Coast Guard Heli activity...?

Michael Angelo.

Just looking at this site

http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?centerx=30&centery=25&zoom=2&level1=140#

at 17.15 today it showed 2 CG aircraft on screen, the shannon based one left waterford airport today and routed up towards galway and seems to be heading back to shannon now. The waterford heli now appears to have taken off and is heading towards Shannon. Whats going on??..

Apologies if iv confused anyone, just being nosey really.

tricky D

Also see: http://www.rescue.ie/sar.htm

Michael Angelo.

tricky D wrote: »

Also see: http://www.rescue.ie/sar.htm

Thank you, im familiar with the site but prefer the marine one.

cocoshovel

I often see the Waterford SAR flying up and around but I never seen it head towards Shannon. I wouldn't say it much.

punchdrunk

probably maintenance work,Shannon is now the main maintenance hub for the S-61 as Norway have stopped using them so it could well be a C-check on the Waterford machine or something like that

Owen

One was flying very low over Blackrock in Cork yesterday, estimate around 500 feet, I was pretty close to it.

Steyr

Op the reason is they rotate the Helicopters every so often, some weeks GCE is R115 at EINN then RCG is R115 at EINN, no mystery.

Steyr

PaintDoctor wrote: »

One was flying very low over Blackrock in Cork yesterday, estimate around 500 feet, I was pretty close to it.

They were on a Recovery Op. R117 was tasked for Low Tide Observations and searching the River Lee, you can guess what they were looking for. On Saturday a boat sank in Fennel's Bay.


R115 was in the area too on 12th Nov.

Michael Angelo.

Steyr, I have to say i'm a fan of your posts in all threads, there so informed and I believe true. Its nice to be able to post something online and a person such as your self has such insight and knowledge to help others. Fair play to you. Is it wrong to ask how you know so much??

xflyer

Another thing to note is that they train regularly, daily in fact, so not every flight is a mission. If you're listening in on airband. In that casae they use the aircraft registration rather than Rescue 115 or 117. So you might hear Echo Charlie Echo or Echo Charlie Golf and wonder who the heck is that.

Aerohead

As xflyer said they train every day so the only way to know if they are on a rescue mission is if you hear the call signs Rescue 115 (Shannon) Rescue 117 (Waterford) Rescue 116 (Dublin) and Rescue 118 (Sligo) either on airband or marine radio.

Or if they look to be very far out to sea on the map perhaps then they are on a mission.

Steyr

Michael Angelo. wrote: »

Steyr, I have to say i'm a fan of your posts in all threads, there so informed and I believe true. Its nice to be able to post something online and a person such as your self has such insight and knowledge to help others. Fair play to you. Is it wrong to ask how you know so much??

The info can be gained from the right sites . They can also be heard as Aerohead said on Marine/Airband and LiveATC.net when in the right areas and also on AIS.

Steyr

xflyer wrote: »

Another thing to note is that they train regularly, daily in fact, so not every flight is a mission. If you're listening in on airband. In that casae they use the aircraft registration rather than Rescue 115 or 117. So you might hear Echo Charlie Echo or Echo Charlie Golf and wonder who the heck is that.

Very true but not Echo Charlie Echo/Echo Charlie Golf its always the last three letters.

Golf Charlie Echo/Romeo Charlie Golf/Sierra Alpha Romeo/Charlie Zulu November etc. They will also state their Fuel Endurance and the amount of Souls/Persons On Board. They usually call "Ops Normal" and how long they are from a destination in minutes when transiting from EINN to wherever when they are usually half way there and the same for half way back.

Klunk001

Just a little snippet for you guys, when you make the initial call to ATC you give the full call sign, eg EI-MES, EI-RCG. If there is not a similar callsign on that frequency and at ATC descretion this can then be shortened to EES or ECG. If ATC call back with this shortened call sign then it is alright to use untill told otherwise.

xflyer

Yes indeed Klunk, the convention is to use the full callsign on initial contact, followed by the shortened version incorporating the the the first and the last two letters. So EI-ABC becomes EBC or Echo Bravo Charlie.

However I wonder if Steyr is right in relation to the coastguard? Maybe they use the last three?

Steyr

xflyer wrote: »

However I wonder if Steyr is right in relation to the coastguard? Maybe they use the last three?

They do, have heard it so many times.

Klunk001

xflyer wrote: »

Yes indeed Klunk, the convention is to use the full callsign on initial contact, followed by the shortened version incorporating the the the first and the last two letters. So EI-ABC becomes EBC or Echo Bravo Charlie.

However I wonder if Steyr is right in relation to the coastguard? Maybe they use the last three?

Coast Guard helo's are no different to any other aircraft talking to ATC in relation to phraseology for want of a better word.The POB and endurance can be given to ATC before startup if requested, but is usually on the fight plan which is submitted before the flight.
The protocols for marine band radio are different to airband, the last three letters as stated by Steyr inc the "ops normal" call and endurance is something that is given to MRCC every fifteen minutes.

Beeker

Klunk001 wrote: »

Coast Guard helo's are no different to any other aircraft talking to ATC in relation to phraseology for want of a better word.The POB and endurance can be given to ATC before startup if requested, but is usually on the fight plan which is submitted before the flight.
The protocols for marine band radio are different to airband, the last three letters as stated by Steyr inc the "ops normal" call and endurance is something that is given to MRCC every fifteen minutes.

Thats correct while talking to MRCC they use the last 3 letters of the Reg. EI-RCG "Romeo Charlie Golf" but for ATC it is the first letter and last 2 letters so "Echo Charlie Golf". Sometimes they use the MRCC callsign with ATC but normally ATC will correct them by using the "Echo Charlie Golf" callsign:)