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Comment by econnors | Hacker News Reader

Awesome read.

Can anyone explain the quote below? I don't really understand how the minesweeper understood the signal.

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The Coast Guard amphibian gained altitude and flew off. (I learned later that he headed for a squadron of minesweepers that was returning to the United States from a tour of the Western Pacific. He was unable to tune to their radio frequency for communications. But this ingenious pilot lowered a wire from his aircraft and dragged it across the bow of the minesweeper, the USS Embattle. The minesweeper captain understood the plea, and veered off at top speed in my direction.)

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OK, you're a captain of a boat. A friendly plane is circling above your boat. What's up with him? Radio him. Nope, that didn't work. He dragged a rope across our deck and flew off in a straight line. Let's follow him and find out what the fuss is all about.

It's an unusual method. There is now a standard method for this, which is printed on the SOLAS (Safety Of Lifes At Sea) cards we sailors are required to carry, although the direction ones are not on all versions of the card I've seen. Here's one that has them (section "Air to Surface Direction Signals): http://www.marinelite.gr/images/detailed/1/221518a.jpg

I think it was mostly a matter of people asking "what is that Coast Guard amphibian rescue plane trying so hard to tell us?" and that question having a very short list of likely answers.

Makes me think of Lassy. "What are you trying to tell us? Is Timmy stuck in the well?"

I interpreted it that the plane dragged the wire in the sea in front of the minesweeper in the heading of the pilot. This would have drawn a line in the sea, as it were.

That would be a totally unexpected behavior, which would give the minesweeper's captain the clue that it was a signal to change course to the given heading. The plane would have headed back to the pilot and circled, giving the minesweeper's captain assurance he had understood the signal.

I'm not a pilot, but I've often read in rescue histories that an airplane's circling and then flying-over in a given direction is meant to be taken as a vector, like "go that way".

In this case I'm guessing the wire was more like the second, confirming clue.

They were dragging it perpendicular across the front of the ship, so, the wire is like a hand waving "this way, follow the line", which was pointed towards the location of the guy.

It is not a standard or anything, so abnormal enough to get the drift.

The minesweeper probably had already been informed over the radio by the rest of 7th Fleet that a plane had gone down, so it didn't take a whole lot to put "aircraft which can't communicate is signaling" followed by the heading.

It's like Lassie.

Maybe the minesweepers decided it was a good idea to switch radio frequencies, so that they could chat.

I don't think the tech was there at the time to make communications possible.

I'm not sure if it's granted that the military can talk to other forces and civilian radio.

In general I'm don't think aviation have marine VHF and vice versa, except maybe the coastguard and other special cases.

Also this story takes place 54 years ago.

Ah, Yes. I failed to mention that my point is that it's still a problem.

My guess was that the signal was an inprovised “hey! follow me”. But, I have precisely zero expertise.

if your experience (memory of error-correcting inter-ship communication procedures) is perplexed/high entropy, something unexplainable/miraculous/it is like a flare

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