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Flare from the Air Report
By Lou Volpato
On June 5 2014, in coordination with ground training, an auxiliary air crew observed and photographed what various signaling devices looked like from a nearby aircraft. The ground crew was on the beach behind Station Fire Island and the air crew held a 1-2 mile circle overhead between 1000 and 1500’. The training occurred just prior to dusk.
The ground crew, led by Ron Kudla (01-03) used Orion hand held red day/night flares, Orion orange smoke flares and Orion 12 gauge meteor aerial flares. The air crew, led by First Pilot Lou Volpato, used a GoPro 3 mounted inside on the dashboard to take videos. Still photos were from screen captures of the video.
Least visible were the hand held day/night flares. They were almost indiscernible from two miles away even when we knew where to look. Visual ground clutter camouflaged 99% of the visible light.
Next visible were the meteor flares. Their burn time was so short, if we didn’t already know where to look, we likely would have missed them.
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Auxiliarist Robert (Bobby) Robles holds an orange smoke flare for a special flare visibility range test mission. USCG Auxiliary Photo.
20 OVER THE BOW - Winter 2015