Surprisingly, the orange smoke was most visible. The smoke spread out in a predicable pattern. That allowed us to determine its source. In addition, the smoke lingered on the water longer than either of the previous signaling devices.
Other factors that could effect visibility are: Whether the surrounding area is clear or cluttered; wind condition; position of the sun; relative direction of the search aircraft. Some of the devices emitted such small targets even dirty windows on the aircraft could effect visibility.
Additional air crew were Ron Kaplan (12-7) and Steve O’Rourke (01-06).
My conclusion is that orange smoke is most visible to a searching aircraft during daylight hours.
Photo from Auxiliary aircraft at an altitude of 1000 feet from about half a mile away. The orange smoke is clearly visible. USCG Auxiliary Photo by Ron Kaplan.
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