[Public-list] What to do with expired flares

[John Riley]

George Dinwiddie wrote:

>Actually, having never fired a marine flare, I think that would be 
>wonderfully instructive.  It seems to me that we'd need to get the Coast 
>Guard in the loop, also.  Probably they'd have to publish a blurb in the 
>Local Notice to Mariners, to alert people to the fact that it wasn't an 
>emergency.
>
>Contrary to Bob Kirk's suggestion, I *don't* recommend shooting them at 
>the fireworks display.  Emergencies happen there, too, you know, and the 
>marine police can tell the difference between fireworks and flares.  I 
>saw them respond in short order, once, when someone fired a flare at the 
>Baltimore fireworks.
>
>  - George
>
>  
>

I have a mixed answer.  Having never fired a meteor arial flare or used 
one of the hand-held flares, we used some old ones on Independence Day 
last year (land locked event, not on the water) in amongst the 
neighborhood more conventional fireworks. (note that I live in an area 
where neighborhood fireworks are legal).

It was very instructional.  I second the recommendation that anyone who 
has NOT actually used emergency pyrotechnics to find an opportunity to 
learn what to expect. 

Some things I learned that really need to be experienced, not just read 
about: 

the hand-helds get very hot and drip very hot molten metal

the hand-helds are VERY bright - they destroy your night vision for at 
least TEN MINUTES.  I'm not talking about just making night vision less 
efficient, I'm talking about not seeing much of anything but a red glow 
in your eyes.

the 12 gauge arials are woefully pathetic; weak and short lasting and 
not very high, we had a 33% failure rate on the ones we launched.  We've 
since gone to 25 mm (which shoot higher, are brighter and I've at least 
heard are more reliable), and I will be adding a parachute to the kit 
when the budget allows.  (A friend told me they had a worse failure 
rate, near 50% with a BUNCH of attempts from a whole club's worth of 
expired 12 ga flares).

-- 
JohnR
#521


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