Quote:
*In my experience: over land a search observer is constantly seeing stuff and deciding not to call it out because it does not meet some threshold of likelihood. Over water everyone is so "weary" that everything gets called out. "Weary" isn't quite the right word, there is a structure and discipline to observing from an aircraft without missing things. Observing is a tiring thing to do, especially when you see nothing."
Couldn't agree more. Was an observer with Surveillance Australia and participated in several searches, including the Malu Sara boat that went missing in the Torres Strait.
We found nothing...no debris, no oil/fuel slick. Half a body washed up on a reef a few weeks later in Indonesian waters, found by Indo fishermen.
There are specific visual scan techniques you employ to maximise effectiveness, but agree, it's a very tiring thing to do. We generally swapped places every hour (front to back) to make sure we didn't start to "fixate", especially when there was nothing to see except water.