Have you ever fired a flare gun?

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

I came across a bunch of recently outdated (last month) Cyalume light sticks that clip on to life jackets. While giving them away and giving everyone an extra stick or two to test them out so they would know what to expect during a real emergency, it occurred to me that probably most of you never fired a flare gun.The best time to do it is NOW, not when you need it. It would be a good idea to fire at least one and let the admiral and the kids fire one. In the unfortunate situation of having to fire one off in a real emergency, it will not be a new excperience that you will have to think about.One more thing....dont fire the RED one.Tony B

 

[Ross]

Tony, After dark on THIS Friday, miles away from water

you can fire them along with the other people shooting off fireworks. Just don't start any fires. Most people have not lighted a handheld flare.

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

Great idea for the 4th

Also, you can always fire the white practice flares.I never lit a hand held one. I'll try it this weekend.Writing the e-mail to you this morning when I packaged the light sticks gave me the idea of this post. Always nice to know exactly what to expect.Tony B

 

[Ross]

Everybody should have a surplus of out-of-date

hand helds. Burning the oldest ones will serve two purposes. giving experience to those that need it and proving the viability of the stock.

 

[Capn Dave]

At Who or What

NM

 

[Crusoe]

Independence

Heh we fired a few as young bored teenagers growing up in Indep, MO. One of the 12 gauge pistol looking ones. A decent boom from my front porch at a 60 degree angle launched it 400m easily till it hit some trees and went out. Impressive but after the 3rd one the fuzz came and broke up the "training".

 

[Rick Webb]

Get a Group Together and Arrange a Training Event

Do let the local Coast Guard, Sheriff Department or whoever else might get the call what you are up to before you do it. They may even want to join in it is also a good idea to have some folks out in a boat at a known didstance shoot them off as well that way everyone gets an idea what the flare looks like from a distance and has a reference if they see one at another time.Oh, and it is kinda fun too.

 

[Dave from Mi.]

Flares

Hi tonyB;Every winter, with a couple of inches of snow on the ground, I fire some handheld and aerial flares. We are out in the country and away from any large bodies of water or population centers. I have my wife load and fire one also. Better to do as practice, than when involved in a real emergency.fair windsDave

 

[Jim Rushing]

Friday Night

I have been thinking about firing three of the out of date flares off the end of the dock Friday night. That is right after announcing on channel 16 what is going on.

 

[Bay Sailor]

Don't shoot them off under airport approaches

Even if you are the Commodore of a yacht club.

 

[oreana123]

Flare Gun Training

On the back of the flare pack, the manufacturer suggests that you use the expired flares for training. That was the excuse that placated an angry forest ranger who saw me shooting off flares out in the middle of a reservoir one night. I have about 50 expired flares. As an aircraft mechanic working for a regional airline, it was my job to check and replace if necessary, any expired flares on the aircraft. Due to the nature of shipping back hazardous materials like flares, my employer was happy to have the expired flares "disappear". By the way, none of the flares have ever been duds, and I have some from the 1980s. The 12 gauge flares have one potentially hazardous characteristic: the flare will continue to burn all the way to the water, or the land if you are ashore.