Airservices Australia has launched a new campaign to remind pilots to cancel their SARTIME, by urging pilots to set their mobile phone alarm five minutes before their SARTIME expires.
“The reality is that very few expired SARTIMEs are the result of an aircraft in distress,” said Airservices Australian Flight Information Centre manager Ian Harding.
“Each year, around 12,000 SARTIMES expire each year without being cancelled by pilots. Up to 1800 of these are passed on to AusSAR (Australian Search and Rescue) when pilots cannot be contacted by Airservices within 15 minutes.”
The campaign includes the distribution of stickers and posters to target groups urging pilots to use their mobile phones to set reminders to cancel SARTIME. ERSA subscribers will receive stickers with the next regular update of the publication.
