JP 3-50 National Search and Rescue Manual Vol I - US Navy

1. Initial sighting--Drop smoke and or illumination signal.
2. Maintain heading, altitude, and airspeed for 15 seconds.
3. Drop signal.
4. Make procedure turn to the right.
5. Make final turn to fly reciprocal track over markers.
6. When over marker No. 1, drop 45-minute smoke and 45-minute
illumination signal.
7. If target is not resighted, maintain heading for 30 seconds
and drop a 15-minute signal. Continue search using the line
of markers for reference.
Figure 6-19. Standard Pattern for Relocating Survivors
Visual identification of sensor detections is often necessary.
Careful consideration must be given to search tactics in these
situations. Depending on expected target density and
detection range, SRUs may achieve maximum effectiveness by:
(1) Immediately diverting from the assigned search
pattern and altitude to identify each contact. This
tactic is best suited to searches where few contacts are
expected or sufficient time or resources are not
available to use method b. or c.
(2) Marking each contact's position so it can be
identified after the sensor search pattern is completed.
This method is preferred when chase craft are not
available and so many contacts are expected that
diversions from the search pattern would be too numerous
for uniform area coverage to be achieved. When this
tactic is used, the SRU must have sufficiently accurate
navigation equipment and fuel to mark and relocate the
target position.