Urgent help needed to recover abandoned yacht NW Barbados

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Does that include any of the light planes that operate in the islands?
For example most of the islands have light planes of the Cessna single engine 'pleasure' type. Sent they used to fly over water?

(Not that I am recommending any flying for this thread!)

Be okay for flying 20-40 miles offshore along the Atlantic side of the Islands.. assuming HelloSailors analysis is wrong..
Could cover a leg from St Martin E maybe 20miles then a flight path outside St Barts down to Antigua.. refuel then on to southern most possible drift with a return search the next day..

[Prairie Chicken]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Does that include any of the light planes that operate in the islands?
For example most of the islands have light planes of the Cessna single engine 'pleasure' type. Sent they used to fly over water?

(Not that I am recommending any flying for this thread!)

Most pilots are extremely nervous flying SE a/c, and in particular piston engines, beyond gliding distance from land. If you lose that engine, there are no options, and the likelihood of a successful ditching are remote.

Having said that, I knew of one guy who made a living ferrying SE a/c across the North Atlantic. MarkJ, it all depends on your risk tolerance.

[a64pilot]

I have flown the Bahamas several times, all in light single engine, as far as San Salvador where there is a good dive resort.
However, it was at altitude, on an airway on an IFR flight plan with Radar coverage and in constant communication with Center. If the engine had quit then I had someone to tell, who had my exact location, and in warm water assuming we survived the landing, we would have been picked up pretty quick I hope.
Get down around 500 ft where you will be doing a search and maybe you can't talk to anyone on the radio, your best plan then is an EPIRB or PLB. I had a PLB on my wife's vest when we flew over water, I had vests on her and the kids.
Most aircraft have 406 ELT's that work just like an EPIRB, but they sink with the plane.
At 500 ft in a normal airplane and your maybe 1 min from swimming if the engine quits, and that is not a lot of time, cause you probably wasted the first 30 sec in denial and trying to get it going again

[a64pilot]

I'd do it if an AIS was temporarily installed in the airplane, I can only assume that at 1,000 ft or higher, that an AIS signal would carry a long ways? Surely it wouldn't be hard to find with AIS?

On edit, this is my line of reasoning, assume for simplicity that an airborne AIS will receive for 50 miles, fly a line 50 miles off the coast, that covers from the coast to 100 miles off shore, then fly a parallel course 150 miles offshore, you have then covered from the shore to 200 miles out.
Remember at best range airspeed I'm covering about 160 miles in an hour, so I'll cover an area that is 100 miles wide by 160 miles long in an hour?

[RPZ]

No one operate amphibious twin aircraft any more? Of course it is not going to be any less risky when sea conditions would preclude a safe landing.

[weavis]

Its going to be down to luck in the Estimated position, a sighting or something onboard giving a lock on signal.

Do what you can for a while and see what happens.

[hellosailor]

I mentioned the costs of a Hercules simply because the USCG and others choose them for this role. I'm sure there are lesser aircraft (won't need to carry trucks will it?) with suitable capabilities, but consider the parameters.

Given the lack of any better, other, or contradictory information, and withholding some specifics because the OP does not want to share them.
The last AIS broadcast, 12/23, puts the vessel 500+ miles out to sea, at a speed of 2.4knots (roughly 50 miles per day) heading FURTHER OUT TO SEA. Not at all towards Antigua or any other island.
So by now, unless there is reason to thinl that AIS data was wrong, the boat WILL BE 1000 MILES FROM LAND. Any land. And that means an aircraft with a 2000 mile range, plus another thousand if the pilot follows a conventional "1/3 out, 1/3 back, 1/3 reserve" philosophy. Maybe 2500 if they're willing to pinch that down. But that's still a 2500 range, just to make the trip. Not knowing where the boat is, let's say the aircraft can make a flight speed of 250mph. That's TEN HOURS simply spent in transit, with zero time spent on the search.
A64, you know of anything readily chartered down in the islands, that has a range of "2500 miles plus search time" and a speed sufficient to get it out and back in the same daylight? Arguably an aircraft that can cruise at 400 mph and then loiter at 150 for the searching, while carrying the OP and two observers, so they can do a decent eyeball search? Anyone?

Because that's the ballpark the AIS data says the OP has to operate in. Not 500 miles, not "near" anything, but a thousand miles out in the Atlantic, somewhere along a cone-shaped sector that might also now be a thousand miles wide at the far end, where the boat is most likely to be.

Yes, I've also plotted these things for remote sensing and satellite analysis. I don't know what aircraft can be chartered down there, and I'm sure the USCG preference for Herc's is partly because they've got so many of them, and they can carry so many eyeballs. Not to mention a reassuring four engines over deep water.

Anyone who is interested in refine the numbers can look to "buy satellite AIS data" and get some price quotes. Without it, or sightings, the 12/23 data is what all speculation needs to be based on.

Sad to say, but that's as close to hard facts as we've got. Looking anyplace else, any way else, without some hard facts to back up the choice? Would be a total and pointless waste of time.

[meatservo]

Amphib. Twin Otters operate out of St. Thomas...


meatservo

[meatservo]

You don't need an amphib. though. A pilatus PC-12 or a King air can perform that task a lot cheaper than a C-130...


meatservo

[RPZ]

Well one thing that is obvious following this thread is that whole region of little island states must be smugglers' paradise. Since evidently none of them have coast guards or navies that track, intercept vessels for inspection or patrol the area offshore either at sea or by air.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by RPZ

Well one thing that is obvious following this thread is that whole region of little island states must be smugglers' paradise. Since evidently none of them have coast guards or navies that track, intercept vessels for inspection or patrol the area offshore either at sea or by air.

Any patrols will be concentrated along the Western sides of the islands.. Atlantic side is in the main to rugged for landing anywhere..

[RPZ]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Any patrols will be concentrated along the Western sides of the islands.. Atlantic side is in the main to rugged for landing anywhere..

So an incoming offshore boat drops a pressure proof canister of X, enough line with a marker buoy and a precise GPS coordinate. Spends a few days on the island during which time gets paid, and leaves to enjoy the fruits of labor or make another run.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by RPZ

So an incoming offshore boat drops a pressure proof canister of X, enough line with a marker buoy and a precise GPS coordinate. Spends a few days on the island during which time gets paid, and leaves to enjoy the fruits of labor or make another run.

That's the way it often works around the world.. does the USCG check every lobster pot or net marker along the E&W coast of the States..???
Most rely on intel or blind luck..

[RPZ]

True, but it is difficult to just come into our E or W coast unspotted, tracked and boarded, or at least identified. Those million dollar fun seekers must be having an unspoilt ball on those islands.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by RPZ

True, but it is difficult to just come into our E or W coast unspotted, tracked and boarded, or at least identified. Those million dollar fun seekers must be having an unspoilt ball on those islands.

Ahahahaaa... another DHS BS Believer..