OUT-OF-DATE FLARES!

Are “Time-Expired-Pyrotechnics” Worth = Keeping?

Flares!

They cost about £130 per set; we hope never to have to use the= m; there is no way of testing them; they “expire” after 3 or 4 yea= rs; we should get rid of them unused. Then we have difficulty disposing of them safely! “Time-Expired-Pyrotech= nics” have become a real nuisance!

Cautious sailors think about what could go wrong and practise a range of emergency scenarios. But, if we ever ha= d to use our expensive flares in a real emergency, it would be a “first-time” experience for most of us.

What can we do about it?

Here in Marina de Lagos, in Portugal, we discussed this problem with= our ever-helpful marina manager, Ingrid Fortunato. “It would be great if we could get experi= ence of handling live flares - and get rid of the old ones that clutter up our lockers! Is there anything you could do with your friends in the Maritime Police?” we asked.

In March 2010, a “Flare Disposal Exercise” was set up on= the beach of Meia Praia, in Lagos. Bookings were taken and some 20 yachts were represented on the day.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We had two officers from the Marit= ime Police to supervise operations, monitor firing and control safety.

After the success of the first “flare firing”, we receiv= ed a request from a number of yachtsmen about to cross the Atlantic in November = 2010, to repeat the exercise. Again= , we discussed this problem with Ingrid Fortunato, and a second “Flare Disposal Exercise” was set up.

The Recording

&= nbsp; There is a lot of (often conflicting!) anecdotal evidence about the usefulness an= d/or reliability of TEPs. With ord= inary sailors using their own flares, this seemed to be a golden opportunity to gather some factual information on which we might be able to base sensible decisions in the future.

A simple record sheet was prepared to track the success or failure rates for flares = by Maker; Type; and Age. In the absence of technical measuring equipment, we recognised that our judgements would have to be pretty subjective. But our key questions were, “In a real emergency, MIGHT that f= lare help? And secondly, would that flare make us feel better?”

This data on Pains Wessex parachute flares shows the range of detail= we collected for each one.

Maker	Expiry	Type	P/F=	Rocket	Para.	Dur'n	Bright	Colour	Comments
Pains Wessex	1999	Parachute	F	FAILED	TO<= /p>	LAUNCH			String pulled out
Pains Wessex	1999	Parachute	F	FAILED	TO<= /p>	LAUNCH			String pulled out
Pains Wessex	1999	Parachute	P	5 secs	Good	Good	Bright	Red
Pains Wessex	1999	Parachute	P	5 secs	Good	Good	Bright	Red
Pains Wessex	2005	Parachute	F	5 secs	None	FAILED	TO<= /p>	FIRE	No para or flare
Pains Wessex	2005	Parachute	F	FAILED	TO<= /p>	LAUNCH			Flew horizontally
Pains Wessex	2005	Parachute	F	FAILED	TO<= /p>	LAUNCH			Propellant exploded
Pains Wessex	2005	Parachute	P	5 secs	Good	Good	Bright	Red
Pains Wessex	2005	Parachute	P	5 secs	Good	Good	Bright	Red

The Overall Results

&= nbsp; The data from the two exercises were combined, giving a total of 214 pyrotechni= cs fired. The same “5-year= break points” occurred and the % age of passes was tabulated as follows.

		*1991/95*	*1996/00*	*2001/05*	*2006/10*	*OVERALL*
		*No.=*	%	*No.=*	%	*No.=*	%	*No.=*	%	*No.=*	%
ANTI-COLLISION<= span style=3D'color:#0070C0'>	Pass	0	*N/A=*	0	0	3	*75<= /i>*	6	*100=*	9	82
	Fail	0		1		1		0		2
HAND-HELD RED=	Pass	0	0	*17<= /i>*	*53<= /i>*	*17<= /i>*	*55<= /i>*	*49<= /i>*	*98<= /i>*	83	71
	Fail	4		*15<= /i>*		*14<= /i>*		1		34
PARACHUTE &nbs= p;	Pass	2	*100=*	8	*73<= /i>*	5	*50<= /i>*	*17<= /i>*	*71<= /i>*	32	68
	Fail	0		3		5		7		15
HAND-HELD SMOKE	Pass	1	*100=*	2	*100=*	*10<= /i>*	*77<= /i>*	*12<= /i>*	*92<= /i>*	25	86
	Fail	0		0		3		1		4
SMOKE CANNISTER	Pass	0	*N/A=*	2	*100=*	1	*50<= /i>*	5	*83<= /i>*	8	80
	Fail	0		0		1		1		2
TOTALS	Pass	3	43	29	60	36	60	89	90	*157*	73
	Fail	4		19		24		10		57

From the bottom lines, it can be = seen that overall performance was 73%, while TEPs up to 5 years beyond their exp= iry date, had a 90% success rate. This drops sharply to 60% for the next 10 years, and then to 43%.

The num= bers of Anti-collision, Smoke Canisters and Hand-held Smoke Flares were too smal= l to draw meaningful conclusions for their separate age groups.

For Hand-held Red Flares the overall performance was 71%. This was made up of an impressive = 98% success rate for the 50 flares in “up-to-5 years” category, red= uced by the relatively high numbers in the samples for the next ten years, and w= hich scored 55% and 53% respectively.

Parachu= te Flares had a much poorer performance, scoring only 71% in “up-to-5-years” group.

Analysis by Maker

The data was then re-examined comparing makers across the same age bands.=

		*1991/95*	*1996/00*	*2001/05*	*2006/10*	*TOTALS*
	No.=	%	No.=	%	No.=	%	No.=	%	*No.=*	%
IKAROS	Pass	2	*100=*	0	*N/A=*	4	*100=*	*43<= /i>*	*98<= /i>*	49	98
	Fail	0		0		0		1		1
OROQUIETA	Pass	0	*N/A=*	0	*N/A=*	0	0	*15<= /i>*	*65<= /i>*	15	63
	Fail	0		0		1		8		9
PAINS WESSEX	Pass	0	*N/A=*	*28<= /i>*	*78<= /i>*	*17<= /i>*	*49<= /i>*	*16<= /i>*	*100=*	61	70
	Fail	0		8		*18<= /i>*		0		26
OTHERS	Pass	1	*20<= /i>*	1	8	*15<= /i>*	*75<= /i>*	*15<= /i>*	*94<= /i>*	32	60
	Fail	4		*11<= /i>*		5		1		21
TOTALS	Pass	3	43	29	60	36	60	89	90	*157*	73
	Fail	4		19		24		10		57

While Ikaros has a very creditable performance of 98% overall, it can be seen that the vast majority of their flares were in the “5-year-old” category. <= /p>

This age range was also true of Oroquieta, but their performance suffered from 8 failures in the “5-year-old” catego= ry. Examination of the base data showe= d that these were all Parachute flares. With three of these, the rockets failed to ignite at all; on three others, the rockets fired but flew erratically (including one that turned 180º back to the firer with the flare igni= ted!); and the last two were deemed by the owner to be too dangerous to fire.=

As the majority of the yachtsmen involved were British, it is no surprise that Pai= ns Wessex had the highest number of flares in our sample – and they cove= red the widest age range. Therefo= re, it is to be expected that they would have the highest proportion of failures in total - and the performance of their older Parachute Flares is shown in the first table. However, their o= verall performance in the “5-year-old” bracket was 100%. The small sample size in this brac= ket may reflect the desire of owners to hold on to what are perceived to be qua= lity goods!

Provisos and Caveats

1. Bear in mind that we were using a random sample of Flares that we= re already past their recommended expiry date. We have no information on how they= were stored or cared for during their life.&nbs= p; NO conclusion can therefore be reached about any brand’s performance within their designed life-span.

2. It must be stressed= that we made NO attempt to accurately measure “true performance” in terms of height achieved by rocke= ts, duration of burn, brightness of flare or density of smoke= .

Recommendations – (based on our experience of firing 214 TEPs)=

1. Even= if they give less than 100% performance, it seems good sense to keep one previ= ous “generation” of Hand-held flares and any of the Smoke devices as spares. (But note that some countries deem= it an offence to carry out-of-date pyrotechnics.)

2. The erratic behaviour of older and/or cheaper Parachute Rockets (see above) mak= es them potentially dangerous to the user – especially if he is in an inflatable life-raft!

3. None= of the Time-Expired-Pyrotechnics seem to be worth retaining more than 5 years beyond their Expiry Date.

Good Practices - (based on our experience of firing 214 TEPs)

1. READ= THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU NEED THEM. Many flares had tiny print, obscure draw= ings and/or lack of clarity. If yo= u NEED to use these dangerous but potentially life-saving devices, it will be dark, cold, wet, and windy - and your spectacles will be in the chart table!

2. If possible, select flares with a common operating procedure. EG: Point, Pull, Twist, Strike.

3. Choo= se flares which are instantly recognisable for function and direction of opera= tion – BY TOUCH. Or think of= a way to mark them. Or stow them so= as to aid identification.

4. Keep= a pair of leather gloves WITH your flares - the residue gets HOT!

5. If it doesn’t ignite, “DITCH IT, QUICK!” Don’t try to shake it into l= ife, or to look down the end to see what is wrong! (Yes, it happened!)

Terry O’Brien; Lagos;= 05 November 2010=