WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 welcome to this deep dive um i want you to start 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:05.299 today by picturing something in your mind's eye 00:00:05.299 --> 00:00:09.960 imagine a stretch of open unforgiving ocean now 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:14.320 make it big in fact make it 52 .8 million square 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:18.079 kilometers big that is uh That's almost hard 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.440 to even visualize. Right. It is this massive 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:23.339 expanse of water covering vast, empty portions 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:25.780 of the Indian, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:28.559 Now, imagine the sheer logistical nightmare of 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:32.340 trying to find a single, tiny missing boat. Or 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:35.420 even just one person. Exactly. One missing person 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:38.359 in a life jacket just bobbing somewhere in that 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:41.119 endlessly shifting expanse. It sounds absolutely 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:43.420 impossible, doesn't it? Yeah. A needle in a haystack 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:45.159 doesn't even begin to cover it. But believe it 00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:47.240 or not, there's an entire organization in Australia 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:50.320 whose sole daily responsibility is watching over 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.359 that exact stretch of the earth. So today we 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:55.700 have an incredibly comprehensive source. It's 00:00:55.700 --> 00:00:58.460 an extensive Wikipedia article detailing the 00:00:58.460 --> 00:01:00.520 entire global framework of search and rescue, 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.600 or SAR. Which is a massive topic. It really is. 00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:06.480 So the mission for our duck dive today is to 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:09.640 really unpack this massive, invisible global 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:12.640 safety net. We're going to explore how it evolved 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.879 from the early tragic days of wooden ships, how 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:17.879 it operates across wildly different terrains 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:19.959 today, and look at the surprising and sometimes 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:22.920 very quirky ways different countries handled 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:25.480 the ultimate high stakes mission, which is saving 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:29.000 human lives. It really is a monumental logistical 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.480 achievement when you look at it globally. And 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:34.719 to set a baseline for you, it helps to define 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.480 what search and rescue actually is in a formal 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:39.400 sense. Right. Because it's not just, you know. 00:01:39.709 --> 00:01:43.310 Calling 911. Exactly. At its core, SAR is the 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:45.870 search for and the provision of aid to people 00:01:45.870 --> 00:01:48.590 who are in distress or imminent danger. But it's 00:01:48.590 --> 00:01:50.629 not just a polite gesture or a moral choice, 00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:52.469 which is something a lot of people don't realize 00:01:52.469 --> 00:01:54.310 when they think about, say, a Coast Guard cutter 00:01:54.310 --> 00:01:56.189 heading out into a storm. Oh, interesting. So 00:01:56.189 --> 00:01:58.629 it's legally binding. Yes. The duty to render 00:01:58.629 --> 00:02:00.989 assistance at sea is actually codified in international 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:03.750 law. Specifically, it falls under Article 98 00:02:03.750 --> 00:02:06.560 of the UNCLOS. And just to clarify for everyone 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.819 listening, UNNCLOS stands for the United Nations 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:12.159 Convention on the Law of the Sea, correct? That's 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:14.340 right. It essentially means that when a vessel 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:17.060 is in trouble, participating nations aren't just 00:02:17.060 --> 00:02:20.060 being neighborly. They are fulfilling a binding 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:22.939 international mandate to protect human life. 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.300 If you're a signatory and someone is drowning 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:29.120 in your designated waters, you are legally required 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.370 to attempt a rescue. OK, let's unpack this, because 00:02:32.370 --> 00:02:35.610 to really appreciate the highly technical satellite 00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:37.969 linked system we have today, we have to look 00:02:37.969 --> 00:02:39.889 at how this all started. And honestly, reading 00:02:39.889 --> 00:02:42.370 through the source material, the history of search 00:02:42.370 --> 00:02:45.229 and rescue is a history of immense human determination 00:02:45.229 --> 00:02:48.490 in the face of some incredibly grim realities. 00:02:48.710 --> 00:02:51.009 Very grim. The source gives this really grounding 00:02:51.009 --> 00:02:54.169 historical anecdote from way back in 1656 that 00:02:54.169 --> 00:02:56.789 just really stuck with me. A Dutch merchant ship 00:02:56.789 --> 00:02:59.409 called the Verguld Drek wrecked off the west 00:02:59.409 --> 00:03:01.879 coast of. Australia. And 1656, so we're talking 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:04.639 wooden ships, zero modern navigation. Right. 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:08.539 Imagine the situation. It's the 17th century. 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:13.039 There are no radios, no GPS. The survivors somehow 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:15.659 managed to get word out to seek help. And in 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:18.319 response, the authorities launched not one, not 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:21.819 two, but three separate search and rescue missions 00:03:21.819 --> 00:03:25.099 to try and find the remaining crew. Wow. But 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:27.699 tragically, every single one of those missions 00:03:27.699 --> 00:03:30.479 failed. And that tragedy perfectly illustrates 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:34.759 the fundamental limitation of early surface level 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:37.639 rescues. Think about what a rescue mission entailed 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:40.520 back then. Searching meant putting more slow 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:42.900 -moving, vulnerable wooden ships into the exact 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:45.620 same dangerous waters. The same storms. Yes, 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.939 the same hidden reefs, the same storms that caused 00:03:47.939 --> 00:03:49.860 the original wreck in the first place. You were 00:03:49.860 --> 00:03:52.000 fighting the terrain on its own terms, using 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:54.180 the same flawed tools that just failed the people 00:03:54.180 --> 00:03:55.819 you're trying to save. It's essentially sending 00:03:55.819 --> 00:03:58.020 a second victim into the danger zone, hoping 00:03:58.020 --> 00:04:00.800 they get lucky. Exactly. But then, as the source 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.750 details, the technology shifts entirely. What's 00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:07.289 fascinating here is how aviation completely changed 00:04:07.289 --> 00:04:10.610 the paradigm. You shift from slow, horizontal 00:04:10.610 --> 00:04:13.389 searching on the surface, where your line of 00:04:13.389 --> 00:04:16.610 sight is blocked by every single wave, to rapid 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:18.990 vertical extraction. You just go right over the 00:04:18.990 --> 00:04:20.949 problem. You're no longer fighting the ocean. 00:04:21.089 --> 00:04:24.180 You are rising above it. And the watershed moment 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:26.480 for this, according to the text, happened on 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.500 November 29, 1945. That is the date of the very 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:33.100 first civilian helicopter rescue operation in 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:35.579 history. And the details of this are just wild. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:38.740 They really are. Skorsky's chief pilot, a man 00:04:38.740 --> 00:04:41.839 named Dmitry Viner, He went by Jimmy. He flew 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:44.480 a Sikorsky R -5 helicopter. It was equipped with 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:47.420 an experimental hoist developed jointly by Sikorsky 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:49.680 and Breeze. Experimental being the key word there. 00:04:49.779 --> 00:04:52.000 Right. A severe storm had caused an oil barge 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.600 to run aground on Pinfield Reef, and it was actively 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.410 sinking. Viner flew this new machine out into 00:04:57.410 --> 00:04:59.730 the weather, hovered right over the chaos, and 00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:01.970 used that experimental hoist to lift all five 00:05:01.970 --> 00:05:04.009 crew members to safety before the barge went 00:05:04.009 --> 00:05:06.470 down. That is incredible. In an instant, the 00:05:06.470 --> 00:05:08.290 helicopter proved that you could hover above 00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:10.769 the danger, totally unaffected by the waves of 00:05:10.769 --> 00:05:13.290 the jagged rocks, and pluck people directly into 00:05:13.290 --> 00:05:15.949 the sky. I was just blown away by the sheer bravery 00:05:15.949 --> 00:05:19.670 of that. testing an experimental hoist in a storm 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:22.970 over a sinking barge. But that single event really 00:05:22.970 --> 00:05:25.389 paved the way for what we see today. Because 00:05:25.389 --> 00:05:27.470 once commercial aviation became commonplace, 00:05:27.689 --> 00:05:30.029 the scale of search and rescue had to expand 00:05:30.029 --> 00:05:32.889 exponentially. It had to. It wasn't just a few 00:05:32.889 --> 00:05:35.370 sailors anymore. It was hundreds of people on 00:05:35.370 --> 00:05:38.170 a jetliner. The source details a few of these 00:05:38.170 --> 00:05:40.769 massive modern efforts, and the sheer sale of 00:05:40.769 --> 00:05:43.449 international coordination is staggering. For 00:05:43.449 --> 00:05:46.230 instance, in 1983, Korean Airlines flight... 00:05:51.009 --> 00:05:54.769 And that event triggered a massive, highly complex 00:05:54.769 --> 00:05:57.610 geopolitical response. Because of where it happened, 00:05:57.769 --> 00:06:00.250 the Soviets sent Tsar helicopters and boats into 00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:03.170 their own territorial waters. But simultaneously, 00:06:03.430 --> 00:06:05.769 a huge search and rescue operation was initiated 00:06:05.769 --> 00:06:08.550 just outside those waters by a coalition of U 00:06:08.550 --> 00:06:10.910 .S., South Korean, and Japanese ships and aircraft. 00:06:11.089 --> 00:06:13.610 Which is a huge diplomatic tightrope. Exactly. 00:06:14.170 --> 00:06:16.790 Tragically, no survivors were found, but it demonstrated 00:06:16.790 --> 00:06:19.189 the immense international resources that can 00:06:19.189 --> 00:06:21.949 be mobilized instantly. And then the source brings 00:06:21.949 --> 00:06:26.189 up Air France Flight 447 in 2009, which was lost 00:06:26.189 --> 00:06:28.569 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. In that 00:06:28.569 --> 00:06:30.610 case, there were no survivors to rescue. But 00:06:30.610 --> 00:06:32.610 the search effort to find the crash site and 00:06:32.610 --> 00:06:34.889 recover the flight recorders took an international 00:06:34.889 --> 00:06:38.790 coalition nearly two years. Two years. Which 00:06:38.790 --> 00:06:41.009 brings us to a crucial point about modern Tsar. 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:44.199 The scale of these operations only continues 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:46.980 to grow as technology allows us to look deeper 00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:50.120 and further. When surface searches fail, the 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:52.360 operation doesn't just end, it changes dimensions. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:55.579 It goes underwater. Right. And the most staggering 00:06:55.579 --> 00:06:57.779 example of this, making it the largest search 00:06:57.779 --> 00:07:00.279 operation to date, according to the text, is 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:02.680 the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:05.480 370. Right, because the initial effort involved 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:07.740 numerous nations scanning the surface of the 00:07:07.740 --> 00:07:10.019 ocean, and it was entirely fruitless. They found 00:07:10.019 --> 00:07:12.740 absolutely nothing. So the strategy had to shift 00:07:12.740 --> 00:07:16.180 to an unprecedented deepwater survey. In June 00:07:16.180 --> 00:07:19.139 2014, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau 00:07:19.139 --> 00:07:22.139 commissioned a vessel called the MV Fugro Equator. 00:07:22.259 --> 00:07:24.639 This wasn't a standard Coast Guard cutter, it 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:27.639 was a highly specialized survey ship. It led 00:07:27.639 --> 00:07:30.100 a complex three -month survey using advanced 00:07:30.100 --> 00:07:33.449 sonar to map the ocean bed itself. When you're 00:07:33.449 --> 00:07:35.850 looking for an aircraft in deep water, modern 00:07:35.850 --> 00:07:38.230 SAR involves bouncing sound waves off the very 00:07:38.230 --> 00:07:40.750 bottom of the ocean to detect anomalies in the 00:07:40.750 --> 00:07:43.410 terrain. It just shows how radically SAR has 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:45.970 to adapt to the sick environment. And that actually 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:47.550 brings us to an interesting point the source 00:07:47.550 --> 00:07:49.470 makes about the different flavors of rescue. 00:07:50.029 --> 00:07:52.370 I want you to think for a second about how vastly 00:07:52.370 --> 00:07:54.610 different it is to rescue someone who is lost 00:07:54.610 --> 00:07:57.449 deep inside a dark, flooded cave compared to 00:07:57.449 --> 00:07:59.329 trying to reach someone trapped inside the twisted 00:07:59.329 --> 00:08:02.329 steel of a collapsed skyscraper. Night and day. 00:08:02.370 --> 00:08:04.490 You obviously can't just send the same team with 00:08:04.490 --> 00:08:07.660 the same gear. The source categorizes these into 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:11.040 highly specific terrains. The most common one 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.980 mentioned is ground SAR. This is your lowland 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:16.939 searches. If you're out hiking in a local state 00:08:16.939 --> 00:08:19.439 park and get lost or someone wanders away from 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.420 a campsite, that's ground SAR. It's often led 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:24.660 by local police and they might use search dogs 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:27.100 or line searches through the woods. But the source 00:08:27.100 --> 00:08:30.139 draws a massive line between that and urban search 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:32.259 and rescue. Yes, and it's crucial to heavily 00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:35.230 differentiate the two. Urban SAR, which is sometimes 00:08:35.230 --> 00:08:38.730 called USNR or USAR for heavy urban search and 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:41.809 rescue, is a completely different beast. You 00:08:41.809 --> 00:08:43.509 aren't just looking through trees for a lost 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:45.750 hiker. You are extracting people from collapsed 00:08:45.750 --> 00:08:48.850 buildings, collapsed bridges, or industrial entrapments. 00:08:48.970 --> 00:08:51.009 Right. The responders can't just be trained in 00:08:51.009 --> 00:08:53.269 basic first aid. They need intensive training 00:08:53.269 --> 00:08:55.190 in structural engineering and collapse patterns. 00:08:55.289 --> 00:08:57.289 Because the environment itself is actively trying 00:08:57.289 --> 00:09:00.230 to kill the rescuers. Right. Precisely. They 00:09:00.230 --> 00:09:02.570 are dealing with active, incredibly dangerous 00:09:02.570 --> 00:09:05.909 hazards, like live, sparking electrical wires, 00:09:06.210 --> 00:09:09.169 broken natural gas lines, and hazardous materials. 00:09:10.010 --> 00:09:12.470 These situations are usually the result of major 00:09:12.470 --> 00:09:14.929 disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, 00:09:15.230 --> 00:09:17.250 or terrorist attacks. That sounds like you need 00:09:17.250 --> 00:09:20.210 a whole army of specialists. You do. Because 00:09:20.210 --> 00:09:22.809 the complexity is so high, these teams have to 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:25.429 be multidisciplinary. You need police for perimeter 00:09:25.429 --> 00:09:28.929 control, fire personnel for extraction, and specialized 00:09:28.929 --> 00:09:31.929 emergency medical personnel who know how to treat 00:09:31.929 --> 00:09:33.970 things like crush syndrome right there in the 00:09:33.970 --> 00:09:36.259 rubble. It's so complex that the United Nations 00:09:36.259 --> 00:09:38.600 actually has a specific organization dedicated 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:41.419 entirely to it. The source mentioned an acronym 00:09:41.419 --> 00:09:44.169 for that. Insurag. What exactly does that group 00:09:44.169 --> 00:09:46.330 do? It stands for the International Search and 00:09:46.330 --> 00:09:48.789 Rescue Advisory Group. And their primary purpose 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:50.590 is simply to promote the exchange of information 00:09:50.590 --> 00:09:53.610 and set standard protocols between national urgent 00:09:53.610 --> 00:09:55.649 search and rescue teams around the world. Oh, 00:09:55.649 --> 00:09:58.070 I see. So if a massive earthquake hits a country 00:09:58.070 --> 00:10:01.110 and teams from 10 different nations fly in to 00:10:01.110 --> 00:10:03.809 help, they all operate under the same Insurag 00:10:03.809 --> 00:10:06.669 guidelines. They know how to mark searched buildings 00:10:06.669 --> 00:10:09.330 the exact same way, and they understand the same 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:11.769 safety protocols. That is incredibly smart. You 00:10:11.769 --> 00:10:14.570 want the team from Japan sharing their earthquake 00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:17.149 extraction techniques with the team from Mexico 00:10:17.149 --> 00:10:20.129 and speaking the same operational language when 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:22.309 they deploy together. Exactly. And the source 00:10:22.309 --> 00:10:24.929 briefly touches on several other highly specialized 00:10:24.929 --> 00:10:27.769 terrains, too. You have cave rescue, which is 00:10:27.769 --> 00:10:30.049 exactly what it sounds like. pulling injured 00:10:30.049 --> 00:10:32.590 or lost explorers out of subterranean systems, 00:10:32.789 --> 00:10:35.529 which requires incredible rope skills and sometimes 00:10:35.529 --> 00:10:39.269 diving. There's mountain rescue for rugged, high 00:10:39.269 --> 00:10:41.389 -altitude terrain where weather can change in 00:10:41.389 --> 00:10:43.750 minutes. There's combat search and rescue, or 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:46.750 CSR, which involves operating within or right 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:48.789 near active war zones, meaning you have to worry 00:10:48.789 --> 00:10:51.190 about being shot at while doing the rescue. And, 00:10:51.210 --> 00:10:53.529 of course, maritime SAR, dealing with air -sea 00:10:53.529 --> 00:10:55.909 rescues, using everything from flying boats to 00:10:55.909 --> 00:10:57.970 those helicopters equipped with hoists we talked 00:10:57.970 --> 00:11:00.169 about earlier. The variety of terrain naturally 00:11:00.169 --> 00:11:03.710 dictates the tools and the training. A team doing 00:11:03.710 --> 00:11:06.590 swift water rescue in a flooded river needs entirely 00:11:06.590 --> 00:11:09.509 different protocols and gear than a team doing 00:11:09.509 --> 00:11:11.850 technical rope rescue on a sheer cliff face. 00:11:12.070 --> 00:11:15.029 Here's where it gets really interesting. Because 00:11:15.029 --> 00:11:17.909 the geography and the history of a specific country 00:11:17.909 --> 00:11:21.169 completely dictate how they structure their entire 00:11:21.169 --> 00:11:24.549 national search and rescue system, remember that 00:11:24.549 --> 00:11:27.570 52 million square kilometer stretch of ocean 00:11:27.570 --> 00:11:29.769 I asked you to imagine at the start? Hard to 00:11:29.769 --> 00:11:32.129 forget. That massive expanse is the jurisdiction 00:11:32.129 --> 00:11:34.529 of Australia's Joint Rescue Coordination Center, 00:11:34.730 --> 00:11:38.549 or JRCC, based out of Canberra. That figure is 00:11:38.549 --> 00:11:40.690 truly mind -boggling when you put it into perspective 00:11:40.690 --> 00:11:43.940 for the listener. Australia's JRCC is responsible 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:46.419 for coordinating an area that constitutes roughly 00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:49.379 11 % of the entire Earth's surface. Just one 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:52.080 center doing all that. One single center in Canberra 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.240 is monitoring national and internationally registered 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.019 aircraft, offshore marine incidents, and distress 00:11:57.019 --> 00:11:59.720 beacon activations across a massive chunk of 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:02.899 the globe. The text notes they manage the Australian 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:05.659 ground segment of the COSPAS SARSAT system. Hold 00:12:05.659 --> 00:12:08.019 on. Kaspasarsock. That sounds like a sci -fi 00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:10.419 term. I saw that in the reading, but what exactly 00:12:10.419 --> 00:12:12.580 are we talking about there? Simply put, it's 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:15.039 an international satellite -based distress alert 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.539 system. If a ship goes down and their emergency 00:12:17.539 --> 00:12:20.639 beacon activates, or a pilot ejects and their 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.460 beacon triggers, satellites in orbit pick up 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:25.659 that radio signal, calculate the coordinates, 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:27.779 and beam it down to ground stations. Well now. 00:12:28.269 --> 00:12:31.070 So the JRCC in Australia is monitoring those 00:12:31.070 --> 00:12:33.929 satellite feeds for 11 % of the planet. It's 00:12:33.929 --> 00:12:36.149 a perfect example of a nation having to scale 00:12:36.149 --> 00:12:39.090 its SAR infrastructure to match its massive geographic 00:12:39.090 --> 00:12:42.129 isolation and immense coastline. So Australia 00:12:42.129 --> 00:12:44.769 built a system to handle vast, empty oceans. 00:12:45.169 --> 00:12:47.470 But what happens when a system is built not just 00:12:47.470 --> 00:12:49.690 for geography, but as a reaction to a specific 00:12:49.690 --> 00:12:53.070 crisis? That brings us to Denmark. The source 00:12:53.070 --> 00:12:55.149 points out that Denmark's SAR service started 00:12:55.149 --> 00:12:58.720 back in 1957. But it wasn't just proactive planning. 00:12:58.940 --> 00:13:03.240 Between 1950 and 1955, an astonishing 79 fighter 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:06.039 planes crashed in the region, leaving 62 pilots 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:08.519 dead. That is a staggering loss. Right. They 00:13:08.519 --> 00:13:10.440 had to build a system specifically and quickly 00:13:10.440 --> 00:13:13.519 to find downed pilots. It's a crucial insight. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.419 Search and rescue systems are rarely proactive. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:19.759 They are almost always built reactively in response 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:23.659 to localized tragedies. Denmark needed to find 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:27.100 pilots fast. So they paired twin -engine fixed 00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:29.779 -wing aircraft, which could do the fast, wide 00:13:29.779 --> 00:13:31.820 -area searching to locate the pilot. To cover 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.059 the ground quickly. Yes. And they paired those 00:13:34.059 --> 00:13:36.200 with piston -engine helicopters, which had a 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:38.399 shorter range but could actually drop down and 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:40.799 make the hoist rescue. A system born entirely 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.539 out of necessity. But the source also highlights 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:45.600 what happens when countries try to update those 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:48.399 historical systems with modern tech. And it doesn't 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:50.779 always go smoothly. I was laughing at the detail 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:53.889 about Norway. The Norway situation is a perfect 00:13:53.889 --> 00:13:56.509 example of logistical friction. Norway's number 00:13:56.509 --> 00:13:58.889 330 squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force 00:13:58.889 --> 00:14:01.629 recently upgraded their fleet. They moved away 00:14:01.629 --> 00:14:03.830 from their older rescue helicopters and brought 00:14:03.830 --> 00:14:07.750 in a fleet of new Augusta Westland AW101s, which 00:14:07.750 --> 00:14:10.950 they codenamed the Tsar Queen. Tsar Queen, great 00:14:10.950 --> 00:14:12.750 name. If we connect this to the bigger picture. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.519 It perfectly illustrates the friction between 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.080 new technology and existing infrastructure. Because 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.840 the new helicopters were actually too good. In 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:24.059 a way, yes. The new Sark Queen helicopters are 00:14:24.059 --> 00:14:27.399 incredibly powerful. So powerful, in fact, that 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:30.340 the downwash, the wind generated by their rotors, 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:33.039 is significantly stronger than the old helicopters. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:36.679 Okay. This caused an unexpected logistical hiccup 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:38.639 because many of the existing physical landing 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.919 pads at hospitals across Norway simply weren't 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:43.960 built to handle that much downward wind force. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:46.799 The down watch was literally blowing things around 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.820 and creating hazards at the hospital. You get 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:52.059 the best newest rescue helicopter in the world, 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:53.720 and it's too powerful for the hospital parking 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:55.919 lot. You have to love the irony. But it shows 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:58.600 how specialized this gets. So we've talked about 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:01.419 vast oceans and downed aircraft. But what about 00:15:01.419 --> 00:15:03.620 when the primary threat is dense crumbling? in 00:15:03.620 --> 00:15:05.820 concrete. The source mentioned Israel's approach 00:15:05.820 --> 00:15:07.720 here, and it's vastly different from Australia 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:10.639 or Norway. Yes, because Israel's threat matrix 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:13.659 involves a much higher focus on collapsed structures, 00:15:13.820 --> 00:15:17.879 typically from conflict. So their SAR is primarily 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:20.399 the responsibility of the IDF Home Front Command, 00:15:20.659 --> 00:15:23.519 specifically a rapid mobilization unit trained 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:27.220 at a facility called Bahad 16. Because of their 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:29.460 environment, their urban SAR technology is hyper 00:15:29.460 --> 00:15:32.279 -specific. The text notes they utilize locally 00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:34.960 developed devices designed to detect seismic 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:37.240 and acoustic emissions. Meaning they're literally 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:39.460 listening for people trapped in the rubble. Exactly. 00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:42.399 If someone is buried deep under tons of concrete 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:44.980 and they tap on a pipe, these acoustic sensors 00:15:44.980 --> 00:15:47.559 can pick up that specific vibration, filter out 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:49.639 the background noise of the rescue site, and 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:51.759 help pinpoint the survivor's location. That's 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:54.179 amazing. They pair that high -tech gear with 00:15:54.179 --> 00:15:56.299 specially trained search and rescue dogs to confirm 00:15:56.299 --> 00:15:58.809 the scent. It's all about tailoring the capability 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:01.149 to the most likely threat that nation faces. 00:16:01.429 --> 00:16:03.470 And then you have Switzerland, where the landscape 00:16:03.470 --> 00:16:06.649 is entirely defined by the Alps. So they rely 00:16:06.649 --> 00:16:09.470 heavily on Regier, the Swiss Air Rescue Service, 00:16:09.649 --> 00:16:12.350 which was founded back in 1952 by Dr. Rudolf 00:16:12.350 --> 00:16:14.649 Booker. But what surprised me in the reading 00:16:14.649 --> 00:16:16.809 is that Regier isn't just pulling skiers off 00:16:16.809 --> 00:16:19.330 mountains. If you're a Swiss citizen traveling 00:16:19.330 --> 00:16:21.649 in a foreign country and you suffer a severe 00:16:21.649 --> 00:16:25.049 medical emergency, Regier will actually fly their 00:16:25.049 --> 00:16:26.909 specially equipped medical jets internationally 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:29.490 to retrieve you and bring you back to Switzerland. 00:16:29.850 --> 00:16:31.970 That is some serious dedication to your citizens. 00:16:32.269 --> 00:16:34.570 It really is. It's a massive benefit of their 00:16:34.570 --> 00:16:37.090 system. But when we look at the United States, 00:16:37.330 --> 00:16:40.669 the contrast is stark. The U .S. system is massive, 00:16:40.769 --> 00:16:43.690 incredibly well -resourced, but highly fragmented. 00:16:43.889 --> 00:16:45.950 Under the Department of Homeland Security's National 00:16:45.950 --> 00:16:48.230 Response Framework, the federal responsibilities 00:16:48.230 --> 00:16:50.669 are sliced up very neatly. Right. The source 00:16:50.669 --> 00:16:53.490 breaks it down like a pie chart. If there's a 00:16:53.490 --> 00:16:55.509 structural collapse, like a major earthquake, 00:16:56.149 --> 00:16:58.409 FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 00:16:58.509 --> 00:17:01.029 takes the lead. If it's a waterborne incident 00:17:01.029 --> 00:17:04.200 on the coast, the Coast Guard steps in. Inland 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:06.200 wilderness rescues, like in a national park, 00:17:06.339 --> 00:17:09.279 go to the National Park Service. And aeronautical 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:11.779 rescues of downed planes are handled by the Air 00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:14.539 Force. It sounds like this perfectly oiled, top 00:17:14.539 --> 00:17:16.440 -down federal machine. It does sound that way 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:18.819 on paper. But there is a fascinating irony in 00:17:18.819 --> 00:17:22.160 the text. Despite this massive, multibillion 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.480 -dollar federal framework, the vast majority 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.660 of day -to -day search and rescue missions in 00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:29.519 the U .S. are actually run by local county sheriffs. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.059 So if you get lost hiking in the woods behind 00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:34.480 your town, it's not the military coming for you. 00:17:34.579 --> 00:17:37.740 Exactly. The day -to -day reality is highly localized. 00:17:38.099 --> 00:17:40.519 A typical sheriff's office will have a SAR team 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:43.160 tailored exactly to the terrain and climate of 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:45.440 that specific county. And here's the crucial 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.359 part. Those local teams are almost entirely made 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:51.740 up of volunteers. And that reliance on volunteers 00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:54.960 is not unique to the United States. In fact, 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.960 it's one of the most vital threads running through 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.890 the entire global SAR network. I have to say, 00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:02.029 that was the biggest revelation to me in the 00:18:02.029 --> 00:18:04.450 source material. When I think of search and rescue, 00:18:04.670 --> 00:18:07.759 I picture the Coast Guard. or highly paid professionals 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.579 jumping out of helicopters. But time and time 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:13.359 again, the text highlights how much the world 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.960 relies on unpaid volunteers dropping everything, 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:20.039 leaving their jobs, leaving their dinners, to 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:22.799 go save lives. Absolutely. I was reading about 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.500 Canada, which obviously has an immense, rugged 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:28.059 coastline and countless freezing inland waterways. 00:18:28.299 --> 00:18:30.900 And a huge chunk of their response is handled 00:18:30.900 --> 00:18:33.539 by the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary. Yes, the 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:35.279 scale of their volunteer force is impressive. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:38.299 The auxiliary is a network of more than 4 ,000 00:18:38.299 --> 00:18:41.519 volunteers. And they're operating over 1 ,000 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.519 of their own personal vessels or dedicated community 00:18:44.519 --> 00:18:47.839 rescue boats. Canada has roughly 7 ,000 marine 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:51.019 and humanitarian SAR incidents a year. And these 00:18:51.019 --> 00:18:52.660 volunteers are out there responding to about 00:18:52.660 --> 00:18:54.859 a quarter of them. It's just wild to think about 00:18:54.859 --> 00:18:58.079 volunteers in their own boats handling that volume 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:00.900 of emergencies. And you pointed out the data 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:02.740 for Sweden earlier when we were reviewing the 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:05.420 notes, which is even more extreme. Sweden's numbers 00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:08.099 are phenomenal. The Swedish Sea Rescue Society 00:19:08.099 --> 00:19:12.799 operates 68 stations with some 185 ships, and 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:16.400 it is crewed by 2 ,100 volunteers. 2 ,100. Yes. 00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:19.119 What's incredible isn't just the headcount, it's 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:21.700 their readiness. At any given moment, more than 00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:24.619 300 of these volunteers are on call, ready to 00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:26.519 drop whatever they're doing and respond within 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:29.279 15 minutes. Because of that incredible rapid 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:32.359 response network, they actually handle 70 % of 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:34.480 all maritime SAR missions in Swedish waters. 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:37.130 They are the primary... maritime rescue force, 00:19:37.250 --> 00:19:40.269 and they are doing it for free. 70%. That is 00:19:40.269 --> 00:19:42.609 unbelievable. And these volunteer groups aren't 00:19:42.609 --> 00:19:44.630 just operating small boots on local lakes. The 00:19:44.630 --> 00:19:46.490 source highlighted that some of them are elite, 00:19:46.609 --> 00:19:49.380 globally deployed teams. They really are. Take 00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:51.680 Iceland, for example. They have the Icelandic 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.859 Association for Search and Rescue, or ISAR. They 00:19:54.859 --> 00:19:57.740 have about 100 volunteer rescue teams all around 00:19:57.740 --> 00:20:00.200 the island to handle their extreme weather. But 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.319 they are so highly trained that their rebel rescue 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:05.220 squad is actually certified by Insurag, that 00:20:05.220 --> 00:20:07.559 UN advisory group we explained earlier. Which 00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:10.019 means they meet the absolute highest international 00:20:10.019 --> 00:20:13.599 standards for heavy urban rescue. Exactly. In 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:15.640 fact, the source notes that after the devastating 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.710 2010 earthquake in Haiti, this volunteer... squad 00:20:18.710 --> 00:20:21.089 from Iceland was the very first international 00:20:21.089 --> 00:20:23.569 rescue squad to arrive in the country to help. 00:20:23.750 --> 00:20:26.710 A volunteer team from a tiny island nation beat 00:20:26.710 --> 00:20:29.410 out massive federal militaries to get boots on 00:20:29.410 --> 00:20:31.430 the ground. It beautifully demonstrates that 00:20:31.430 --> 00:20:33.490 the distinction between volunteer and professional 00:20:33.490 --> 00:20:36.630 in the SAR community is often purely about whether 00:20:36.630 --> 00:20:39.269 a paycheck is involved. It has nothing to do 00:20:39.269 --> 00:20:41.430 with the level of skill, the dedication, or the 00:20:41.430 --> 00:20:44.490 bravery. The expertise in these volunteer organizations 00:20:44.490 --> 00:20:47.390 is absolutely world class. So what does this 00:20:47.390 --> 00:20:49.640 all mean? We've talked about the grim reality 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:53.180 of wooden ships in 1656, experimental helicopter 00:20:53.180 --> 00:20:56.480 hoists in the 40s, mapping the deep ocean floor 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.140 for commercial jets, acoustic rubble sensors 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:01.940 in Israel, and thousands of people from Canada 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:04.859 to Sweden who volunteer their free time to go 00:21:04.859 --> 00:21:06.819 out into freezing storms and collapsed buildings. 00:21:07.259 --> 00:21:10.279 I think the clearest synthesis of all this material 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:13.819 is that search and rescue is the ultimate undeniable 00:21:13.819 --> 00:21:17.069 proof of human cooperation. It doesn't matter 00:21:17.069 --> 00:21:19.529 if it's a massive multinational military operation 00:21:19.529 --> 00:21:22.289 surveying the ocean floor, a local county sheriff 00:21:22.289 --> 00:21:24.069 organizing a search party in the woods for a 00:21:24.069 --> 00:21:26.390 lost hiker, or a volunteer in Sweden jumping 00:21:26.390 --> 00:21:29.819 into a boat at a moment's notice. We have collectively 00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:32.319 built an invisible, highly structured global 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:35.240 web of safety. It's a system designed entirely 00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:37.680 to catch us when our technology fails or when 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.140 nature simply overwhelms us. It crosses borders, 00:21:40.380 --> 00:21:42.380 it shares vital technical information through 00:21:42.380 --> 00:21:44.779 the UN, and it is legally bound by international 00:21:44.779 --> 00:21:47.420 treaties like the Law of the Sea. It's humanity 00:21:47.420 --> 00:21:49.519 at its most collaborative, answering the oldest 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.720 call for help. It really is a comforting thought 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:53.920 for you as a listener, knowing that system is 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:56.670 out there. watching that 52 million square kilometer 00:21:56.670 --> 00:21:59.609 patch of ocean, listening for acoustic taps under 00:21:59.609 --> 00:22:01.869 the rubble, and keeping watch everywhere else. 00:22:02.029 --> 00:22:05.529 It is comforting. But as our reach as a species 00:22:05.529 --> 00:22:09.329 expands, this raises an important question for 00:22:09.329 --> 00:22:12.809 the future. Our source outlines these meticulous 00:22:12.809 --> 00:22:15.369 terrestrial boundaries. Australia monitoring 00:22:15.369 --> 00:22:18.329 11 % of the Earth, the highly localized volunteer 00:22:18.329 --> 00:22:21.210 systems in the U .S., the submarine rescues deep 00:22:21.210 --> 00:22:24.079 underwater. But as commercial spaceflight becomes 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:26.579 an everyday reality, and as nations actively 00:22:26.579 --> 00:22:28.799 look toward establishing permanent lunar bases, 00:22:29.099 --> 00:22:31.440 who will be responsible for search and rescue 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.180 in the vacuum of space? Wow, that's a completely 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:36.960 new frontier. Exactly. Yeah. How will international 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:40.059 law, like the law of the sea, adapt when the 00:22:40.059 --> 00:22:42.140 distress or imminent danger is happening in orbit? 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:44.700 Will we see the creation of a global orbital 00:22:44.700 --> 00:22:47.339 coast guard, or will it rely on the same patchwork 00:22:47.339 --> 00:22:49.779 of national capabilities and volunteer ingenuity 00:22:49.779 --> 00:22:51.990 that we've seen throughout history? That is a 00:22:51.990 --> 00:22:54.569 wild thing to think about. The logistical nightmare 00:22:54.569 --> 00:22:57.150 of the very first extraterrestrial search and 00:22:57.150 --> 00:22:59.670 rescue mission. We will leave you with that to 00:22:59.670 --> 00:23:02.529 mull over. Thank you for joining us on this deep 00:23:02.529 --> 00:23:05.230 dive into the massive, fascinating world of search 00:23:05.230 --> 00:23:07.509 and rescue. Stay curious and we will catch you 00:23:07.509 --> 00:23:08.250 on the next one.