Airpat YWOL

[trackdirect]

Saw a story on the Air Patrol in the gong tonight, Whinging about the lack of government funding to chase sharks along the coast.
Can someone enlighten me as to why they also fly at night??
Seems to me that it is a little difficult to spot sharks at night, Maybe they might save a little by limiting their ops to daytime instead of wasting the donations from the public on keeping their NVFR and IFR currency for a day vfr op.

Just a thought

[drshmoo]

From what I understand is they do night Search and Rescue operations. Now these complex maneovres require training also. So I think night flying is a fairly justified cost. The mentioned recency costs and training cost should not be placed on the pliot, cause these poor bastrds dont get paid or they receive a min retainer etc.
Shmoo


Ps-there were a lot gold bars on the pilots shoulders for a C172? Jokes

[Icarus2001]

trackdirect Can someone enlighten me as to why they also fly at night?? Could you enlighten me as to why they should not fly at night?

Aerial Patrol conduct more than one type of operation. They need to be night current for beacon homing searches for AusSAR.

[runamok69]

You might all be interested in a post I recently placed reference funding for this type of operation. I guess the whole recency issue comes down to having to be current for position flights to commence search operations at first light, or to conduct night homings of beacons. Regardless, I have placed a few thoughts for your consideration and reply and look forward to a good debate on the subject - believe this argument has been around for a few years.

[Frank Burden]

Icarus,

I always get confused. AusSAR is the search and rescue lot. Correct? Who is AMSA? Are they the same lot as Rescue Coordination Australia? Also heard about Maritime Rescue so am getting confused. Where does International Rescue and Lady Penelope fit in?

[Icarus2001]

www.amsa.gov.au

AusSAR is a business unit of AMSA.

ICAO and IMU states all run a rescue co-ordination centre. AusSAR runs this in Canberra, as part of AMSA.

[runamok69]

Out of interest, what do the aerial patrol organisation think of shark patrols and their effectiveness. A seriously objective response would be interesting - one that offers a qualitative insight into how effective such a service really is, and how many hours are dedicated to flying, when are flights scheduled etc etc.