 Americans on the move. Sportsmen, businessmen, adventure or pleasure seeking men and women from all parts of the country. On the move to other parts of the country, with very little else in common but their desires for freedom and mobility. But as their stories unfold, each traveler will share a connecting link, will become a part of a communications network that is in fact a lifeline. And each traveler, regardless of who or where they are or how and when they travel, will have a common rendezvous. And their fate will be in the hands of the federal agency responsible for search and rescue in the continental United States. This is the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. The personnel appearing in this presentation are not actors, but are dedicated Air Force people whose coordination efforts are aimed at saving lives. An information request message, an INREC, comes from the Federal Aviation Agency. It indicates that an emergency situation may be developing. Major Prescott, this information request just came across from FAA. The FAA message is compared with active emergency locator transmitter reports. If the INREC moves to the alert stage, the center will take immediate action. According to the information request, a Cessna 182 with four passengers left Boulder, Colorado at 7.50 a.m., headed for Red Bluff, California without filing a flight plan. Time data indicates possible fuel exhaustion. Either the pilot has landed en route to refuel or he is down somewhere in the mountainous areas of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, or California. Whether advisories show strong headwinds and a possible snowstorm brewing. Without a flight plan, the center can only calculate the range by theorizing that no trouble occurred in flight. This calculation based on fuel capacity, speed, and wind velocity will be hampered by not knowing the pilot's planned altitude. He could have made it to Utah without refueling. Okay, sir, why don't we keep a close eye on this one and I'll go ahead and plot the probably route of flight. Mark the airport where he may have landed. Maybe he's still sitting there waiting for the commercial registry so we can start a data file. The registry contains a listing of over 180,000 light aircraft registered in the United States. By cross-referencing the aircraft's tail number with the owner's name and address, a point of contact is obtained, which may provide some additional information. We just got an emergency locator transmitter report from a commercial airliner. He picked it up 40 miles northeast of Reading, California. This will be ELT incident number 1207. I'll stay on this one, Ron. Looks like we may have a mission here. Okay. The Cessna 182, tail number 83 Gulf, refueled and left Coolman Field, Utah, without checking on route weather. We know he got that far then. We better get some more background information on that pilot and see how much bad weather play experience he has. Air Force Rescue, major tub figure. I'm Director of Emergency Services in Virginia. I think I got a problem for you. Yes, sir. Can we help you? We've got a bad situation here. Five miles due south of Front Royal. It seems that these two young hikers set out on the trails along the Shenandoah National Forest to explore some caves. Most of the warnings, by the way. They fell down into one of the caves. This is unconscious. Our boyfriend couldn't get... Is the boy with the sheriff now? No, no. That boy didn't stay with the boaters. They'll help me come. That's just great. Now we have two missing persons on our hands. Yeah, that's right. We're gonna... Okay. Exactly what do you need? Well, now the sheriff, his name's put in an airlift to get a team of searchers into the area. Gonna take too long by ground transport. And don't tell him how far that boy walked until he found that motorist. You know what I mean? Do you know... Do you have the approximate location where the boy stopped the motorist? Yeah, yeah. Right. It was on the Old Doray Road, about 20 miles west of Spurriville. I got the map coordinates if you'd like to have me get into it right now. Okay, go ahead. I read it at 38 degrees, 39 minutes north, and 78 degrees, 12 minutes west. Yeah, 12 minutes west. 38, 39 north, 78, 12 west. That's right. I'll have to check and see if there's an aircraft available. Please stand by. I'll get right back with you. Rescue 095, I copy. Go ahead. Ops, normal report. Negative sighting on that missing fishing boat. We'll continue search pattern. That's negative sighting. I copy rescue 095. Be advised, Coast Guard is just requesting an H53 Super Jolly Green Helo for standby. Possible hoist pickup. Rescue... When we confirm the lodge, we'll put you in direct contact with the aircraft commander for vector to the search area. That's right, Mr. Carpenter. I contacted the Army Forces Command at Fort MacPherson, Georgia. They can dispatch two Army Huey helicopters out of the base nearest the search area. That would be Fort Lee. Within 45 minutes, but they're not hoist equipped, and they'll need a refueling area near the search site. A fuel truck will be dispatched if you'll give me a refueling location. Okay, Mr. Carpenter, this will be mission number 2-119 Alpha. I have aircraft commander Major Rollins of the 5th Battalion at Fort Lee and Sheriff Picotti in Lynchburg holding on the line. Stand by for a conference pack. Go ahead, OES, Major Rollins and Sheriff Picotti are on the line. That's roughly in line with the other ELT. The flight path is H3 Golf. The weather's turning up pretty fast out there. Another ELT appears, and the center starts action on it immediately. It is roughly in line with the first ELT and the possible flight path of H3 Golf. Meanwhile, the registry shows H3 Golf is owned by a company in Boulder. No individual name, and a telephone call indicates the place is closed over the weekend. A callback Monday situation. But Monday may be too late. The controller must call the sheriff in Boulder and request his help in identifying the Cessna's pilot. Good work. Expect the callback on a minute. Why don't you lend me your incident sheet on this? We've got a mission here. You track down the pilot. I'll start an alert. I've already checked with the Office of Emergency Services in the state for reports of sighting. This is the RCC. Could you pick me up at the phone path with the 41st Rescue Wing at McClellan and the Rescue DO, please? Sir, this is the RCC at Scott. I have the Rescue DO on the line, and we have two ELT reports in your area. They look like they might tie in with the an overdue aircraft that we have. I'll be requesting an HC-130. It's a Cessna 182 from Boulder, Colorado, to Red Bluff, California. It's got four people on board, and it had one refueling stop en route. No, sir, not yet, but it sure looks like it's going to be a mission. Negative, sir. Yes, sir, the one furthest to the west is 4055 North, 12140 West. That's just near Badger Lake. Check for a smaller field due south from the lake. Where's the other ELT? Okay, the other one's at 4028 North, 12020 West. I think we should go for this one first. It looks like the best prospect for our target. I don't think you could have gotten much further west than that. Roger, hold on. Okay, affirmative. The mission number is going to be 7-120. And request you give me a call on your launch time. National Alert Warning System, Colorado Springs. National 1, this is the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. We have a missing aircraft, possibly down. What is your address C group, Air Force Rescue? It'll be Colorado, Utah, Nevada, law enforcement. The California Office of Emergency Services has already been notified. The aircraft description is a Cessna 182 tail number, November 2583. Air Force Rescue Center, Major Prescott. Yes, sir, go ahead. Rescue 904 is airborne and we have a Jolly Green and an HC-130 tanker standing by. Copy. We've checked out that first ELT with a phone call to Goose Valley Airport. Yes, that's the one I'm in. It was inadvertently activated by an aircraft parked alongside the runway. It's been turned off now and you can have the HC-130 proceed to the second ELT. Thank you, sir. While the search and rescue effort continues, the crash survivors have managed to get down the mountain to a more sheltered area. Fortunately, they are all alive and optimistic of being rescued. This just came off the teletype. Another alert notice from FAA Cessna 83 Gulf is overdue. Okay, this makes it official. Let's go ahead and start an incident log on it. The alert notice has just come in from the FAA confirming that Cessna N2583 Gulf is overdue and the Center's coordination effort goes into action. The airplane was borrowed by a company employee, Robert Henderson. He has about 65 hours of flying time and is not instrument-rated. Henderson's boss says that he is the never-say-die type who would risk bad weather flying over mountainous terrain. Fortunately, the airplane was equipped with an ELT. I was about to call his mother in Red Bluff, California, and see if she'd heard from you. Okay, but, you know, play it cool. You don't want to worry unnecessarily. And, uh, meanwhile, I'll go ahead and free alert to civil air patrol in the area then. Yes, sir, Sheriff Cotty. Major Todd is on another mission right now, but I'm briefed on it. Well? What about the medics? Good. We can try it, Sheriff. I'll connect you with the C-A-T and Roller Note. They should be able to get their ground teams together, too. It'll be dark by the time we airlift them in, but we can put them on alert, pending your progress. We can have them by the first flight in the morning. Anything else you need? Roger, Sheriff. We'll have a crew change here in less than two hours, but they'll be briefed on the mission. Standby for a patched Roller Note C-A-T. Thanks a lot. Yes. Is this Red Bluff 5874? Yes, it is. Well, I've been trying to reach this number for a while, ma'am. Is this Mrs. Henderson? Yes, Mr. Henderson. When an airplane is overdue, the center often contacts members of the pilot's immediate family. This is only done to obtain information that might assist in determining possible locations of the overdue airplane. News that the airplane is missing or overdue must be presented tactfully with full assurance that a preliminary investigation is underway. If the investigation indicates further action, a full-scale search and rescue operation will be launched at once. Don't worry, Mrs. Henderson. We have no information to indicate something has happened. Let me give you our toll-free number here. No flight plan filed. Family concern. He just didn't arrive when they thought he could. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center is a 24-hour-a-day operation, and the afternoon relief crew is now being briefed on the missions in progress. Major Fasquit is briefing the oncoming crew of the aircraft mission and indicating the family members contacted and the concern of both relatives and friends. This is a briefing on mission 2-119. Major Tubbs is briefing the latest information on the search for the two missing hikers and the status of assistance being provided to the U.S. Coast Guard in the joint search mission for the overdue fishing vessel. They were exploring some caves up there, and she fell down into one of the caves and broke a leg. The 130 gave us a fix on that ELT. Gave us a coordinates of 40, 28 north, 121, 28 west, which puts it right about here. A wilderness area, right on the eastern slope of Lassen Peak. Yeah, about at the 8,000-foot level, too. The problem is going to be recovery now, and with the weather coming in, that's going to create problems. Look, there's a ranger station here about 15 miles north of the area. You contact the Park Service and see if they've got any resources. I'll contact the California Cap and Nevada Cap and put them on standby. With this weather, we've got to get them out now, or they're going to be buried for the winter. Yes, Sheriff Bacardi. I can take your information. Good afternoon, Air Force Rescue Center, Sergeant Bady. How's the girl, Sheriff? Copy, Sheriff. We'll be taking her to the Fort Lee Medical Facility before transferring to our private hospital. We'll mark this mission as saved. Sorry to disturb you at this time of the morning, man. This is Major Farnham from the Air Force Rescue Center. I realize, ma'am, it's pretty early out there in California. But we're working on an alert notice from the FAA regarding a flight between Bakersfield and San Diego, and the flight plan indicates that the aircraft is overdue. Well, we're just following through. Are you Mrs. Cody and is George Cody your husband? You mean he's there? That's good news. You see, ma'am, he was supposed to have closed out his flight plan once he got to San Diego. Okay, gentlemen, this will be a briefing on the aircraft that we've got down in Northern California. We've been working it all night. We've got a 130 over the area. We've got a good ELT. And we've got indications that there's survivors on the ground. The 130 has been opening the area all night. It'll be sun up there in about 90 minutes and the H-53 can go in. Do you still have contact with the survivors? Yes, sir. Someone down there really knows how to use that ELT. When they heard our C-130 circling overhead last night, they started turning it on and off in response to our radio calls. Apparently, they can receive but cannot transmit. Evidently, they worked out a simple code so we know they're all alive with the pilot, we think, being injured. We don't know how badly. Now the weather's moved out of the area and the civil air patrol can get in under the overcast. When they spot the wreckage, they can direct the H-53 and the ground teams in. There'll have to be a hoist pickup. No way to get a ground party in there on time. And we don't want to drop supplies. They might get lost in the snow or it would endanger the survivors trying to go after them. Okay, contact the 130 aircraft commander. Advising the C-AP aircraft will be coming in. The C-130 will be on scene commander and assign search altitude to ensure aircraft separation. The C-AP will contact him on 123-1 as they enter the area. Right. And better get out an ops message to alert all military VFR low altitude training flights that will be affected by the search. Good mission on that cave rescue. That girl's really lucky. It's a good thing the weather held out or she might not have been so lucky. One night in that cave. And one night on the side of that cold mountain. I was hoping they'd be picked up by the time we came on duty this morning. Thank you, Major. Keep me informed. This is the RC. Send it back. Go ahead, Scott. Radio, go ahead. Rescue 904 here. How do you copy? You're loud and clear. Rescue 904. What's your report on mission 120? Radio, the C-AP has a visual verification. They can spot the wreckage now. Tail number is November 2583 Gulf. And they can see survivors. Okay. Understand rescue 904. Our super jolly was on the ground at Red Bluffs overnight. He's off now and being rooted. Estimated time arrival about 30 minutes. The ground party is still about eight tough miles away from the target. That's affirmative, rescue 904. That's affirmative. The search portion of the mission has been successful. And the recovery effort is underway. Three survivors appear to have minor injuries. The fourth may be more critical injuries. Progress. So, Mr. Henderson, this is Air Force Rescue Center. They have some good news for you. They've located your son and the helicopter is picking them up now. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center coordinates all types of emergency search and rescue efforts in accordance with their model. These things we do that others may learn.