A B-52H located the lost crew of an open ocean Polynesian-style canoe after they were missing at sea for six days. The B-52H joined the search when the crew from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., was on a routine flight during a deployment to Guam. The bomber crew responded to a call from the Coast Guard for assistance in the search on June 25. They found the canoe within 3 hours of receiving the call. They spotted it from 19,000 ft.
Initially the crew of the B-52H was unfamiliar with the type of vessel they were searching for. Coast Guard personal compared the small, difficult to spot indigenous canoe with the boat from the Disney cartoon "Moana". Capt. Simpson told media, "We asked for more details about the vessel and the dispatcher told us, 'It's just like the boat from [the Disney film] 'Moana.'"
http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-b-52-bomber-crew-rescues-canoe-lost-in-the-pacific-2018-7?amp%3Butm_medium=referral
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- frmrCapCadet
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Disney film, lost Polynesians, B52s, and a happy ending. Great juxtapositions.
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
What a happy ending. Great little story.
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
citationjet wrote:"We asked for more details about the vessel and the dispatcher told us, 'It's just like the boat from [the Disney film] 'Moana.'"
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- flapsdown40
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
citationjet wrote:A B-52H located the lost crew of an open ocean Polynesian-style canoe after they were missing at sea for six days. The B-52H joined the search when the crew from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., was on a routine flight during a deployment to Guam. The bomber crew responded to a call from the Coast Guard for assistance in the search on June 25. They found the canoe within 3 hours of receiving the call. They spotted it from 19,000 ft.
Initially the crew of the B-52H was unfamiliar with the type of vessel they were searching for. Coast Guard personal compared the small, difficult to spot indigenous canoe with the boat from the Disney cartoon "Moana". Capt. Simpson told media, "We asked for more details about the vessel and the dispatcher told us, 'It's just like the boat from [the Disney film] 'Moana.'"
http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-b-52-bomber-crew-rescues-canoe-lost-in-the-pacific-2018-7?amp%3Butm_medium=referral
The B52 crew spotted the canoe from 19,000 feet. Wow. Just- wow. Amazing crew.
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Nice story, thanks for sharing.
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- Planeflyer
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Sorry don’t understand how they spotted it? Wouldn’t think a radar on the buff would work well on the ocean.
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Planeflyer wrote:Sorry don’t understand how they spotted it? Wouldn’t think a radar on the buff would work well on the ocean.
Via visual. Even at 19,000 feet you can still see pretty well when we're talking about an object the size of a small conference room floating in the ocean.
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- frmrCapCadet
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
To visualize that in real life, have someone point out to you something 3-4 miles away
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Water tower on a clear day for instance. Easy to spot against a clear blue sky.
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- Planeflyer
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
If they spotted it visually I’m impressed.
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
trpmb6 wrote:Water tower on a clear day for instance. Easy to spot against a clear blue sky.
You're making this sound a lot easier than what it would've been. A 6 person Ploynesian canoe would've been a dot from that height, even on a clear day.
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Did the buff have eoir sensor?
bt
bt
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Simply clicking the article would show how it was actually spotted... 
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Boy that looks like some very calm water, and a sail with no wind.
Tugg
Tugg
Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
So it did have IR tracking camera. Then all you need is to have an algorithm to identify anomalies for further investigation. Like the article said, the problem would have been the cloud cover . . .
bt
bt
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- kc135topboom
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
Great job by the B-52 crew.
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- ThePointblank
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
bikerthai wrote:So it did have IR tracking camera. Then all you need is to have an algorithm to identify anomalies for further investigation. Like the article said, the problem would have been the cloud cover . . .
bt
Looks like footage from a targeting pod...
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- RetiredWeasel
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Re: B-52 finds canoe in Pacific in search and rescue mission
ThePointblank wrote:bikerthai wrote:So it did have IR tracking camera. Then all you need is to have an algorithm to identify anomalies for further investigation. Like the article said, the problem would have been the cloud cover . . .
bt
Looks like footage from a targeting pod...
Are we sure that this is not footage from an HC-130 or some other CG aircraft that went out after the B-52 identified the canoe's position?
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