AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020 - 88

P&E

88 |

ADS-B

the ADS-B data. "First responders were
working toward our coordinates and it
all came together about the same time,"
Young explained.
"It wasn't 20 minutes later people came
out of the woods with flashlights," Bohlson
said. "They were the happiest people I ever
saw. They saved us." The survivors walked
out about a mile; Bohlson's daughter had a
back injury that required surgery and a hospital stay. "She's made a full recovery," he said.
Three days later Bohlson flew back to
the area to retrieve possessions from the
wreckage; the local fire chief drove him to
the crash site. "We had to wait a few days to
celebrate Christmas."
The FAA has long touted improved
search and rescue as a benefit of ADS-B,
which can provide accurate and timely
last-reported positions. Bohlson's is not the
first ADS-B save. And the Civil Air Patrol's
NRAT has expanded its capabilities beyond
FAA radar and ADS-B data. It can access
Aireon's space-based ADS-B information

as well as data from terrestrial sources such
as FlightAware and FlightRadar 24-which
prove especially helpful in areas where FAA
data is not available, Young said.
DITCHING IN THE BAHAMAS

Three days later, on December 23, Don
Hinkel was flying over the Bahamas when
the engine of his 1981 Cessna P210N failed.
It would not restart, said Hinkel, who lives
in the U.S. Virgin Islands and regularly flies
back and forth to Florida. "I activated an
onboard ELT when I realized that I was in
serious trouble at 17,000 feet. Upon ditching, I activated an EPIRB [emergency
position indicating radio beacon] and left
the plane with it in my hand." He was holding the beacon when a U.S. Coast Guard
helicopter picked him up more than two
hours later. The Cessna also was equipped
with ADS-B Out. The airplane floated
about 15 minutes, but the raft he carried got
stuck on egress. "I must have torn it pulling
it out of the cabin," he said.

After the Royal Bahamas Defence Force
requested Coast Guard assistance, the NRAT
tracked the Cessna down to 1,300 feet msl
using data from the Grand Turk air traffic
control radar, supplementing it with Aireon
space-based ADS-B that showed the airplane at zero feet msl. The Cessna ditched at
16:08:25Z; NRAT received alert notification
at 17:02, and by 17:08 had estimated a ditching location and asked that the Coast Guard
be launched. By 17:45Z Young had Aireon
data showing an altitude of zero msl. "That
told me exactly where the crash was," he said.
Aireon said it makes its space-based
ADS-B data available, at no charge, in
emergencies to air navigation service providers, search and rescue organizations,
commercial aircraft operators, and regulators through its Aircraft Locating and
Emergency Response Tracking. Aireon
ALERT is operated by the Irish Aviation
Authority (IAA). Qualified parties can
apply online (aireonalert.com) and once
vetted and registered, can call an operator

FASTER, STRONGER, MORE

GARMIN TXi PANEL
AVAILABLE WITH AUTOPILOT

FAA IFR CERTIFIED
EXTENDED LANDING GEAR

(307) 317-5550

http://www.aireonalert.com http://www.AVIATAIRCRAFT.COM/AOPA

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020

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