Rescue Coordination Center

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A Rescue Coordination Center (RCC; English for rescue coordination center ) is the central point of contact for emergencies or accidents in domestic and international air or shipping. As the responsible control center , an RCC coordinates all measures within the scope of the SAR search and rescue service ( S earch A nd R escue). Conceptually, this has also found its way into Germany as an SAR service . If an emergency in the aviation or shipping industry is reported to a rescue coordination center via the Europe-wide uniform number 112 , this emergency call is forwarded directly to the responsible RCC .

MRCC Ostend

Terms and working basis

Originally, the RCCs were almost exclusively responsible for aviation and related air emergencies . Due to the later introduced maritime rescue coordination center (MRCC Maritime Rescue Coordination Center ) for sea emergencies, the term Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center (ARCC) was coined to differentiate . If an ARCC and an MRCC are operated together as a unit, this center is called the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC). Responsible operation is ensured either by a military service (e.g. air force or navy) and / or by a civil service (e.g. national police or civil coast guard). In many cases, the MRCC are part of the national coast guard such as B. in Belgium .

The basis for the work of the RCCs is the International Manual for Search and Rescue of Aircraft and Sea Ships (IAMSAR) with practical guidelines for the organization of the maritime and aeronautical SAR services, the coordination of missions and the operation of search and rescue units. It is published by the two internationally responsible UN organizations for civil aviation, ICAO ( International Civil Aviation Organization ) and maritime IMO ( International Maritime Organization ) and is based on the Chicago Convention and the SAR Convention .

SAR region (SRR)

SAR regions in the North Sea, the duck's bill corresponds to the German share

Each RCC is responsible for a specific geographic area, the search and rescue region of responsibility (SRR) , in order to efficiently coordinate and control the necessary measures. ICAO and IMO define these associated SAR regions, which ideally are identical for ARCC and MRCC. The RCCs of the nation states work worldwide in an international network and provide mutual assistance in an emergency.

For each SAR region, all the necessary communication facilities must be created in order to reliably cover the entire region in terms of radio technology. An RCC must be accessible around the clock ( 24/7 ) in English and have adequate communication facilities. This is to ensure that rapid and reliable two-way communication between all parties involved (air traffic control centers, coastal radio stations, SAR units, SAR centers, RCC etc.) is possible.

If necessary, e.g. B. in larger or distant areas, sub-centers (RSC, Rescue Sub-Center ) can be formed, which then take over the tasks and workload for part of the region in the area of ​​responsibility of an RCC . These must be equipped in the same way as the responsible RCC .

Since every sea area on earth is to be monitored today, the SRR can extend far into the oceans. So z. B. the responsibility of the RCC in Great Britain to the middle of the North Atlantic, where the responsibility then passes to the American or Canadian RCC . Also Portugal has with the islands of the Azores a large SRR to control the North Atlantic.

Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center (ARCC)

Air emergency at sea

The possibilities of aviation and their limitlessness showed very early on that national regulations are insufficient to establish a basic order in air traffic. With the help of international aviation congresses, attempts were made to establish internationally valid principles for aviation and to set them down in corresponding agreements . During the Second World War , a civil aviation conference was held in Chicago in December 1944 , attended by 54 states. They passed the Chicago Convention , which is still valid today, to promote aviation safety and to standardize the infrastructure and rules of private aviation internationally. This created the basis for international aviation law based on international law.

With the accession to the Chicago Convention , each contracting state undertakes under Article 25 (aircraft in distress) for aircraft in distress in its territory to take the necessary relief measures according to the circumstances and to participate in coordinated measures in the search for missing aircraft of this Agreement are recommended.

The Annex 12 to the Chicago Convention describes all measures and facilities for the development of search and rescue. According to this, the contracting states have to designate SAR regions for which they are responsible. SAR regions are normally the entire national territory including the coastal areas, whereby sub-regions can also be formed. Neighboring states can also agree on common regions. In addition, regional agreements on air navigation should also cover the adjacent high seas without belonging to a nation state. The SAR regions defined in this way must be contiguous and must not overlap. Each contracting state should set up a SAR service for this SAR region, which is available 24 hours a day, either itself or in cooperation with other states. Neighboring states should cooperate and support one another and enable the mutual entry of rescue units from other contracting parties into their territorial waters. One or more are to coordinate the rescue efforts RCCs and possibly RSC to set up.

Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC)

SAR deployment at sea

Similar regulations for coastal surveillance and for search and rescue services at sea were only created in April 1979 at an international conference in Hamburg. With the SAR agreement signed there, the rescue of people in distress at sea should be ensured by a sea rescue organization regardless of the location of the accident. The Convention is therefore primarily aimed at the coastal states, who are responsible for ensuring that regulations for cooperation between the sea rescue services are enacted and that adequate SAR services are provided in their coastal waters.

The five annexes to the convention describe the technical requirements for SAR services at sea. They correspond to those of the Chicago Agreement and call for the establishment of maritime coordination centers ( MRCC ), which should cover the same SAR region as possible as the associated ARCC . If an ARCC and an MRCC exist for the same region , states should ensure the closest possible cooperation. For international cooperation, the neighboring states should conclude SAR agreements with one another and their MRCCs corresponding working agreements in order to regulate mutual support. The MRCCs are an important part of the GMDSS ( Global Maritime Distress and Safety System ), a technical system for global help in distress cases and safeguard shipping in the framework developed by the IMO Convention SOLAS ( SOLAS Convention ) first negotiated in 1913 in response to the sinking of the RMS Titanic .

An example of the division of a nation state into several SRR and MRCC is the British Isles . They have a total of 19 regional MRCCs in the three SAR regions of Scotland and Northern Ireland , Wales and West of England and East of England . In France, the abbreviation CROSS is used for an MRCC , which stands for Center régional opérationnel de surveillance et de sauvetage ( French for regional operational center for surveillance and rescue ).

Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC)

SAR use sea / air

As mentioned in the Chicago Convention of 1944 and made clear again in the SAR Convention of 1979, the contracting states should, if practicable, set up JRCCs to bring together SAR activities in the aeronautical and maritime sectors and to coordinate aeronautical and maritime search as effectively as possible. and to enable rescue operations. In addition to financial benefits, this can also free up funds for improvements in other SAR areas. The operation of a JRCC is usually carried out by several military services, civil services or a combination of military and / or civil services. Such a center operates z. B. the Dutch Coast Guard as JRCC Den Helder .

Alerting

All RCCs are obliged to listen to the emergency frequencies on VHF (channel 16 156.8 MHz and DSC channel 156.525 MHz) and border wave ( 2182 kHz ). This means that different ways of alerting are available:

Notification of emergencies by e-mail is generally not recommended, as no alarms are associated or guaranteed.

RCCs in Germany

Bremen emergency line

Germany was not a participant in the Chicago Conference of 1944 and did not accede to the Convention until June 8, 1956. This assumed the obligation to fulfill the ICAO requirements of the treaty and to set up national SAR services for aviation. The responsible body is the Bundeswehr with the RCC Münster . As part of the flight alarm service of Deutsche Flugsicherung , the RCC is the central point of contact ( SPOC , Single Point Of Contact ) for air emergencies within Germany and is responsible for civil and military searches in the SAR area "land". International alarms via satellite ( COSPAS-SARSAT ) are received via the Mission Control Center (MCC) in Toulouse and forwarded to the RCC Münster .

A second SAR control center is the ARCC in Glücksburg in Schleswig-Holstein with the SAR area "See", which is also operated by the Bundeswehr. His area of ​​responsibility includes the sea area of ​​the flight information area Bremen as well as the land area of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg . In emergencies at sea, the ARCC works closely with the DGzRS ( German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People ). The SAR region, for which the neighboring countries are responsible, extends around 400 km (215 nautical miles ) to the middle of the North Sea.

The third SAR control center is the Bremen Sea Emergency Line (MRCC Bremen), which is operated by the DGzRS. After the SAR Convention of 1979 was signed and ratified on April 19, 1982, the contractual provisions for the Federal Republic of Germany had to be implemented. Since the SAR services at sea were already carried out by the DGzRS beforehand, the responsible Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Housing (BMVBW) gave the DGzRS the state mandate in 1982 to coordinate search and rescue activities in the German sea area. This operates the Bremen emergency pipeline at its headquarters and is responsible for the German sea areas of the North and Baltic Seas with a coastline of 3660 km in length. It can be reached via Bremen Rescue Radio under the radio call name Bremen Rescue .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Coast Guard Center MRCC Oostende and MIK Zeebrugge (Eng.). Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  2. ^ The Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago 1944). Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Appendix 12 of the Chicago Convention. Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  4. ↑ SAR Convention of 1979. Retrieved January 31, 2019 .
  5. ↑ The Role of the Coast Guard in Great Britain. Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  6. ↑ MRCC in France (CROSS) on netmarine.net (fr.). Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Federal Law Gazette 10/1956 on the accession of the FRG to the Chicago Convention. Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Information sheet of the RCC Münster. Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Federal Law Gazette of February 1992 on the SAR Convention 1979. Accessed on January 31, 2019 .
  10. ^ Tasks of the Maritime Emergency Management (MRCC) Bremen. Accessed January 31, 2019 .