to do the most good for the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time.

Meaning, don't spend any time on the guy with no pulse in a big pool of blood and move to the ones with pulses. Once you've taken care of those that can be helped, then come back to the guy with no pulse. If he can still be saved, it's a bonus. If not, you've saved all the other people. If you spend all your time on the guy who probably can't be saved, the others may deteriorate to unsavable before you get around to them.

--Carlos V.
 
Greg's solution is my solution. I would expect the same treatment even if I was one of the missing people.
The exception would be actual communication with the spot person who's down that says they're ok and can wait. Otherwise they're #1 on the evacuation list.
 
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