1 Rescue

Start here 1 Work in pairs. Answer the questions about the safety
devices in this illustration of an air-sea rescue.

C life jacket

D life raft E beacon

Which ones:
1 stop you from sinking?
2 tell the rescuers where you are?
3 rescue you from the water?

Listening 2 C ·'ofl Listen to this news report and put the six safety
devices trom 1 in the order the reporter mentions them.
2_3_4_5_6-
3 Put these statements in the order the events actually
happened . Then listen again to check your answers.
A ___ The helicopter winched the sailors out of the
life raft.
B ___ The sailors inflated the life raft and jumped in .
C __1_ The boat struck an object in the sea.
o ___ The sailors fired two flares into the air.
E ___ The boat sank.
F ___ The beacon sent a signal to the satellite.
G ___ The beacon detached itself from the boat.
H ___ The rescue team saw the flares .

4 Systems
 Rea di ng 4 Read this news article and explain what the words below refer to.

.::::= -= -:-y or more kilometres the nearest land. They got into satellite system. When the boat
_- ~- d .
your boat strikes 20 their life raft, but their radio was sank, the beacon automatically
- - _-5: ::: object and sinks lost when the boat went down. detached itself from the
: _ : . ; You have no time to At 09.30 the coastguard 40 yacht and floated to the
_.: :: 2. radio message. You received a signal from the surface. There it switched on
_-: - :0 your life raft. You boat's emergency beacon. The automatically and transmitted
- 2. :: =ares in your life raft, but 25 coastguard forwarded it to the an emergency signal on the
::. 2"e only visible from a rescue centre and by 11.00 406 MHz wavelength to the
:.. :-::- e of about 5 km. How (only 90 minutes later) the crew 45 satellite. The satellite then
::: . ::~ send an emergency of the helicopter found the two forwarded the signal to the
':- ~ ~ : 0 the nearest rescue sailors and winched them into coastguard.
: =~ ? 30 the helicopter from the life raft. The free-floating beacon
- - s happened to two sailors How was the emergency signal and the Cospas-Sarsat
: - -.3 uly this year. They were transmitted? 50 satellite system can increase
::: -9 n the Indian Ocean Fortunately, the Tiger was the chances of saving lives in
-::-: eir boat, the Tiger, fitted with a 406 MHz free- any air-sea rescue, in which
:_= a sharp object. The boat 35 floating beacon, which was the most important thing is to
- _ : - J sank 77 kilometres from linked to the Cospas-Sarsat locate the survivors quickly.

1 They Oine 14) the t wo sailors

2 it (line 25)
3 which Oine 35)
4 itself Oine 39)
5 There Oine 41)
6 in which Oine 52)

kilometres flares visible emergency signal coastguard beacon

free-floating satellite automatically megahertz wavelength C · ',k'
5 Complete this incident report form.

INCIDENT REPORT FORM

Name of rescue helicopter pilot: Ricardo Moussa Date of rescue: ___ _ __

Nameofboat: _ ___________________________________________________

Distance of boat from land: ___________________________________________

Numberofpeoplerescued: _ _________________________________________

Time of first emergency signal: _______________________________________

Type of emergency beacon: ________________________________________

Timeofrescue: __________________________________________________

Method of rescue: ________________________________________________

Speaking 6 Work in pairs. Take turns to be the res cue pilot and a safety officer. The safety officer
interviews the pilot and asks questions based on the form .
Examples : What s your name? When did the rescue take place?

Systems 11 5
 2 Transmission
Start here 1 Complete this description of how a satellite communication system works , using the
correct form of the verbs in the box.

receive convert detach activate carry out transmit locate

If a plane crashes, or a ship sinks, the survivors try to

(1) their personal emergency beacons
manually. In addition, an automatic beacon (2) _ _ _ __
itself from the plane or ship and switches on automatically.
The beacon then (3) a signal to one or more
satellites. The satellites (4) the beacon 's
transmission and then send the beacon 's signal to their
ground station. The ground station then processes the
satellite signals (that is, it (5) the signals into
useful data), and then passes on the data about the beacon
to a national centre. The national centre forwards this data
to the rescue centre nearest to the crashed plane or sinking
ship. The rescue centre then (6) the beacon
and sends out a rescue team, which then (7) _ _ _ __
the rescue.

Listening 2 K· "S' Listen to this discussion and check your answers to 1.

Reading 3 Part of this text is missing. Write the letters of phrases A-G below in the correct
spaces. Use the illustration in 1 to help you.

The Cospas-Sarsat system is an international search and rescue

system which consists of a network of satellites in space, and control
centres on Earth.
The components of the system are:
• radio beacons, which (1) _ _ _ __
• satellites, which (2) _ _ _ __
• ground stations, where (3) _ _ _ __
• national centres , from where (4) - - - - -
• rescue teams, who (5) _ _ _ __

The system uses two types ot satellite:

• satellites in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), which (6) _ _ _ __
• satellites in low-altitude Earth orbit (LEO), which (7) _ _ _ __

A are closer to the earth and cover polar regions.

B information about the emergency is sent to the rescue teams.
geo- = Earth
Geostationary satellites move C are at a high altitude and cover a wide area.
at the same speed and in the o transmit 406 MHz signals in an emergency.
same direction as the Earth. E signals from the satellites are processed.
When we observe them, they
seem to be stationary or not F pick up the signals from the beacons.
moving. G receive the information and carry out the search and rescue.

6 Systems
Language The relative pronoun (for example, which, who, where) is a useful way to join two
sentences together.

the satellite. The satellite i

Signals are transmitted to : then sends the signals to Earth.
the satellite, which I
I
the warehouse. Here
The goods are taken to I they are stored safely.
the warehouse, where
the city centre. From here
This is ! roads lead in all directions.
I the city centre, from where
I Waleed . Waleed
Ricardo reports to is the operations manager.

I
1
I Waleed , who

4 Join these pairs of sentences into single sentences. Use which, where, from where and
who to replace the words in italics.
Example: 1 ... to the satellite, from where ...
The beacon sends a signal to the satellite. From here the signal is transmitted to
the ground station.
2 The rescue centre contacts the helicopter pilot. He or she then carries out the
rescue.
3 The sailor activated his beacon. This sent a 406 MHz signal to the satellite.
4 The sailors were winched into the helicopter. Here they were given blankets and
hot drinks.
5 The sailors were taken by helicopter to the rescue centre. From here, they were
driven by ambulance to the nearest hospital.
6 Hundreds of survivors are saved every year by the Cospas-Sarsat system. This
was first launched in 1982.

Speaking 5 Look at the table. Read out items a-h in full.

Example: (a) (from) two to five kilograms

Some facts and figures about the emergency beacon and the satellite system

1 Radio frequency of beacon a) 2-5 kg

Power (wattage) of beacon signal 260 mm (h) x 102 mm (w) x 83 mm (d)

Length and frequency of beacon signal GME 203FF 18756

Dimensions 35 ,000 km

Weight 406 MHz

Operating range (temperature)

Model number

Altitude of GEOSAR satellite 0.5 sec every 50 sec

Task 6 Match items 1-8 with the correct items a-h in the table in 5.

Scanning 7 Practise your speed reading. Look for the information you need on the SPEED SEARCH
pages (116-117). Try to be first to answer these questions.
1 When was the first Cospas-Sarsat satellite launched?
2 Which four countries started the Cospas-Sarsat system?
3 How many countries now operate the Cospas-Sarsat system?

Systems 11 7