New Delhi: Those involved in the search for the missing Antonov 32 aircraft are beginning to raise a fundamental point - does AN-32 have systems on board to help rescuers locate and salvage if it were to crash at sea?
At 2123 hours on June 8, last year, an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Dornier plane vanished from the radar screens tracking it's journey in Trichy near Chennai. The three-member crew on board the aircraft never gave a distress call. For 33 days, no debris was found. Then, a submarine searching underwater, INS Sindhudhvaj, picked up acoustic transmissions emerging from the data recorders on board the Dornier flight CG791. Emerging from a depth of 990m at sea, those rapidly-fading acoustic signals were the only link available and the submarine did the needful. The debris, the recorders and mortal remains of the crew were recovered.
"There is no device on AN-32 which can emit such acoustic signals," said a senior planner deployed in the search. When asked why, he explained that AN-32 was not an aircraft which primarily flew over the sea for operations.
The locator devices on board AN-32 can emit electromagnetic signals/transmission using devices like the fixed Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) or Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) on rubber boats and vests. The ill-fated flight had 50 life vests and 10 boats. Unfortunately, these signals won't travel in water to be picked up by a sensor or submarine.
01/08/16 Jugal R Purohit/India Today
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At 2123 hours on June 8, last year, an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Dornier plane vanished from the radar screens tracking it's journey in Trichy near Chennai. The three-member crew on board the aircraft never gave a distress call. For 33 days, no debris was found. Then, a submarine searching underwater, INS Sindhudhvaj, picked up acoustic transmissions emerging from the data recorders on board the Dornier flight CG791. Emerging from a depth of 990m at sea, those rapidly-fading acoustic signals were the only link available and the submarine did the needful. The debris, the recorders and mortal remains of the crew were recovered.
"There is no device on AN-32 which can emit such acoustic signals," said a senior planner deployed in the search. When asked why, he explained that AN-32 was not an aircraft which primarily flew over the sea for operations.
The locator devices on board AN-32 can emit electromagnetic signals/transmission using devices like the fixed Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) or Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) on rubber boats and vests. The ill-fated flight had 50 life vests and 10 boats. Unfortunately, these signals won't travel in water to be picked up by a sensor or submarine.
01/08/16 Jugal R Purohit/India Today
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