New technology lets NSR members search for avalanche burial victims from the air
NSR members have received the Barryvox VS 2000 Pro External helicopter based avalance transceiver for use in SAR operations. This unit is suspended below the helicopter and allows the technician to locate a burial victim (who is wearing a transceiver) without ever setting foot on the ground. This technology makes our lives safer in hazardous avi terrain, allows for quicker pin pointing, and reduces overall risk.
Recently members trained with this unit in the Seymour river valley along with pilots from Talon Helicopters and their new AS355 TwinStar Helicopter.
More information can be obtained on this unit at the following links:
http://www.girsberger-elektronik.ch/media/documents/HEA_ADE.pdf
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/datasheet-pdf/012/DSA00204901.html
http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/Comparison.asp
Recently members trained with this unit in the Seymour river valley along with pilots from Talon Helicopters and their new AS355 TwinStar Helicopter.
More information can be obtained on this unit at the following links:
http://www.girsberger-elektronik.ch/media/documents/HEA_ADE.pdf
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/datasheet-pdf/012/DSA00204901.html
http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/Comparison.asp
Labels: avalanche, North Shore Rescue, Talon Helicopters, Training
posted by Curtis Jones at
10:17 AM
4 Comments:
I'm pretty aware that SAR teams train for events that are rare compared to "ordinary" emergencies. However, I was wondering, was a needs analysys done before ordering this?
I'm only aware of a single avalanche related death on the north shore in the last 10 years and he was not wearing a beacon.
Given the well-known statistics in the book "Avalanche Accidents in Canada", 50% of avalanche victims who are not already dead from trauma, die in the first 30 minutes.
This seems to be an expesive bit of kit for a body recovery; and then only for bodies that happen to have avalanche beacons.
Based on news reports and your blog it seems that by and large your winter rescues involve out of bounds skiers who don't have beacons.
By
Anonymous, at 1:25 PM
Follow up question:
In the hits for use in the datasheet you provided a link to it states
"The operator suspends the antenna about 3..4 m below the helicopter"
"During a primary search, the sensitivity dial is set to maximum (9 or longest dash), and the altitude above ground is about 20..30 m."
At 4m below the helo, and 30 m elevation is seems that this would be too low to be used in tree canpy and is better suited for ski runs or alpine terrain.
By
Anonymous, at 1:29 PM
Thanks to the National Search and Rescue Secretariate for providing funding for this initiative...!
By
JHaack, at 8:55 AM
Mr. Haack is correct, NSR did not purchase this device. However, it will continue to be a tool in our tool box. The idea being, it could save the life of a member of the public, or prevent the loss of life of one of our own.
Some things to keep in mind:
1) NSR provides mutual aid support to other areas of the province and specializes in helicopter rescue. Therefore, its applicability extends beyond the North Shore Mountains.
2) There is an increasing backcountry useage of the sub alpine/alpine terrain which lies directly behind Cypress, Grouse and Seymour where there is significant avalanche activity. This is also part of NSR's area of operations/jurisdiction.
3) People wearing tranceivers sometimes get lost. If this information is communicated to us early in the search process, we could potentially use this tool to rule out terrain much faster and safer.
At the end of the day, I believe a risk-benefits analysis was carried out. And I assume that they considered the potential for saving a life (even if small), was worth the expenditure to provide it to volunteer teams in this province. Also note, that even body recoveries carry risks to the SAR members involved, and as such, anything that makes the job safer is a plus.
Thank you for your comments.
By
Curtis Jones, at 1:00 PM
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