Study analyzed 15 years of records on searches in Brazil
Air Force Agency – ITA, by Lieutenant Leonardo
The technology presented in the scientific article entitled “Statistical analysis of search missions for missing aircraft: construction of probability areas” was used by the rescue teams of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) in planning the search for a single-engine aircraft PTC-JZC, which was missing for five days shortly after taking off in the Serra do Mar region, on the coast of Paraná, in early July. The study was produced by a student who graduated from the Specialization Course in Operational Analysis (CEAO), created on demand by the Preparedness Command (COMPREP) and offered by the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA).
Published in 2022, the article has as authors Major Engineer Filipe Rodrigues de Souza Moreira, Lieutenant Aviator Fernando Afonso Fabian, both from ITA and Captain Aviator Thales Vilas Bôas Araújo, from the Operational Applications Institute (IAOp), also counting on the collaboration of Colonel Aviator Silvio Monteiro Júnior, from the Search and Rescue Division of the Department of Airspace Control (DECEA).
The research sought, through the survey of search missions for missing aircraft in Brazil between 2006 and 2021, to develop areas with a higher probability of finding missing aircraft, using as a basis the last known point of the aircraft and considering the accuracy of this information. The objective was to build probability areas for the planning and execution of search missions. In this way, it is possible to minimize the response time of the FAB in Search and Rescue actions, increasing the chance of survival of accident victims.
Guided by Major Engineer Filipe, the article was part of the postgraduate research of Lieutenant Aviator Fabian who explained how the survey was carried out. “Conducting a search for a missing aircraft can be very complex and determining areas of greater probability helps the coordination team with a north to start planning the search, and thus be able to find the victims of air accidents more quickly,” he said.
Colonel Silvio, a specialist in Search and Rescue, considers that the published work contextualized the knowledge established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). “At the same time, the survey reformulated the decision-making process for positioning search patterns, enabling a greater probability of detecting the missing object,” he concluded.
For the Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Operational Applications (PPGAO), Colonel Sérgio Rebouças, the article exemplifies the need for ITA’s Postgraduate Courses in Operational Applications. “The study perfectly brings the core activity of our courses, based on a demand to conduct academic and scientific research that generates tools for the operational area”. With this, an innovative technological solution is created, effectively contributing to optimize a capacity of action of the Brazilian Air Force”, he pointed out.
Brazil is a signatory to the Chicago Convention, which dealt with the regulation of air activity and safeguarding victims of air accidents, assigning this responsibility to, at the time, the Ministry of Aeronautics by Art. 12, item VI of Law No. 7,565, of December 19, 1986, which provides for the Brazilian Aeronautical Code.
Photos: Reproduction / ITA