Flares back in fashion

[Mark R]

The last proper rocket flare I owned was let off to celebrate the millenium (and nearly burned down Keswick). Being too tight to buy a load of new rocket flares at £20 a pop, I've just bought one of those little 'mini-flare' kits.

Comments? Experience of them?


-----------Mark Rainsley

[NickB]

Had a number of sets over the years, and always kept them for well past their sell by date, normally double or thereabouts, only had one failure from 3 or 4 sets on the traditional bonfire night/new years eve let off. Keep the pen in good condition!

In the same vein I have also bought my main flares from a yacht chandler when he has an offer for those that have been on the shelf for 12 months or so. These normally retail in some kind of 4 or 6 bundle for around the £20 quid mark, again I have not had a failure from the modern type. Had a number of failures from 10 or so year old flares which had the match striker type of ignition.

A note of caution though, aging flares do seem to have a reduction in performance, especially in the brightness intensity.

[Jim]

"Comments? Experience of them?"

No experience so it's a comment.

A friend in the services once told me how useless miniflares are when you actually need them. It's not the flares that fail, it's your cold fingers that cannot screw the pen in or operate the striker. I'm not sure exactly what he had been doing to find this out but it was based on some experience using them on exercise.

His solution was to get a hand held flare launcher thing which held the flares in a cartridge that rotated to select the next flare. I think these may since have been reclassified as firearms - certainly I've never seen one since.

JIM

[sub5rider]

I've had some experience of these things in the past.

When cold & wet on a hillside they're bad enough, but bouncing around in a boat as well ? Definately fiddly to use, ammo is easy to drop if taken out of the "magazine" prior to screwing on the trigger.

As to their actual value, based on my recollections of some tests we did in the hills years ago.....

In daylight & good vis next to useless, unless there's a dark background such as a hill for the flare to stand out against. (I suppose a supertanker hull woulds do, at a pinch?)

At night & good vis, OK, you see them; in poor vis (even heavy rain) you don't.

From what I remember the daylight and some of the night tests were done at about a mile. The night we tried in bad conditions the range was down to <400 yds.

These things don't attract attention, you almost have to be looking right at them to start with to see them. I also seem to remember quite a few duds - but we were "using up" end-of-life ammo....

Useful, I suppose, in the hills (tho' I haven't had any for over 20 years) where weight & bulk is a consideration, but I'll be getting a set of proper pyrotechnics for sea-boating.

As an aside I do lots of MTB-ing, solo, in remote areas of UK and France. My strobe is fastened to my packpack - if I can turn it on I know it'll flash all night ..... if someone's looking for me.

Onioneer

[Jim]

"These things don't attract attention, you almost have to be looking right at them to start with to see them."

I've heard that before too.

I think the philosophy was:

Launch a parachute to try and attract attention. (high altitude, long burn)
Use miniflares to help the rescuers pinpoint you, i.e. once you can see or hear the vessel.

I wonder what the chances of hitting the helicopter by mistake are? Orange smoke, or smoke and dye markers are probably more useful for helping anyone pinpoint you once they are fairly close, and would eliminate the danger to a helicopter.

And if you are being rescued by a helicopter, don't try and grab the wire until after it has hit the water - not sure how important this advice is, the pilot will probably touch the cable down before approaching you anyway - it's important to know for evacuation from ships where the target area is smaller!

JIM

[sub5rider]

"don't try and grab the wire until after it has hit the water"

The static dischage may set the rest of your flares off ??

:rollin :rollin :rollin

Onioneer

[Jim]

"The static dischage may set the rest of your flares off ??"

Hadn't thought of that, I was more worried about the instant afro effect!

JIM

[sub5rider]

Now that would be scary, if it were to happen to you....!! ;)

Nigel

[MikeB]

Miniflares = better than nothing / backup / personal flares.

Not very bright, dont burn long enough. Ok at night but hopeless in daylight. You'll need to pop two or three off at the same time in the hope that someone catches the first one, wonders if it IS a flare, sees the 2nd and 3rd and (hopefully) decides it IS.

[NickB]

Ah! there you are then lots of chances, (10?), how many people carry that many parachutes! So not the be all and end all but along with parachutes, smoke, day/night, VHF, mobile and all the other bits n' bobs something that you hope you'll never have to use in anger but you carry it anyway.