SAR: what is the most visible color?

Rob the tricam wrote: What ever is opposite the color wheel of the terrain you are in.

That or highly reflective

I'm not sure if I'd completely agree, given some terrain (like snow), which is very white (so not on the color wheel) and very reflective. Opposites on the color wheel also have same/similar chroma values, which makes them hard to distinguish from each other at a distance - up close and at the borders of them you will get a sort of vibration. 

Green and Orange aren't opposites, but are a third of the way around the color wheel, and make up what's called a color discord. Perhaps, other than deer not being so good at seeing green apart from orange, is why orange is used so often.

I do think bright, unnatural colors would be a good idea, but I'm still going with having an alternative way to be seen, like a light, would work well for an expanded amount of situations.

Someone quipped about, "La Sportiva" colors - or really: color pallete. They're def. made to be photographed! The design department knew what they were doing (even if its not always my favorite)

From what I can tell from these great posts is that generally in a backcountry SAR situation these colors are most visible: Orange, Yellow, Pink, Green, Blue.
When I say those colors is this what you see?

I wish they had more stuff in that yellow.

RJNakata wrote: From what I can tell from these great posts is that generally in a backcountry SAR situation these colors are most visible: Orange, Yellow, Pink, Green, Blue.
When I say those colors is this what you see?

When you show those colors I see the Village People. 

I see the ghosts from Ms. Pacman.

When I go to see the Village People, it's usually at some sort of festival with lots of rainbow flag-OOOH.

Jared Casper wrote:

Given the helicopter is only like 10 pixels high at this resolution, and relatively close to the lens, it seems like maybe an orange jacket is going to get washed out in the jpg?  Closest I could find was this little smudge... but maybe I'm missing something obvious as well?  (... btw, I do think the pic conveys the message it is meant to convey).

Oh, I just assumed he was hiding in the helicopter. ("The distress call is coming from... inside the chopper!!")

Excellent point, though. One thing that always strikes me, as well, is the fact that perspective can get very distorted in the mountains. Even if you know that you're looking for a person, you might not have an intuitive sense of how large that person will be relative to the surroundings. In your photo, without the helicopter for scale, it's very difficult to judge how far the features are, and the relative size of a human.

I remember the first time I drove through the loop in Red Rock Canyon (prior to having climbed there). The calico hills are gorgeous, but it's not until you spot a few climbers that you realize how large those features are. Here's a pic I snapped of a person standing on top of Fixx Cliff. I love to show this to non-climber friends to illustrate the scale.

There is a wide range of factors that contribute to high-visibility from research in construction work forces and emergency services. International standards, NFPA, etc. generally suggest the following:

• Two contrasting colours: blue-safety green; red-yellow; orange-blue; etc;
• Large, repeating patterns - Battemburg, chevrons, etc; and,
• Retroflective elements.

If you want to be seen by SAR, integrating these elements - constrasting colours, non-natural patterns, light (and additionally movement) - will help.

Jared Casper wrote: This thread reminds me of a recent episode of The Sharp End podcast where the woman that needed rescuing remembered being taught in a class that making a giant Y with your hands was a universal signal for needing help. So she did this when the rescue helicopter first came, but then the copter just took off, not realizing they were the ones that needed help. The take-away was that you should instead jump up and down and wave vigorously and make it totally completely obvious that you are the ones that need help. I thought that was a good lesson.

Edit: for anyone interested: soundcloud.com/the_sharp_en…

The pilot made an error in this example. the subject was indeed performing the proper ground to air signal for requesting help...

with that said, jumping up and down and waiving like crazy is at least going to get you another fly-by.

Instead of dressing as a candy corn, you can just carry a folded up piece (the bigger the better) of bright orange fabric. Wear it, wave it, or lay it out...
Also, mark things people! In the snow? Make an x using your rope and rocks. In the dessert? Make a space that is relatively one color by taking the other colors (dark rocks, dead plants, etc.) and make them into a shape that makes the area stand out.

curt86iroc wrote:

The pilot made an error in this example. the subject was indeed performing the proper ground to air signal for requesting help...

with that said, jumping up and down and waiving like crazy is at least going to get you another fly-by.

I was thinking that too and wondering just how universal those signaling standards are.  Would be interesting to know why the pilot initially took off.  From her telling of the story it sounded like they didn't understand her signal, but maybe they were just assessing the situation and had to come back with different people/gear or something, or just didn't see her/the signal.

I guess maybe the thing to do is intersperse between jumping up and down and waving and the Y signal.  Saying "I'm trying to get your attention and I need help!"