Visual Distress Signals — Flares, Smoke and Hand-Held Devices

What the rule requires

Settle the regime before you count anything

Every wrong answer on this topic starts with counting under the wrong section. Three separate regimes appear in the reference library and they do not agree with each other, so the first move on any question is to identify the vessel and her route.

An uninspected passenger vessel — the OUPV world — carries no visual distress signal table of its own. 46 CFR §25.25-19 sends the vessel to the requirements of 33 CFR part 175 applicable to her. So a question about a six-pack charter is answered out of Part 175, never out of Subchapter T.

An inspected small passenger vessel is governed by 46 CFR §180.68, and the trigger there is route, not distance offshore.

A commercial fishing vessel is governed by 46 CFR §28.145, and the trigger there is distance from the coastline, not route. The section applies except as provided by 28.305.

Subchapter T: the route decides, and the counts run in sixes

On an oceans, coastwise, limited coastwise or Great Lakes route the vessel must carry six hand red flare distress signals approved under 46 CFR §160.021, or another standard specified by the Commandant including approval series 160.121, plus six hand orange smoke distress signals approved under §160.037. On a lakes, bays and sounds route, or a rivers route, both counts drop to three. That is the whole route split .

Substitution runs one way, and this is where the section is most often misread. A rocket parachute flare approved under §160.036 may be substituted for any of the required hand red flares. For the required hand orange smoke signals, three things may be substituted: a §160.036 rocket parachute flare, a §160.021 hand red flare, or a §160.022 floating orange smoke signal. Nothing in the section permits smoke to be substituted for a required hand red flare. Upward substitution is allowed; downward is not.

A vessel operating on short runs limited to approximately 30 minutes away from the dock is not required to carry distress flares and smoke signals under this section at all. That exemption removes the requirement entirely rather than reducing the count.

Stowage is a requirement, not a recommendation, and it is checked. Each flare must be stowed either in a portable watertight container carried at the operating station and marked as required by §185.614, or in a pyrotechnic locker secured above the freeboard deck, away from heat, in the vicinity of the operating station. The marking is specified: bright colour, and clearly marked in legible contrasting letters at least 12.7 millimetres (0.5 inches) high, reading DISTRESS SIGNALS 46 CFR §185.614.

Your 82 GT inspected passenger vessel on a limited coastwise route carries three hand red flares and nine hand orange smoke signals. Are you in compliance?

No. The route requires six hand red flares and six hand orange smoke. You are three hand red flares short, and the surplus smoke cannot be substituted for them — smoke is not on the list of permitted substitutes for a required hand red flare. Six rocket parachute flares under §160.036, or three of them added to the three hand flares you hold, would have satisfied the flare requirement.

Part 175: three of a type, and the two single-device signals

Under 33 CFR §175.130, three accepted forms of signal exist. An electric distress light meeting 46 CFR §161.013 — one is required, and it meets the night only requirement. An orange flag meeting §160.072 — one is required, and it meets the day only requirement. Pyrotechnics meeting the standards in Table 175.130, of which three are required in every case.

Any combination drawn from those three categories, carried in the number required, may be used to meet both day and night requirements. The regulation supplies its own worked examples: two hand-held red flares under §160.021 together with one parachute red flare under §160.024 or §160.036 meets both day and night; three hand-held orange smoke under §160.037 together with one electric distress light under §161.013 meets both day and night.

Read the second example closely, because it shows how the arithmetic actually works. The three smoke signals satisfy the day requirement and contribute nothing at night; the single electric light satisfies night by itself. The pyrotechnic count of three and the single-device count of one are not interchangeable.

Two details from the table carry points. Hand held red flare distress signals under §160.021 must have a manufacture date of 1 October 1980 or later. And parachute red flare distress signals under §160.024 require use in combination with a suitable launching device approved under 46 CFR §160.028 — some §160.066 red aerial pyrotechnic flares do as well, those being either meteor or parachute assisted type. Where a signal carried to meet §175.110 requires a launcher to activate, 33 CFR §175.113 requires that an approved §160.028 launcher be carried aboard.

Fishing vessels: distance from the coastline

The three tiers under escalate with distance. More than 50 miles from the coastline on ocean waters: 3 parachute flares of approval series 160.136, 6 hand flares of series 160.121, and 3 smoke signals of series 160.122. From 3 to 50 miles offshore, or more than 3 miles from the coastline on the Great Lakes: the same 3 + 6 + 3 structure, but with the older approval series accepted as alternatives — 160.036 parachute flares, 160.021 hand flares, and 160.022 or 160.037 smoke.

Coastal waters excluding the Great Lakes, and within 3 miles of the coastline on the Great Lakes, drops to the day-and-night structure familiar from Part 175: one electric distress light of series 161.013 or 3 approved flares for night, plus one distress flag of series 160.072 or 3 approved flares or 3 approved smoke signals for day. If flares are carried, the same 3 flares may be counted toward both the day and the night requirement.

Recognising a distress signal

33 CFR §87.01 lists the signals which, used or exhibited either together or separately, indicate distress and need of assistance. The visual entries a candidate is asked to identify are a rocket parachute flare or a hand flare showing a red light; a smoke signal giving off orange-coloured smoke; flames on the vessel; a square flag having above or below it a ball or anything resembling a ball; the International Code Signal N.C.; slowly and repeatedly raising and lowering arms outstretched to each side; and a high intensity white light flashing at regular intervals from 50 to 70 times per minute. Two more are audible or ordnance: a gun or other explosive signal fired at intervals of about a minute, and a continuous sounding with any fog-signalling apparatus.

Which device for which moment

Choosing correctly matters as much as carrying the right number. Red parachute or rocket flares shoot high and burn while descending, giving long-range attention at night. Red hand-held flares work at closer range and guide rescuers through the final approach. Orange smoke, hand-held and floating, is for day use to mark a position and show wind direction USCG Boat Crew Seamanship Manual §5-B.

Because pyrotechnics are one-shot and time-limited, they are saved until a potential rescuer is in range and there is a real chance the signal will be seen. Handling is fixed: point the device downwind and away from the body and the boat, hold it over the side, and treat it as a burning device that drips hot slag. They carry expiry dates, are replaced when out of date, and are kept dry in a ready container.

Telling it apart

The criterion that sorts every accepted device is what it is approved to satisfy — day, night, or both — and how many of it count as one unit of compliance.

Hand held red flare, §160.021 — day and night; three required. Must be manufactured 1 October 1980 or later, which is the detail candidates skip when a question dates the flare.
Parachute red flare, §160.024 — day and night; three required. Requires an approved §160.028 launching device to be carried with it.
Hand-held rocket-propelled parachute red flare, §160.036 — day and night; three required. Under Subchapter T this is the device that substitutes upward for both hand flares and smoke.
Red aerial pyrotechnic flare for boats, §160.066 — day and night; three required. Meteor or parachute assisted, and some require the §160.028 launcher.
Hand-held orange smoke, §160.037 — day only; three required. Most commonly misfiled as a night signal because the flame is visible; the approval covers day only.
Floating orange smoke, §160.022 and §160.057 — day only; three required.
Orange flag, §160.072 — day only; one required. Misfiled as covering both halves because it is a single item.
Electric distress light, §161.013 — night only; one required. Misfiled as a substitute for flares in a Subchapter T outfit, where §180.68 lists no such substitution.

Working a question

An inspected small passenger vessel, 64 GT, certificated for a limited coastwise route, runs a four-hour dinner cruise. She has aboard three §160.021 hand red flares, three §160.036 rocket parachute flares, and four §160.022 floating orange smoke signals, all in date, in a plain grey plastic box in a locker under the helm seat.

Identify the regime. Inspected small passenger vessel, so §180.68 governs. Not Part 175, and not §28.145 — no distance-from-coastline figure enters the problem.
Test the exemption first. A four-hour cruise is not a short run limited to approximately 30 minutes from the dock, so the exemption does not apply and the full outfit is required.
Read the route line. Limited coastwise sits in paragraph (a): six hand red flares plus six hand orange smoke.
Count the flare side. Three §160.021 hand red flares, plus three §160.036 rocket parachute flares substituting for hand red flares under paragraph (c)(1). Six. The flare requirement is met.
Count the smoke side. Six hand orange smoke required. She has none, but floating orange smoke under §160.022 is an accepted substitute for hand orange smoke — four of them. She is two smoke signals short. The parachute flares are already committed to the flare requirement and cannot be counted twice.
Check stowage. A portable container at the operating station must be bright coloured and marked DISTRESS SIGNALS in contrasting letters at least 0.5 inches high. A plain grey box fails, and a locker under the helm seat is not the alternative permitted — that alternative is a pyrotechnic locker secured above the freeboard deck, away from heat, in the vicinity of the operating station.

Two deficiencies, then, and both are the kind written into an exam question as a single "which of the following is true" stem.

Same vessel, same gear, but her certificate is for a rivers route and the run is 25 minutes each way. Where does she stand?

Compliant on quantity by two independent paths. A rivers route requires only three hand red flares and three hand orange smoke, which her three §160.021 flares and four §160.022 floating smoke satisfy. Separately, a run limited to approximately 30 minutes away from the dock exempts her from carrying distress flares and smoke signals under §180.68 altogether. The stowage marking deficiency stands only if the flares are carried to meet the section — an exempt vessel has no §180.68 flares to stow.

Where candidates lose the point

Answering "three and three" for a coastwise T-boat. The number three is drilled into every recreational and OUPV course, and it transfers by reflex. Under §180.68 an oceans, coastwise, limited coastwise or Great Lakes route requires six of each. Three of each is the lakes, bays, sounds and rivers line.

Substituting smoke for a required hand red flare. The substitution paragraph is dense and reads as if the devices are fungible. They are not. Smoke — floating or hand — appears only as something that may be substituted for smoke, and the flare list is what may be substituted for flares.

Treating the orange flag or the electric distress light as a three-count, or as covering both day and night. One flag meets day only; one electric light meets night only. A candidate who carries one flag and answers that day and night are both covered has answered the §175.130 combination question wrong.

Assuming a launcher comes with the flare. A §160.024 parachute red flare requires a launching device approved under 46 CFR §160.028, and that launcher must be carried aboard. The hand-held rocket-propelled version under §160.036 is a separate approval and is not carried with the same footnote.

Reading the fishing vessel table by route or the T-boat section by distance. A vessel 40 miles offshore is in the 3-to-50-mile row of table 28.145 only if she is a fishing vessel. Feeding a mileage into §180.68 produces an answer the section never states.

Firing everything at once. Pyrotechnics are one-shot and time-limited, so they are held until a potential rescuer is within range to see them. A question that offers "expend all flares immediately to maximise the chance of being seen" is testing this.

Reading "high intensity white light" as any flashing white light. The distress signal is a high intensity white light flashing at regular intervals from 50 to 70 times per minute. A slower flash is not that signal.

Check yourself

You operate a 91 GT inspected small passenger vessel on a coastwise route, three-hour trips. What is the minimum flare and smoke outfit?

Six hand red flare distress signals under §160.021 (or 160.121, or the Commandant's specified equivalent), plus six hand orange smoke distress signals under §160.037. Rocket parachute flares under §160.036 may stand in for any of the hand red flares; for the smoke, permitted substitutes are §160.036 parachute flares, §160.021 hand red flares, or §160.022 floating orange smoke.

You are outfitting an uninspected passenger vessel and hold two hand-held red flares under §160.021 and one parachute red flare under §160.024. Are you complete, and is anything else required aboard?

That combination is one of the examples §175.130 itself gives as meeting both day and night requirements. But the §160.024 parachute flare requires a launching device to activate, so an approved 46 CFR §160.028 launcher must also be carried under §175.113. Without the launcher the outfit fails.

A candidate proposes three hand-held orange smoke signals under §160.037 as an OUPV's complete visual distress signal outfit. What is wrong?

Hand-held orange smoke is approved for day only. Three of them satisfy the day requirement and leave night entirely uncovered. Adding one electric distress light under §161.013 completes it — that is the second combination §175.130 offers as an example.

Your fishing vessel works ocean waters 65 miles from the coastline. What distress signals must she carry?

The more-than-50-miles row of table 28.145: three parachute flares of approval series 160.136, six hand flares of series 160.121, and three smoke signals of series 160.122. The older approval series accepted in the 3-to-50-mile row are not offered as alternatives at this distance.

Where must a Subchapter T vessel's flares be stowed, and how is the container marked?

Either in a portable watertight container carried at the operating station, or in a pyrotechnic locker secured above the freeboard deck, away from heat, in the vicinity of the operating station. A portable container must be a bright colour and clearly marked in legible contrasting letters at least 12.7 mm (0.5 in) high: DISTRESS SIGNALS.

At night you sight a white light on the horizon flashing at roughly one flash per second. Does this indicate distress?

Yes. Sixty flashes per minute falls within the 50 to 70 flashes per minute specified in §87.01 for a high intensity white light. The signal indicates distress and need of assistance whether shown alone or with any other listed signal.

You are in a liferaft in daylight, with a vessel's masts visible but hull down, and hold one hand red flare, one rocket parachute flare and one hand orange smoke. Which do you use first?

The rocket parachute flare. It shoots high and burns while descending, giving the range needed to reach a vessel not yet close aboard. Hold the hand flare for the final approach and the smoke to mark your position and show the wind once she is committed to you. Expending all three at once wastes a one-shot, time-limited resource.