prv
Well-Known Member
Presumably a "Gibson Girl" hand-cranked HF transmitter: https://www.prc68.com/I/GibsonGirl.html
Pete
Instead of red parachute flares
- Thread starter Aeolus
- Start date
Presumably a "Gibson Girl" hand-cranked HF transmitter: https://www.prc68.com/I/GibsonGirl.html
Pete
ShinyShoe
Well-Known Member
There are some features of a parachute flare that a kite doesn't achieve...
Noise on launch... If close enough makes you look.
Gradual descent... Different from a aircraft or a Chinese lantern.
The suggestion of a drone is interesting. A drone could certainly mimick the height and descent seen with a rocket.
You get some tiny drones the size of the plan of your hand, for as little of £20. Flight times up to 10 minutes. Could easily power a bright LED with lens for 5 mins plus fly 5 mins, then either RTB (harder) or ditch (float? Or sink?)... Could even have a parachute on it for the descent!
I'm already wanting to add extra features! DSC /AIS transmitter... Taking advantage of the height!
Noise on launch... If close enough makes you look.
Gradual descent... Different from a aircraft or a Chinese lantern.
The suggestion of a drone is interesting. A drone could certainly mimick the height and descent seen with a rocket.
You get some tiny drones the size of the plan of your hand, for as little of £20. Flight times up to 10 minutes. Could easily power a bright LED with lens for 5 mins plus fly 5 mins, then either RTB (harder) or ditch (float? Or sink?)... Could even have a parachute on it for the descent!
I'm already wanting to add extra features! DSC /AIS transmitter... Taking advantage of the height!
Ohlin Karcher
N/A
A drone combined with pyrotechnics would be quite a combination! It's already been piloted with great success in the Middle East :encouragement:
Graham_Wright
Well-Known Member
I had an RAF one as a Christmas present. It arrived as a two inch diameter fabric tube with aluminium spars in sewn pockets. Extremely compact and flew without attention.
Now if a kite could be fabricated from a radar reflective material, that would make location by SAR much easier.
An octahedral kite? A challenge for someone!
Now if a kite could be fabricated from a radar reflective material, that would make location by SAR much easier.
An octahedral kite? A challenge for someone!
prv
Well-Known Member
I'm fairly sure I've seen radar-reflective balloons, with a lifejacket-style capsule of helium, marketed for this exact purpose.
A traditional SART will be more effective, though, and a COSPAS/SARSAT and/or AIS transmitter probably more useful still.
Pete
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rszemeti
Well-Known Member
I would be interested to see a comparison of an LED "flare" and a parachute flare .. not on a nice day in the solent, but on a nasty stormy, crappy day on the arse end of the Cornish coast ...
Your point about strobes is relevant, I too am a pilot and visibility from the air is a consideration ... a paraflare woudl be very visible to a SAR helicopter or plane ... an LED flare? it may well be below a low lying fog layer.
My beacon (self made) has 360 degree horizontal coverage, and a horizontal LED pointing upwards, specifically for observation from the air.
GHA
Well-Known Member
Are helicopters OK flying with kites around?
ShinyShoe
Well-Known Member
Apples and oranges.
Parachute flare serves a different purpose to a handheld red. The current LED flares are "equivalent" of a handheld red.
No-one has produced a pyro free rocket type device for initial distress signalling.
Not clear if the "final mile" signaling needs to work at a distance of 10 or 15 miles in poor vis. A chopper doing 150knots - you need visual or audio on it to do final mile signaling - you only have a small number of handheld pyro.
For a lifeboat 3miles horizon is all you are likely to be caring about .. at most.
If you have all the tech - you probably care about the last 500m! Ie which AWB is it in the sea if AWB in the solent!
maby
Well-Known Member
As others have suggested, a "laser flare" has a very narrow viewing angle - that is how it achieves sufficient brightness to be visible two or three miles away with an adequate runtime on a battery that you can realistically hand-hold. If it is flying at a couple of hundred feet above sea level, it would not be reliably be visible to observers down at sea level.
Given that we carry two DSC capable radios plus PLBs for each of us, we have taken the decision that we don't need rockets for our in-shore sailing. We do carry a few hand-held flares to help rescuers zero in on us from close range.
Given that we carry two DSC capable radios plus PLBs for each of us, we have taken the decision that we don't need rockets for our in-shore sailing. We do carry a few hand-held flares to help rescuers zero in on us from close range.
Blue Sunray
Well-Known Member
Not sure about this purpose, but they are used (located by colour rather than radar reflectivity) in the jungle as they can be flown through gaps in the canopy to mark resupply drop points.
laika
Well-Known Member
What a splendid idea! A balloon you can fly to indicate the need for resupply if there's a gap in the canapés. I shall have my man acquire some immediately
Blue Sunray
Well-Known Member
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AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Many kinds of kite will fly themselves - but not the one the OP pointed to, which is a steerable stunt kite! Box kites or derivatives such as the Cody Box Kite or French Military Kite can be flown unattended and are durable in hgh winds. They are used in applications such as man-lifting and lifting scientific payloads to great heights; the record for a single kite is over 16,000 feet; more
However! A kite can generate a substantial horizontal force; kite-sailing is a well-known sport, often seen at beaches round the UK! So, the kite must be designed and rigged to avoid excessive horizontal pull.
Ohlin Karcher
N/A
Seems a bit risky, if they get a line around the prop it's all over..
PuffTheMagicDragon
Well-Known Member
I have never handled a laser 'flare'. Wouldn't they interfere with a pilot's vision? We had cases of commercial planes coming in to land where the pilots complained about being hit by the beam from a laser. Apparently amateur astronomers use the lasers to help with aiming their telescopes. Eventually they were banned from the 'line of approach' zone, IIRC.
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Ohlin Karcher
N/A
Good point
Blue Sunray
Well-Known Member
Short answer, no. There are ways and means but the default setting is no.
boomerangben
Well-Known Member
As a helicopter pilot, kites are bad, lasers are bad and some LEDs are invisible to night vision goggles. IMO there’s a good reason for pyros. Day night in life jacket and a PLB makes sense to me. A waterproof conventional strobe on a life jacket can be seen a long way away on NVG.
prv
Well-Known Member
No, because the ones currently on sale don't use lasers. It's a bit like the way Nasa marketed their AIS receiver as an "AIS Radar" because it shows what's around you like a radar, even though it's nothing of the sort. "Laser flare" sounds good, but it's bitten them on the bum a bit because everyone immediately started raising concerns about pilots' eyesight.
They're just bright LEDs.
Pete
ShinyShoe
Well-Known Member
Well... The majority are! The Odeo and ones like it, modelled on a handheld red, are.
There is another product the Gretland Rescue Flare that DOES us a laser. It is intended to produce a line of light which you can cast across a pilot in a chopper. It is claimed safe for pilots ...
.. more to its use that hold a bright red light on the end of your arm
.. not sure it's selling much these days. The Odeo etc seem more accepted.