South African Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue Act, 2002RegulationsSouth African Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue (SASAR) Regulations, 2016Part 3 : SAR Operational Matters, Standards and Procedures19. Procedures during emergency phases |
| (1) | Upon the declaration of an emergency phase, the RCC must comply will all standard procedures as defined in the relevant international and national guidance materials. |
| (2) | In an aeronautical SAR incident involving an aircraft for which a flight plan has been filed, an uncertainty phase must be declared, when: |
| (a) | no communication has been received within a period of 30 minutes after the time it should have been received, or from the time a first unsuccessful attempt was made to establish communication with the aircraft, whichever is earlier; |
| (b) | the aircraft fails to arrive within 30 minutes of the ETA last notified or estimated, whichever is the later; or |
| (r) | the evaluation of other circumstances, e.g. knowledge that the aircraft is experiencing difficulties, renders it advisable to declare the uncertainty phase. |
| (3) | In respect of an aircraft for which no flight plan has been tiled, an uncertainty phase must be declared by the ATSU when information that the aircraft is overdue or missing is received from any source, e.g. an ATSU, the aircraft operator, relatives of the pilot, or any other person. In such cases the ARCC will be notified and will monitor the progress. |
| (4) | An alert phase must be declared by an ARCC when— |
| (a) | the attempts made during the uncertainty phase to establish contact with the aircraft or to gain any news from other sources have failed and the aircraft is clearly overdue; |
| (b) | an aircraft, which has been cleared to land, has failed to land within 5 minutes of the estimated time of landing and communications have not been re-established with the aircraft; |
| (c) | information has been received which indicates that the operating efficiency of the aircraft for which the uncertainty phase was declared or that of another aircraft has become impaired, but not to the extent that a forced landing is likely; and |
| (d) | there is reason to believe that the operation of an aircraft is being interfered with. In such cases the ARCC will be informed, who in turn, will continue with the alerting of relevant and related organizations and authorities. |
| (5) | A distress phase must be declared by an ARCC when— |
| (a) | the attempts made during the alert phase to establish contact with the aircraft and to gain information through more widespread inquiries have failed and the aircraft is clearly missing and probably distress; |
| (b) | the fuel on board is considered exhausted or insufficient for the aircraft to reach safety; |
| (c) | information is received which indicates that the operating efficiency of the aircraft has become impaired to the extent that a forced landing is likely; |
| (d) | information is received, or it is reasonably certain that the aircraft is about to make of has made a forced landing, or has crashed; and |
| (e) | a downed aircraft is inadvertently located as the result of a sighting or of homing on an ELT transmission. |
| (6) | In a maritime incident an uncertainty phase must be declared once an alerting post advises the MRCC that— |
| (a) | there is doubt regarding the safety of a vessel and/or the persons on board; |
| (b) | the vessel is overdue and has failed to make its estimated time of arrival; and |
| (c) | the vessel has failed to make an expected position or safety report. |
| (7) | An alert phase must be declared by an MRCC when— |
| (a) | there its apprehension regarding the safety of a vessel or the person on board; |
| (b) | following the uncertainty phase, attempts to establish contact with the vessel have failed and inquiries addressed to other appropriate sources have been unsuccessful; or |
| (c) | information has been received indicating that the operational efficiency of a vessel is impaired but not to the extent that a distress situation is likely. |
| (8) | A distress phase must be declared by an MRCC when— |
| (a) | positive information is received that a vessel or the persons on board are in grave and imminent danger and in need of immediate assistance; |
| (b) | following the alert phase, further unsuccessful attempts to establish contact with the vessel and more widespread unsuccessful inquiries point to a probability that the vessel is in distress; or |
| (c) | information is received which indicates that the operating efficiency of the vessel has been impaired to the extent that a distress situation is likely, |
| (9) | An ATSU usually notify its associated RCC when an aircraft is usually or likely in a state of emergency. Such notification to the ARCC must contain the following information, if available, as appropriate to the phase of emergency. |
| (a) | agency and person calling; |
| (b) | nature of emergency; |
| (c) | significant information from the flight plan; |
| (d) | unit which made last contact, time, and frequency used; |
| (e) | last position repot and how the position was determined; |
| (f) | colour and distinctive marks of the aircraft in difficulty; |
| (g) | any action taken by the reporting office; |
| (h) | number of persons board (POB); |
| (i) | survival equipment carried; |
| (j) | relevant radar and voice recordings; and |
| (k) | other information. |
| (10) | The notification from a Coastal Radio Station to the MRCC regarding a maritime craft in distress must contain the following information, if available:— |
| (a) | name and call sign (or ship station identity) of the ship or craft; |
| (b) | nature of the emergency; |
| (c) | type of assistance needed; |
| (d) | time of communication with the ship or craft; |
| (e) | position or last known position of the ship or craft; |
| (f) | description of the ship or craft; |
| (g) | intentions of the ship or craft; |
| (h) | number of POB if known; and |
| (i) | other information. |
| (11) | Notification from any other source should contain any abnormal occurrence they have witnessed or heard about. |