Canadian Search and Rescue Can Now Track Cell Phones

Canadian military search and rescue CC-130H aircraft can now track the cell phones of crash victims.

Monday, September 09, 2024 at 09:27 AM ET

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The CC-130H Hercules is primarily used for search and rescue operations. While it also carries out transport missions, its main focus is saving lives through the Canadian Armed Forces’ search and rescue mandate. [Courtesy: Royal Canadian Air Force]

Key Takeaways:

Canadian military search and rescue (SAR) aircraft are being equipped with the CASSAR system to track active cellphones belonging to pilots and passengers during missions.
The CASSAR system detects cell tower interrogation signals to pinpoint a phone's location, requiring the phone to be on and not in airplane mode, but it cannot monitor conversations.
A Privacy Impact Assessment concluded that privacy risks are low, balancing them against the system's significant benefit of saving lives and improving SAR mission efficiency by reducing search times across Canada's vast area.

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Canadian military search and rescue aircraft are being equipped with devices that can track cellphones carried by pilots and passengers, according to Canadian Aviator magazine.

The equipment used by the Canadian Airborne Sensor for Search and Rescue (CASSAR) system detects the cell tower interrogation signals emitted by cell phones. The system has been installed in CC-130H aircraft that are dedicated to search and rescue response.

Russ Niles

Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.