Who to call for suspected missing aircraft?

PeterNSteinmetz

PeterNSteinmetz

Ejection Handle Pulled
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
2,653
Location
Tempe, AZ
Display Name
Display name:
PeterNSteinmetz
My wife asked me this question the other day after a friend and I were on a relatively short flight to a nearby location, about 30 minutes away, and had not filed a flight plan.

The question was: who should she call if we go missing?

One thought was the flight service station, but maybe that is not right. And if so, which number?

Other thoughts and suggestions?
 
Try their cells first. Then I would call FSS and let then get things started. Have as much info as you can, type of plane, color, fuel on board, destination, and Pilot and pax info
 
Flight Service is the immediate place to report it (main 800 WX BRIEF number). You may also be obliged to report it to the NTSB.
 
911 probably does not work. They are likely to dispatch to the police who will put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) for a plane crash. That means officers will look around as they're driving and look for any signs of something amiss. That is not a high confidence search.

I'd try Flight Services, but if you don't have a flight plan, there might not be much FSS can do.

If an airplane is really overdue, you'd want the information to get to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC), but I really don't know the right path to kick it off. They probably won't take your word for it being overdue.

Does anyone know the proper channels to report an overdue airplane to the AFRCC so someone (CAP?) can be dispatched?
 
Flight service. They will make some phonecalls (airport managers, ATC) and eventually contact AFRCC. From there, depending on the state, it either goes to CAP or a state SAR agency.

At times, alert notices are originated by the state police or state SAR coordinators because families contact local authorities and get handed off a couple of times.
 
Last edited:
FSS. Even without a VFR flight plan.

A VFR flight plan may give a planned route and time, but unless it was winding rather than direct or the pilot was in the habit of calling in position reports to update, the info from a VFR flight plan might not be any more detailed that the person calling can give anyway.

And, if the pilot was using flight following services well, that would be part of the initial search inquiry, along with airports on both sides of the route.
 
If they have a spot or spider tracks, call up some pilot friends and EMS friends and go find them.

Aside from that look into who your local SAR group is, I'd aim to go directly as possible to them and bypass the CAP.
 
Very important that the concerned citizen have basic details such as tail number and color... "It's a little airplane" won't hack it. Departure airport and proposed destination also helps, whether or not a flight plan was filed.

1-800-wxbrief is the number to call.

Bob Gardner
 
Last edited:
murphey said:
Hate to say it, but local police are probably clueless about missing aircraft. Very few understand anything about the FAA or the NTSB.
Click to expand...

A 911 call went out in my county a couple days ago for a lady that "saw an airplane flying, looked away, heard 2 loud bangs, looked back to see no plane, then thought she saw smoke." County fire and the Sheriff helicopter searched for about 2 hours, even after another bystander reported "they saw the airplane flying, and it flew away past the horizon." County fire also contacted nearby towers and TRACONs to inquire, as well as listened for ELTs. Nothing was found. Who cares what they know about FAA and NTSB, their response was what I would want. Contacting nearby ATC, talking to any witnesses, searching by truck and by helicopter are about the best actions to be taken. Local police aren't going to be the ones looking. These types of 911 calls go to county fire and sheriffs unless it is reported in town. They will look. At least around here.

That being said, I would call 1-800-WXBRIEF first, especially if not 100% certain of a crash.
 
Last edited:
James331 said:
If they have a spot or spider tracks, call up some pilot friends and EMS friends and go find them.

Aside from that look into who your local SAR group is, I'd aim to go directly as possible to them and bypass the CAP.
Click to expand...

Trying to be an amateur emergency dispatcher is probably the worst thing you can do. Well, trying to be an untrained searcher is worse, I suppose. Please avoid the terrible advice.

All ATC services can initiate a search, but FSS is probably the easiest to get ahold of. Like any emergency. I've reported wildfires through Approach, for instance. Inland searches are ultimately AFRCC's responsibility; over water searches are the Coast Guard's. But ATC/FSS can handle that quickly.
 
The police are going to get called by the AFRCC anyway...but they have other things to do and when is the last time you heard about a police officer or fireman independently finding a crashed airplane? I can't think of it ever happening, but I'm sure it has at least once. Not a high percentage search.

It's a good thread - we need to let others know what to do if we don't wind up on an airport and can't contact anyone.
 
bflynn said:
The police are going to get called by the AFRCC anyway...but they have other things to do and when is the last time you heard about a police officer or fireman independently finding a crashed airplane? I can't think of it ever happening, but I'm sure it has at least once. Not a high percentage search.

It's a good thread - we need to let others know what to do if we don't wind up on an airport and can't contact anyone.
Click to expand...

You guys really don't know how this stuff works. It's not the POLICE that get called. It's fire and sheriff. Either fire or sheriff WILL be the ones to find you. There have been 2 crashes in my county in the last month, a helicopter and an airplane. There have been threads on POA about both crashes. Guess who searched, and found both. County fire and the sheriff helicopter. Who do you think is going to be searching? The FAA? The NTSB? The Air Force? CAP?
 
I'd call my local Rescue Coordination Center. I have them on speed dial. If you don't have one of those I'd find out what agency is responsible for aircraft SAR in your area and call them. Pilots should know who their regional rescue assets are.
 
Recommendations to call AFSS are correct. The AFSSs are the central points in the FAA procedures:

"FSSs serve as the central points for collecting and disseminating information on an overdue or missing aircraft which is not on an IFR flight plan. Non-FSS ATC facilities that receive telephone calls or other inquiries regarding these flights shall refer these calls and inquiries to the appropriate AFSS/FSS."

ARTCCs contact AFRCC directly when the overdue aircraft is on an IFR flight plan.

 FAA Job Order 7110.65T http://tfmlearning.faa.gov/Publications/atpubs/ATC/atc1003.html

AFRCC typically contacts a state duty officer on a desk that is manned 24x7. From that point, the duty officer decides which assets to employ.

Often the sheriffs are the ones called, but this can get a little sticky. I was on a search once where the missing aircraft was found a few hundred yards outside of the county we were working with. That necessitated a call and a handoff to the sheriff's department in the adjacent county. It didn't waste much time but it could have. So it is probably better to contact the AFSS and let the overdue aircraft information get handled through proper channels. It won't take much longer and may even be faster than calling someone local.
 
Last edited:
James331 said:
If they have a spot or spider tracks, call up some pilot friends and EMS friends and go find them.

Aside from that look into who your local SAR group is, I'd aim to go directly as possible to them and bypass the CAP.
Click to expand...
Thoroughly incompetent, even ludicrous, advice. But, hey, its the internet!
 
I don't think you can expect the average citizen to call the FSS. They probably don't even know what that is. I would guess most average citizens call the cops, or a tower, since that is probably the only facility they know about connected to the FAA.
 
Yes, FSS. They will relay the inquiry to ATC and the AF search coordinator. ATC will both try to figure out if they've had contact with the plane, and just as importantly, they will ask aircraft in the potential search areas to listen for an ELT (I've been on the receiving end of such a request more than once).
 
They'll also call up (or have people check) all the airports in the area to see if an "unnoticed" landing was in fact made. I've received those calls (the airport manager number goes to me among others). FSS has the plan on how to go about this.
 
A few years ago my brother-in-law (police officer) called me to make sure I was OK. He had a report of an "aircraft in distress" near where I live (semi-rural area, but only 4 miles to two different airports 5T6 and Cielo Dorado). He gave me the "area it was reported" and I was literally approaching that highway intersection ... off to my left was a crop duster working the field:mad2::lol:
 
When a CJR-based Navion plowed into a BBQ restaurant in NC I got besieged by calls and emails to check if it was me. (I have hangars both in NC and at CJR). I called my mechanic as he is another Navion owner and knows the whole community.
 
airdale said:
James331 said:
If they have a spot or spider tracks, call up some pilot friends and EMS friends and go find them.

Aside from that look into who your local SAR group is, I'd aim to go directly as possible to them and bypass the CAP.
Click to expand...

Thoroughly incompetent, even ludicrous, advice. But, hey, its the internet!
Click to expand...

I am aware of at least two cases in northern MN where the official search conducted by the state/CAP came up empty and private searchers found the wreckage. In one case it was the result of the official search over-thinking things and getting distracted by cellphone forensics. The private searchers drew a magenta line on the map connecting the two airports and flew until they found the wreck on reservation lands.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/con...vered-plane-wreckage-minnesota-state-forest-0

When Maryland state police trooper 2 went down, the official search was on a wild goose-chase all over the place based on screwups in cellphone forensics and miscommunications. Two off-duty troopers ignored the official search, hiked into the park where they knew the wreck had to be and found the surviving passenger.




While FSS is the official point of contact for any missing aircraft, the response they kick off is necessarily delayed and not always the most efficient way to locate a missing aircraft. If you have a spidertrack or spot to go by, you can probably be out there for 3-4 hours searching before any of the 'official' search gets underway. I can see why someone would express the opinion James has put forward.
 
"Data" is not the plural of "anecdote."
 
MAKG1 said:
Trying to be an amateur emergency dispatcher is probably the worst thing you can do. Well, trying to be an untrained searcher is worse, I suppose. Please avoid the terrible advice.

All ATC services can initiate a search, but FSS is probably the easiest to get ahold of. Like any emergency. I've reported wildfires through Approach, for instance. Inland searches are ultimately AFRCC's responsibility; over water searches are the Coast Guard's. But ATC/FSS can handle that quickly.
Click to expand...

Amateur? You want amateur get the CAP involved.
 
My wife could have half a dozen friends or more airborne in under an hour looking for me if that's what's needed.

How long does it take CAP?

In very cold weather, time is critical.
 
Read up on the threads on here and backcountrypilot about the mighty CAP.

Know your area and your resources and their real capabilities, I can't even rely on "official types" to fill a pothole, the CAP is all but a joke and my local cop chopper has half a million other things going on, if a loved one is in distress you think I'm going to trust their outcome to the aforementioned clowns or the overly stressed assets, when I have their bread crumbs from a spider or spot on a screen infront of me, half a dozen willing and able ATP pilots, most of which with real low level backcountry experience, and even more EMS friends?
 
Last edited:
James331 said:
Read up on the threads on here and backcountrypilot about the mighty CAP.

Know you area and you're resources and their real capabilities, I can't even rely on "official types" to fill a pothole, the CAP is all but a joke and my local cop chopper has half a million other things going on, if a loved one is in distress you think I'm going to trust their outcome to the aforementioned clowns or the overly stressed assets, when I have their bread crumbs from a spider or spot on a screen infront of me, half a dozen willing and able ATP pilots, most of which with real low level backcountry experience, and even more EMS friends?
Click to expand...

Just a reminder that some of those clowns are here reading this, but will still drag their butts out of bed tonight at 3am even if you're the one who needs them. Civility should not be too much to ask for a fellow human.

CAP would be dispatched as a consequence of calling FSS if it was appropriate. Not so necessary anymore with the 406 ELTs.
 
bflynn said:
Just a reminder that some of those clowns are here reading this, but will still drag their butts out of bed tonight at 3am even if you're the one who needs them. Civility should not be too much to ask for a fellow human.

CAP would be dispatched as a consequence of calling FSS if it was appropriate. Not so necessary anymore with the 406 ELTs.
Click to expand...


No disrespect to the good guys in CAP, I know there are some, however, sadly, many are in CAP for the wrong reasons, or just don't have their chit together.

When it's in the negatives outside and it's friends or family out there, I'm just not rolling the dice on having the right types of CAP folks making the calls, if they want to help cool, but I'm still going to do everything in my power, with all my assets, to bring my people home.
 
Everskyward said:
I don't think you can expect the average citizen to call the FSS. They probably don't even know what that is. I would guess most average citizens call the cops, or a tower, since that is probably the only facility they know about connected to the FAA.
Click to expand...

Yup.

Pilots who don't file flight plans should make sure that there is someone on the ground who will report them missing if need be, and they should make sure that the person(s) on the ground have the phone number of the FSS, as well as the relevant details of the flight.
 
Last edited:
Direct C51 said:
You guys really don't know how this stuff works. It's not the POLICE that get called. It's fire and sheriff. Either fire or sheriff WILL be the ones to find you. There have been 2 crashes in my county in the last month, a helicopter and an airplane. There have been threads on POA about both crashes. Guess who searched, and found both. County fire and the sheriff helicopter. Who do you think is going to be searching? The FAA? The NTSB? The Air Force? CAP?
Click to expand...

I've heard that who gets called to perform aircraft searches depends on which state you're in.
 
Palmpilot said:
I've heard that who gets called to perform aircraft searches depends on which state you're in.
Click to expand...

Very much so.

In some states like WA and MT, the state aeronautics office controls the search for missing aircraft. In other states it is the state police. In some places CAP is the first call.

Alerts from 406mHz ELTs go through AFRCC and from there to the respective state entity.

Alerts from PLBs go to whoever is on file for ground-based SAR. This can be a sheriffs department or even the game wardens. So if you carry a PLB and push the button, the searchers may not look for 'an airplane' but a 'lost hiker'.
 
I did SAR with CAP for 14 years; as with most things, the truth is between the extremes. The process to get 'em moving could be "ponderous", for sure. . .if an ELT is working, CAP can be a good bet. Sometimes. If the crew responding is competent, and not called out because they're the Wing King's good buds. . .

CAP saddles itself with a pretty dense set of processes that have evolved without much rigourous review, until they can now have trouble just getting out of thier own way. On a one-airplane call out, say an ELT, it can move along at a close to reasonable clip.

But multi airplane, and/or multi day, for a "real" missing aircraft, the process will make a preacher cuss. I remember being frustrated to the point of head-banging, just trying to get a response to a simple query from "Mission Base", on a real search.

But they can get multiple aircraft, with reasonably trained crews, up and performing a methodical search. Just not gonna happen too fast. . .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top