The eleventh meeting of the EUR Search and Rescue Task Force (EUR SAR TF/11) was held in the ICAO European and North Atlantic Regional Office (ICAO EUR/NAT) on 15 and 16 September 2022.
In his opening remarks, the ICAO EUR/NAT Regional Director, Mr. Nicolas Rallo, thanked the 34 members and participants from 18 States and 4 international organizations, including EUROCONTROL, the European Commission and the International Cospas-Sarsat Programme. He shared with them key priorities for the Regional Office in the area of SAR, in particular the need for enhancement of safety oversight in the Region to ensure that States fulfill their obligations under Annex 12 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and the EUR SAR Plan (EUR Doc 039).
The ICAO EUR SAR TF successfully completed guidance material aimed at addressing the challenges of effective SAR system oversight. This allowed for the publication on the ICAO EUR/NAT webpage of:
- EUR Doc 043 - EUR Training Program for SAR inspectorate staff;
- EUR Doc 044 - SAR Inspector's Handbook to cover standardized inspection procedures for SAR inspectorate staff; and
- EUR Doc 045 - Guidance Material (GM) for the implementation and monitoring of PSCS (Preferred SAR Capability Specifications) and promote the enhancement and improvement of Regional SAR capability of establishment for enhancement of SAR capability within the EUR Region.
The EUR SAR TF/11 committed to the effective implementation of these EUR documents to enhance the SAR capabilities of States in the Region.
The EUR SAR TF/11 participants also reviewed the recent ICAO provisions related to Global Aeronautical Distress & Safety System (GADSS), which includes Autonomous Distress Tracking (ADT). Aircraft will need to be equipped with Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) designed for distress tracking (ELT (DT)) to meet GADSS ADT requirements. The EUR SAR TF/11 participants agreed on the need to establish the communications infrastructure necessary to process and transmit ELT (DT) signals to SAR points of contact (SPOC) in the various EUR States. This includes the implementation of a Location of Aircraft in Distress Repository (LADR) for collecting and sharing ADT data.
Information on the progress of the work of the EUR SAR Task Force will be presented at the next meeting of the ICAO/IMO Joint Working Group on harmonization of aeronautical and maritime Search and Rescue (ICAO/IMO JWG-SAR) scheduled on 16-21 October 2022.
