Once again a Search and Rescue Ops! An Airforce carrier AN32 has gone missing on its way from Chennai to Port Blair on 22 Jul 16. Perhaps we all knew the drill and was partially prepared for the obvious. The orders came almost 24 hours later for SAR (Search and Rescue) deployment in a possible area consequently setting sail on 23 Jul 16.
SAR Ops is always a kind of an unknown feeling where your adversity quotient needs to be reset, because as the unknown protocol goes which is "Hope, they float and those floats, hope". I am not sure from where i got this phrase nor i'm aware of its origin. The SAR for AN32 happens to be the 4th of its kind in my life so far.
The first one was off Visakhapatnam in 2012-13 season when one Chetak helicopter was lost at sea, on an approximate area where depth was 50+mtrs depth. Still there was hope but 02 out of 04 men lost their life. It took almost 48 hours to trace its location underwater using Side Scan Sonar towfish. However due to the lack of the requisite infrastructure & resources the navy had to resort to a Seismic vessel named 'Olympic Canyon" which has set its temporary base at Kakinada and is liaised by Reliance Petrochemicals. That vessel was called upon and carried out the salvaging using ROV and deep sea diving bell. The remains of the two men who lost their lives were found still tied to theri seat belts.
then in season 2014-15 a torpedo recovery vessel which sank off vizag at a reported area with depth of approx 450+mtrs This time even after there were clear eye witness for the incident, the ship was untraceable. The dynamics of the water & ocean behaviour pertaining to the prevailing current and the sea bed topography (as usual) will render one clueless. The side scan sonar proved its limitations and the lack of long sea-cable we couldn't trace it. Four men lost their lives, of which three of them couldn't be traced. The first and only recovered casualty was one senior sailor named James Jacob, who was an old shipmate of mine, a brilliant guy, calm & composed, lost his life.
The third incident took place off Nagapatinam, Tamil Nadu and my ship was undertaking hydrographic survey off Palk Bay. A coast guard Dornier aircraft during its patrol sortie suddenly vanished. it was night and the local fishermen reported a 'fire ball'falling over the sea. The approximate datum was established and a joint SAR ops was launched by navy & Coast Guard.
There is a technical side to every aircraft and ship regarding aid/ gadgets which help for SAR, generally termed as "Position Indicating beacons". Onboard a ship its termed as "Emergency Position Indicating Radio beacon" or EPIRB. It is generally fitted in any location which is exposed, preferably bridge wings. It has a sea-water activated battery which, in contact within a particular depth functions by sending distress signal for a particular duration. This signal is routed through satellite to MRCC (Marine Rescue Coordination Centre) which is further distributed across various authorities to initiate SAR. On a similar method a 'Position Indicator Beacon' (PIB) exists in all aircrafts which functions almost in the same method explained above, but with a difference viz, the beacon sends acoustic pulse at a frequency of 7KHz and not an electromagnetic pulse.
Acoustics: the acoustic pulse of low frequencies travel father hence they are termed as "Deep-Sea Acoustic Pulse" and the frequencies much lower than the above mentioned come under 'seismic' category. Imagine the beacon sank along with the aircraft, it will keep on pinging every second and continues to do so for a stipulated period. Hence, by deploying a listening device attuned to receive 7KHz frequency can pin point the location of the wreckage, salvage, investigate and carry out further actions.
However the underwater acoustics is an altogether different ballgame! There exists different thermal layers of water which has the ability to deflect the sound pulses or even block them, thereby acting as a wall. Various factors decide this barrier or layer ranging from depth, pressure, seabed topography, conductivity of water.etc. When it comes to seabed topography one should (in all respect) imagine all the permutation combination of hills, valleys, gorges, trenches.etc underwater.
The Coast Guard Dornier which ditched off Nagapattinam had a PIB and it was pinging, the listening device which was deployed from my ship got intermittent pings about 2 pings in a period of 4 hours! Analysing it, a datum was established, around an area of 10 square miles. But then again, the lack of resources popped up and once again "Olympic Canyon" was summoned. They deployed their AUV/ROV and found the wreckage from a depth of 1250 meters against the reported 500 meter area. The wreckage was salvaged along with the remains of 3 pilots and were laid to rest with all ceremonies.
The news of AN32 missing invoked the same emotions as it was for the Coast Guard Dornier, except the approximate location was unknown! The least approximation could be anywhere between the 650 Nm area with an average depth of 3 Kms. Still, one cling on to the phrase of "hope floats", hoping its real. The sea tests a mariner with her might, reminding you time and again that we are never a match. Then again, you tell yourself that they too were men, they could be one among those strangers who might have appeared in front of you or even passed by. The more you search it turns into a conflict within oneself. The very own lines you believed on regarding hope tend to become a tunneled vision, a kind of pipe dream within time. Maybe the only thing that floats is hope and nothing else, only hope remains, a hope for belonging, for those kith n kin who hope for their loved ones to return. They remain as a pain, then you realize that everything else clouds and leaves in the ringside.....as just an observer!
(Love and Respect for those hopes, and hope for those who floats...AN32, MH370 and so on!)
SAR Ops is always a kind of an unknown feeling where your adversity quotient needs to be reset, because as the unknown protocol goes which is "Hope, they float and those floats, hope". I am not sure from where i got this phrase nor i'm aware of its origin. The SAR for AN32 happens to be the 4th of its kind in my life so far.
The first one was off Visakhapatnam in 2012-13 season when one Chetak helicopter was lost at sea, on an approximate area where depth was 50+mtrs depth. Still there was hope but 02 out of 04 men lost their life. It took almost 48 hours to trace its location underwater using Side Scan Sonar towfish. However due to the lack of the requisite infrastructure & resources the navy had to resort to a Seismic vessel named 'Olympic Canyon" which has set its temporary base at Kakinada and is liaised by Reliance Petrochemicals. That vessel was called upon and carried out the salvaging using ROV and deep sea diving bell. The remains of the two men who lost their lives were found still tied to theri seat belts.
then in season 2014-15 a torpedo recovery vessel which sank off vizag at a reported area with depth of approx 450+mtrs This time even after there were clear eye witness for the incident, the ship was untraceable. The dynamics of the water & ocean behaviour pertaining to the prevailing current and the sea bed topography (as usual) will render one clueless. The side scan sonar proved its limitations and the lack of long sea-cable we couldn't trace it. Four men lost their lives, of which three of them couldn't be traced. The first and only recovered casualty was one senior sailor named James Jacob, who was an old shipmate of mine, a brilliant guy, calm & composed, lost his life.
The third incident took place off Nagapatinam, Tamil Nadu and my ship was undertaking hydrographic survey off Palk Bay. A coast guard Dornier aircraft during its patrol sortie suddenly vanished. it was night and the local fishermen reported a 'fire ball'falling over the sea. The approximate datum was established and a joint SAR ops was launched by navy & Coast Guard.
There is a technical side to every aircraft and ship regarding aid/ gadgets which help for SAR, generally termed as "Position Indicating beacons". Onboard a ship its termed as "Emergency Position Indicating Radio beacon" or EPIRB. It is generally fitted in any location which is exposed, preferably bridge wings. It has a sea-water activated battery which, in contact within a particular depth functions by sending distress signal for a particular duration. This signal is routed through satellite to MRCC (Marine Rescue Coordination Centre) which is further distributed across various authorities to initiate SAR. On a similar method a 'Position Indicator Beacon' (PIB) exists in all aircrafts which functions almost in the same method explained above, but with a difference viz, the beacon sends acoustic pulse at a frequency of 7KHz and not an electromagnetic pulse.
Acoustics: the acoustic pulse of low frequencies travel father hence they are termed as "Deep-Sea Acoustic Pulse" and the frequencies much lower than the above mentioned come under 'seismic' category. Imagine the beacon sank along with the aircraft, it will keep on pinging every second and continues to do so for a stipulated period. Hence, by deploying a listening device attuned to receive 7KHz frequency can pin point the location of the wreckage, salvage, investigate and carry out further actions.
However the underwater acoustics is an altogether different ballgame! There exists different thermal layers of water which has the ability to deflect the sound pulses or even block them, thereby acting as a wall. Various factors decide this barrier or layer ranging from depth, pressure, seabed topography, conductivity of water.etc. When it comes to seabed topography one should (in all respect) imagine all the permutation combination of hills, valleys, gorges, trenches.etc underwater.
The Coast Guard Dornier which ditched off Nagapattinam had a PIB and it was pinging, the listening device which was deployed from my ship got intermittent pings about 2 pings in a period of 4 hours! Analysing it, a datum was established, around an area of 10 square miles. But then again, the lack of resources popped up and once again "Olympic Canyon" was summoned. They deployed their AUV/ROV and found the wreckage from a depth of 1250 meters against the reported 500 meter area. The wreckage was salvaged along with the remains of 3 pilots and were laid to rest with all ceremonies.
The news of AN32 missing invoked the same emotions as it was for the Coast Guard Dornier, except the approximate location was unknown! The least approximation could be anywhere between the 650 Nm area with an average depth of 3 Kms. Still, one cling on to the phrase of "hope floats", hoping its real. The sea tests a mariner with her might, reminding you time and again that we are never a match. Then again, you tell yourself that they too were men, they could be one among those strangers who might have appeared in front of you or even passed by. The more you search it turns into a conflict within oneself. The very own lines you believed on regarding hope tend to become a tunneled vision, a kind of pipe dream within time. Maybe the only thing that floats is hope and nothing else, only hope remains, a hope for belonging, for those kith n kin who hope for their loved ones to return. They remain as a pain, then you realize that everything else clouds and leaves in the ringside.....as just an observer!
(Love and Respect for those hopes, and hope for those who floats...AN32, MH370 and so on!)
