Outdated Flares of All Types…..

[Johann]

This is evidently discussing handheld flares (evidenced by the pic). My vision throughout this discussion was a flare fired into the air where you would not have the misinterpretation at water level. I'm not down on electric flares. However, I do not like the battery issue as it can be forgotten about or alkalines can/will leak over time. Are they rechargeable? I will admit to some ignorance here and I will need to do something this fall….

One night last year, while anchored off Dauphin island I listened on VHF for over half an hour as a USCG helo searched for a small fishing boat that was disabled in the Gulf. The helo had the coordinates (the boat captain was on the phone with the CG shore station, but without a functioning VHF) and while enroute the boat fired an aerial flare that was observed by the helo. The boats was flashing its navigation lights and they fired another flare when the helo was near, but that wasn’t seen. They may have fired a third flare, it wasn’t clear from the comms. But eventually, the helo would ask the ground station to ask the boat if they were flying towards or away from the boat. After 15 minutes or so of that they found the boat. I think an electronic flare would have been more visible to the helo… brighter than the nav lights and more persistent than the flares.

 

[thinwater]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that electronic flares replace aerial flares. They replace hand-held flares. No one says you can have both.