flights to confidently declare the Grand Banks 

 ice-free. Additional training requirements will 

 necessitate a minimum number of flights in 

 low-ice years to maintain a sufficiently 

 qualified crew. 



Coast Guard aircraft provided the 

 primary means of detecting icebergs in the 

 vicinity of the Grand Banks. To conduct 

 iceberg reconnaissance, IIP used a Coast Guard 

 HC-130H long-range aircraft equipped with the 

 Motorola AN/APS- 135 Side-Looking Airborne 

 Radar (SLAR) and the Texas Instruments 

 AN/APS- 137 Forward-Looking Airborne 

 Radar (FLAR). Ice Patrol began using SLAR in 



2000 



1750 



1500 



1250 



1000 



750 



500 



250 



^A 



Nooooi-cMto^rwto 



0)0)0)0000000 

 0)0)0)0000000 

 ,-i-t-CMCMC\ICMCMCMCM 



I Hours 



'Icebergs 



2002 



2003 



2004 



2005 



2006 



■ Patrol Hours ■ Transit Hours □ Research Hours ■ Logistics Hours 



Figure 8. Breakdown of flight hours (2002- 

 2006) 



1983, FLAR in 1993, and incorporated the 

 Maritime Surveillance System 5000 with 

 SLAR in 2000. 2006 became yet another 

 technological milestone when the IIP began 

 incorporating the Automatic Identification 

 System (AIS) in the sensor package. This 

 system is capable of tracking every equipped 

 ship in VHF radio range, and displaying data 

 which includes ship name, call sign, course and 

 speed, classification, cargo, last port, 

 destination, and other information. As a result 

 of its ability to quickly identify ambiguous 

 radar targets as ships, AIS has proven a 

 valuable asset. 



After a mishap involving a U.S. 

 Forestry Service HC-130H in 2002, 

 comprehensive inspections identified problems 

 with the aircraft's center wing-support 

 structure. The continued result of this mishap 



Figure 9. Flight hours versus icebergs south of 

 48°N (1997-2006) 



was significant limitations being placed on the 

 1500 series HC-130H aircraft, whose patrol- 

 length maximum for IIP operations was 

 reduced from 1,700 nm to 1,200 nm in 

 excellent-moderate weather and 900 nm in 

 moderate-marginal weather. These restrictions 

 were in effect throughout the 2006 ice season. 

 As of the date of the publication, CG 1500 and 

 CG 1501 have passed depot-level inspection 

 and are operating in an unrestricted capacity. 



: * . St. John's, Newfoundland 



FLAR & SLAR Radar Coverage 



..-*- SLAR 



30 NM track spacing provides 200% radar 

 coverage of search area 



h 



c4 " 



I 30 NM 



|Ti 



rack Spacing 



Figure 10. Radar reconnaissance plan 



