Category: System Overview

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Summary of FMCC activity  – February 2024

Summary of FMCC activity  – March 2024

Three people stranded aboard a catamaran that had been damaged by sharks hundreds of miles off the Australian coast have been rescued.

The men activated their 406 distress beacon, which AMSA responded to at around 1:30 a.m. as the craft was about 930 miles east of the Australian coast.

Read more here:

https://uk.style.yahoo.com/news/3-rescued-catamaran-attacked-sharks-092758308.html?guccounter=2

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CMCC Activity Report – April 2024

Please note that the interactive map of saves assisted using 406 beacons has been updated at our webpage here:

Saves Map – International COSPAS-SARSAT

A helicopter crash in the Swiss Alps was survived by two British brothers after a fellow passenger pushed them from the chopper. The crash ‘may have been caused by a mechanical error’.

Courage brewing heir Edward Courage, 68, was alongside brothers Guy and Ted Hutchings when the helicopter they were in plowed into a rock face.

Upon receiving the 406 ELT’s SIT 185 NOCR and FIRST Position Alert, ARCC Zürich verified with the operator that they had lost contact with the pilot.

Search and rescue was immediately launched as it was known that the helicopter was involved in heliskiing at high altitudes.

Another helicopter pilot spotted the wreckage and initiated alerting but the 406 ELT had already provided the first alert and SAR actions were already underway.

The helicopter slid down a rock face where it was overtaken by an avalanche and would have been hard to locate without the ELT’s homing signal.

In total, seven helicopters were tasked for the search of the persons who had been on board.

Out of the six persons on board, three were rescued, injured but alive.

Read more and see video here:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13280985/Swiss-Alps-helicopter-crash-two-Brit-brothers-survived-Courage-brewing-heir-pushed-chopper-caused-mechanical-error-expert-claims.html?ito=email_share_article-top

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CMCC Activity Report – March 2024

A 72-year-old man was rescued from a sinking boat near Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday, according to the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

He activated the 406 EPIRB of his 40-foot sailing vessel at 8 AM when it began taking on water.

He was spotted at 12 PM by a helicopter and airplane.

He was hoisted to safety and taken to Tampa Fire emergency medical services at Peter O. Knight Airport to receive a higher level of care.

“Coast Guard crews were able to complete this rescue quickly and efficiently thanks to the boater having a properly registered [406] EPIRB aboard his vessel.”

Read more here:

72-year-old man rescued from sinking ship near Fort Myers (cbs12.com)

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Summary of FMCC activity  – January 2024

Note that a new video has been added to the Media Gallery on the Training Resources (Videos and Graphics) page.

It has been listed in the MCC Operator Training playlist as “Processing Matrices”.

You can visit the Training Resources (Videos and Graphics) page here:

https://www.cospas-sarsat.int/en/search-and-rescue/training-resources

NASA provides technical expertise to the international satellite-aided search and rescue effort known as Cospas-Sarsat.

This technical expertise has enabled the development of multiple emergency location beacon types, which explorers can use when in need.

Read more here:

https://www.nasa.gov/technology/space-comms/space-communications/nasa-search-and-rescue-technology-saves-explorers-enables-exploration/