Search and rescue (ICAO Annex 12)

This topic is ICAO-framework material — the content below is a study aid, not cited regulation. Always verify against the current ICAO documents and national AIP.

Essential Definitions

Search and Rescue (SAR) operations are coordinated through a global framework established under ICAO Annex 12. Key terms every PPL candidate must know:

• SRR (Search and Rescue Region): A defined area of fixed dimensions within which SAR services are provided.
• RCC (Rescue Coordination Centre): The primary authority responsible for coordinating SAR operations within an SRR and for ensuring their efficient conduct.
• RSC (Rescue Sub-Centre): A unit subordinate to an RCC, coordinating SAR within a designated sub-region.
• SRU (Search and Rescue Unit): Any unit — aircraft, vessel, or ground team — equipped and trained for SAR tasks.
• OSC (On-Scene Commander): A person designated to coordinate SAR activities at the scene of an incident.

Emergency phases determine how RCC resources are activated:

• INCERFA (Uncertainty Phase): Doubt exists about the safety of an aircraft or its occupants.
• ALERFA (Alert Phase): Apprehension exists that an aircraft or its occupants are in danger.
• DETRESFA (Distress Phase): Immediate assistance is required — danger is grave and imminent.

PIC Responsibilities at the Scene of an Accident

When a PIC arrives first at the scene of an accident or locates survivors:

1. Maintain watch on 121.5 MHz (the international aeronautical emergency frequency).
2. Record and transmit: position (latitude/longitude or bearing and distance from a known point), time observed, type of accident, number of survivors visible, apparent nature of injuries, and any local hazards.
3. Relay the situation to the nearest ATC unit or directly to the RCC. If direct RCC contact is not possible, relay through ATC.
4. Remain at the scene until relieved by SAR units or until fuel state requires departure — keeping survivors in sight is the single most valuable contribution a pilot can make.
5. If equipped, drop survival supplies and note the drop point.
6. Observe and record the direction survivors are moving, and any signals they are making.

Intercepting a Distress Transmission

If a pilot intercepts a MAYDAY or distress call that is not already being acknowledged:

1. Acknowledge on the frequency the call was received.
2. Relay the distress message to the nearest ATC unit or RCC immediately.
3. Take a bearing on the transmission if direction-finding equipment is available.
4. Proceed toward the reported position if fuel, weather, and task allow.

The first aircraft to establish two-way contact with a distress station assumes responsibility for coordinating until an RCC or dedicated SRU takes over.

Search and Rescue Signals

ICAO Annex 12 defines standardised signals that allow communication between survivors and rescuers when radio is unavailable.

Ground-to-air visual signals — made with panels, trampled vegetation, rock or log arrangements, paint, or any material offering contrast against the background. Minimum symbol length: 10 m.

| Symbol | Meaning | |--------|---------| | V | Require assistance | | X | Require medical assistance | | N | No (negative) | | Y | Yes (affirmative) | | ↑ | Proceed in this direction |

Air-to-ground acknowledgement signals — the aircraft communicates back to survivors:

• Day: rock the wings laterally.
• Night: flash the navigation lights or landing light twice.

Both indicate: message understood, will comply. Circling the position without these signals indicates the message was not understood or the aircraft cannot comply.

Surface craft signals: vessels attract SAR aircraft using flame, orange smoke, signal mirrors, or coloured flares. Orange smoke and mirror reflections are highly visible by day; red or white parachute flares are effective by night.

Knowing these codes is not academic — when a radio fails, the panel on the ground and a wing-rock from above are the entire communications system between a survivor and their rescue.

This block connects to your school's own Operations Manual (OM-A/B/C/D). In the full product it shows, cited to your manual, how YOUR organisation implements the regulation above — private to your school. (Demo placeholder.)

These cases are labeled illustrative context only and are not regulatory material.

CASE-1 provides a practical example of the operational scale SAR can reach. Following the shootdown of a US fighter over Iran in April 2026, dedicated SAR aircraft were rapidly deployed and observed flying low over the search area in a systematic pattern CASE-1. The case illustrates the DETRESFA phase in action: immediate SRU deployment, on-scene coordination, and the international dimension SAR operations can acquire when an aircraft goes down in foreign or contested airspace — conditions that make pre-planned signals and standardised procedures indispensable.