Cell Phones

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Cell Phones Locating Missing Aircraft

• PAWG Wing Conference 2006
• 1st Lt Justin L. Ogden

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Author Information

• 1st Lt Justin Ogden
• Professionally, Electrical Engineer
• RF/microwave engineer for General Dyanmics SATCOM
  Technologies
• CAP member for over 13 years
• Work with DF, L-Pers, Pseudo Doppler
• Point of contact for PAWG cell phone searches
• AFRCC resource for cell phone searches
• Contact via email justin.ogden_at_midstatecap.org
• Via cell phone [phone]

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Overview

• Cell providers can determine the location of a
  cell phone on their network
• Precision of location depends on many factors
• Sometimes knowing where the phone is not is
  helpful as well
• PAWG CAP has used cell phones to locate 1 missing
  plane and provide details on other searches

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Searches

• 06M0666A - Saint Thomas, PA
• April 25-30, 2006
• 06M1129 Philipsburg, PA
• June 26, 2006
• 06M1591 Bismarck, ND
• August 24 October 2, 2006
• 06M1831 Phoenix, AZ
• September 24 still missing

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06M0666A Saint Thomas, PA

• Pilots cell phone utilized to determine the
  location of the phone
• A/C missing on 25-Apr
• Cell phone records show phone activity until
  approx 5am 26-Apr
• Phones position never moved after 158pm 25-Apr

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06M0666A Saint Thomas, PA

• MDWG initiated cell phone request with
  VerizonWireless
• Reported to PAWG to search NE of St. Thomas
• Never followed up
• PAWG followed up
• Determined new locations to search
• Explored further into the information until a
  location could be generated

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06M0666A Saint Thomas, PA

• VerizonWireless Engineer assisted PAWG CAP with
  location information
• Cell tower coordinates and distances were
  provided
• Distances provided an area to search
• Pilot was located within projected search area

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06M0666A Saint Thomas, PA

• Why was cell phone info so important?
• RADAR data was not immediately available
• False RADAR was disproved due to conflicts with
  what we knew about the cell phone
• Accurate RADAR data was confirmed with what we
  knew about the cell phone (5 days into the search)

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AFRCC Images Removed

• Due to restrictions imposed by AFRCC, their
  images have been deleted from this presentation

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06M0666A Saint Thomas, PA

• What aided our use of the cell phone to find the
  plane?
• The phone was on
• Calls were placed to the phone post crash
• Voice mails were left
• The phone was within the Network

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06M1129 Philipsburg, PA

• Piper Arrow departed Tennessee for PSB on 25-Jun
  around 10pm
• Expected at PSB around 3am
• 4 people onboard, 3 cell phones
• Unknown if pilot diverted for weather
• PSB is known for lack of cell phone coverage

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06M1129 Philipsburg, PA

• 2 VerizonWireless phones
• 1 Cingular phone
• Records for all phones indicated no activity past
  10pm before flight
• Reassured us that they were probably not
  somewhere safe and in distress

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06M1129 Philipsburg, PA

• RADAR data was soon available
• A/C was located utilizing LKP of RADAR data

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06M1591 Bismarck, ND

• Pilot missing for 3 days
• AFRCC made contact to pursue tracking of cell
  phone
• VerizonWireless provides us that phone was used
  prior to aircraft departing Bismarck nothing
  after
• Bad weather was imminent in the flight path no
  phone activity provided us assurance the pilot
  was probably not somewhere safe.

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06M1831 Phoenix, AZ

• Aircraft missing with 2 people, 2 phones on board
  (1 VerizonWireless, 1 Sprint)
• A/C was flying VFR high VFR area, unsure of
  tracking the correct radar trail
• VerizonWireless provides info that confirms we
  were looking at the correct RADAR trail

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Things weve learned

• Any interaction with the phone is logged
• Text messages
• Calls that ring the handset
• Voicemail notifications
• Typically can provide a tower, distance and
  sector
• More detailed information starts to disappear
  12-24 hours after the fact

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Things weve learned

• Phone must be on and registered within the
  network
• Technology exists to DF cell phones like CAP DFs
  ELTs some law enforcement agencies have access
  to this

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Things to do during a search

• Immediately
• Send text messages to the phone
• Call the phone regularly
• These things must be done while the phone has a
  chance of still being on
• ASAP
• IC should assign 1 trained person to research
  cell phone information with the carrier this
  must be coordinated with AFRCC
• Continually through the search
• Cell provider should be contacted periodically
  for any updates

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On the horizon

• We must train people to know how to handle cell
  phone searches
• Requires knowledge of the cell phone network
• Requires a knowledge of how to get information
  from the providers
• Develop formal relationships with cell providers
• Investigate Cell phone DF technology and
  relationships with agencies that have it