Smartphones to the Rescue

It was a dark night, but VFR conditions prevailed. The pilot had just completed an instrument and night proficiency flight with an instructor.

The pilot’s family reported him missing on December 9. The wreckage and the deceased pilot were found on December 13 some 8.8 miles southwest of the destination airport. The aircraft was located in a heavily wooded area. Search crews had flown over the area a few times before finding it.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the aircraft had entered a descending turn to the right and collided with terrain then caught fire. Despite the violence of the crash, investigators determined that the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) did not activate.

In private pilot ground school, we learn that ELT activation can happen during a hard landing, a crash, or even if the device is mishandled during shipping and installation. You may have participated in a search to find an activated ELT at the airport and discovered it in the hangar sitting on a workbench.

Since 2009, satellites no longer monitor the 121.5 megahertz ELT’s distress frequency. Fortunately, many pilots with more than one radio, including airliners overhead, keep the 121.5 frequency tuned in listening for a beacon.

The new frequency at 406 MHz is monitored via the Cospas-Sarsat satellite network for emergency signals being broadcast in the blind. Many 406 MHz ELTs have GPS capability, and they are usually very precise in defining their location, sometimes to within approximately 100 meters. This helps to target the area where search and rescue teams will begin looking for the aircraft. 

When a distress signal is reported, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) begins the protocol to search for the beacon—hopefully, it’s not on a workbench. Typically the first call AFRCC makes to begin locating the ELT is to Civil Air Patrol (CAP), which conducts more than 90 percent of all inland search and rescue missions for the Air Force.

Civil Air Patrol was created Dec. 1, 1941—a week before the U.S. entered World War II. Today, the 70,000-member organization is the all-volunteer auxiliary of the Air Force, Total Force, which consists of active duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, and Air Force Auxiliary/CAP.

Even when a signal is reported quickly and CAP is called, it’s a race against time because there may be injuries, ELT batteries begin to drain, poor weather or darkness may delay an aerial search, and more.

“ELT searches are often fruitless,” said Major Margot Myers, public information officer for CAP’s National Cell Phone Forensics Team.

Myers, who has been with CAP since 1985, has seen how search and rescue has evolved over the years. CAP aircraft are equipped with special radios designed to home in on the ELT signal to narrow the search area. During an ELT search the airplanes also fly a variety of search  patterns, looking for visual signs of a crash—such as broken treetops, smoke, debris, or a human-made distress signal. 

The ELT signals at 121.5 or 406 MHz gives searchers a rough idea where the aircraft is, but they are not precise. Depending on terrain, ELT signals can be broadcast for many miles, thereby making a search challenging and time-consuming, especially in poor weather.

Myers recalled a crash near the Grand Canyon in Arizona one winter.

“It was snowing when the airplane crashed,” she said. “We searched for about three weeks, but it wasn’t until spring when the snow melted that the crash site was found right off the end of the runway. The airplane had augured into a grove of pine trees, and snow covered the disturbance.”

These days searchers are using more advanced technology—specifically proprietary software designed by CAP—to locate cell phones with much faster and more accurate results without ever launching an aircraft. 

The term “cell phone” is almost ridiculous these days as the devices have so many applications, hence the term “smartphones.” Per FAA Advisory Circular AC No: 91.21-1D: “Personal Electronic Device (FAA-speak for cell phone) may be used as a tool from your Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). An EFB includes any device, or combination of devices, actively displaying EFB applications authorized per AC 120-76, Authorization for Use of Electronic Flight Bags.”

The AC also says that “EFB applications may be displayed on a PED. Additional guidance for Part 91 operations can be found in AC 91-78, Use of Class 1 or Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag.”

That means you can legally have a phone in the cockpit and it can be turned on to send and receive data. Keeping your phone on during flight can be a lifesaving act for pilots and passengers because CAP can locate a cell phone faster and with greater accuracy in all weather, day and night, compared to an airborne search.

According to Myers, when CAP is called by AFRCC to help in a search, the first thing it asks is whether the person is carrying a cell phone. If so, a cell team analyst will use a proprietary tool that sends both text and voice messages to the missing person’s phone.

In the text, there is a link that will send the phone’s current location if the missing person clicks on it. The tool also allows for the team to communicate via text message with the missing person to assist with the search. It will also indicate whether the phone is on the network and/or monitor and alert the team that a phone that was previously off the network has come on.

This tool is helpful in cases where the missing person is willing and able to participate (they will click the link in the text message) because it provides GPS coordinates that are usually very accurate. This must be done before the phone battery dies, and again, it only works if the missing person can click the link and is willing to cooperate.

With a combination of ADS-B radar analysis data and cell phone forensics, a very narrow probable search area can be identified in minutes and rescue operations can be launched quickly and efficiently, resulting in more positive outcomes, as opposed to the days of launching a fleet to fly grid searches over remote areas.

“Sending 10 aircraft up for missing aircraft doesn’t happen anymore,” explains Lieutenant Colonel. Mark Young, CAP commander with the National Radar Analysis Team.

According to Young, the combination of ADS-B and the 406-encoded ELT make searches more efficient.

“The 406 sends a position and we back that up with radar data, which enables us to get resources there in a timely manner,” Young said.

The team also does radar analysis for the NTSB and FAA—the two agencies which most often investigate aircraft accidents that often begin with an aircraft being reported as overdue and missing.

According to Young, proprietary software developed by a CAP member is used to analyze FAA radar data then combined with information supplied by ADS-B to find a missing aircraft.

“Searching with ADS-B makes it a whole lot easier to find a missing airplane,” Young said. “Instead of trying to find where the plane left the track, we sift through the radar data now, and when the cell phone team comes up with a location, then we know we have the track, and we follow the track out and see if they crashed.”

A ping from a phone, according to Young, can put rescuers within 100 meters of an airplane, either one that has crashed or diverted to an airport.

“If it is a crash, we can get the right resources there in a timely fashion to save lives,” he said. “Instead of looking in an area 5 miles across, we start with a circle 300 meters in diameter.”

Once they determine where the aircraft disappeared, authorities can determine the best means of getting into the area—such as when an aircraft crashes on a remote island that is only accessible by boat or helicopter.

The search technology has proven to be so effective that CAP is frequently called upon to help locate missing people, lost hikers, stranded boaters, and more.

To find a missing hiker, the team looks for the last location where the cell phone was active and often compares it to Google Earth maps. According to Young, if you get lost or trapped in the wilderness, your best bet is to call 911. If you can’t get a phone call out, send a text message because that enables rescuers to get the GPS coordinates of the cell phone user.

“If a person is lost, their first call shouldn’t be to a family member or friend,” Myers said. “They don’t know where you are either. Make a 911 call to alert the authorities you are lost and may need help. The 911 systems will capture vital information, which can speed up the search. Once you have made that call, then you can call your mother or your girlfriend.”

Young also pointed out that the AFRCC will ask the family of the missing person if they have a cell phone. If so, CAP activates the phone forensics team. The radar analysis team may also be assigned to support a search for a missing or overdue aircraft. When the AFRCC determines it is appropriate, it may also task either air or ground search and rescue in the area where the crash or missing person is most likely to be found.

“One of the things on the AFRCC checklist is to ask the family of the missing person if the ‘Find My iPhone’ or ‘Find My Device’ (for Android phones) function is available,” Myers said. “If they have that capability, we put it to use in addition to information we get from the cell phone carrier, including historical data showing when the phone was last connected to the network. We have access to that information in the same way law enforcement agencies do but only in exigent situations like a plane crash or a missing person whose life may be in danger.”

While it can be argued that smartphones, just like ELTs, have a limited battery life, according to the data compiled by CAP, locating someone by phone is far more effective and considerably faster than ELT. Additionally, the phone can be used to send text messages, which don’t require as much power as an actual call. 

Since having a cell phone on in the cockpit is approved by the FAA as part of the EFB, adding an item to your preflight checklist, like “Cell phone - ON,” may be a lifesaving step in the event that a good day of flying turns into your worst day.

This feature first appeared in the October Issue 951 of the FLYING print edition.