Sep 16 1982
From The Space Library
NASA reported a happy ending to a search-and-rescue mission that began in July with the loss of a pilot somewhere in northern British Columbia. The Canadian government conducted an unsuccessful search that cost $2 million before it ended. The father of the missing pilot started to search with a pilot and another passenger and failed to return on September 9. They had crashed in a valley 3,500 feet deep where the Rockies hid their rescue beacon from passing planes. The Canadian rescue center had no data on their location.
Canada had just joined in the SARSAT (search-and-rescue satellite-aided tracking) program using Cospas 1, a Soviet satellite launched June 30, and asked for any data it might gather. Early September 10 the satellite 600 miles up detected an emergency locator-transmitter in the area; a search aircraft found the crash and called for a rescue helicopter. All three persons had been injured but had survived. Canadian authorities praised the timely rescue of the victims at minimal cost. (NASA Dly Acty Apt, Sept 16/82; W Post, Sept 30/82, A-3)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
