Greatland Laser’s
Rescue Laser Flare ™ Magnum
Receives 2003 Pittman Award for
Best New Sailing Products

CASTINE, MAINE -- March 19, 2003: A Castine-based company has helped to develop a laser that has important search and rescue applications for marine aviation and back country purposes. Jim O’Meara, an Alaskan bush pilot, invented the laser concept and formed Greatland Laser, LLC of Anchorage, Alaska. Products developed to date include airport lighting, nav-aids, and search and rescue devices. O’Meara asked long time business associate and sailor, Bob Scott, to assist with marine applications. Scott is a principal of Aerotropic International, Inc. of Castine, Maine.

Recently, Sail Magazine named Greatland’s patented Rescue Laser Flare ™ Magnum “one of the best new sailing safety products in the U.S. for 2003.” Further praise has come from Landfall Navigation, a supplier of sailing gear, which states, “We believe [the Laser Flare] to be the most important safety device to come along in years.” US Sailing Association is demonstrating the Laser Flare in its Safety-at-Sea lectures. Sailors, fishermen, and flyers have tested the product in the Bearing Sea and the Atlantic, and found it visible 8 miles in a blizzard and up to 20 miles on a clear night.

The Laser Flare concept, simply put, is to send a conventional laser beam through a special optic that creates a triangular plane of light. In clear, dark weather the human eye sees only the base line of the triangle. Point the cigar size Laser Flare at a wall and you see a line a foot or so long. Point and slowly sweep it toward a passing ship or airplane or rescue vehicle ten miles away, and the line is 3,600 ft. high. The line cannot miss anything in its path -- any portion of the line viewed by rescuers appears as a brilliant red flash distinctively different from other background lights.

The eye safe Laser Flare also acts as a searching tool to detect reflective tape on life jackets, channel markers, etc. up to a mile away. When any portion of the laser line is passed over reflective material, a bright flash of laser light is returned to the searcher.

Unlike conventional pyrotechnic flares, the Laser Flare Magnum has no shelf life limit and lasts 72 hours on two AA batteries. It will not burn you, your boat, tent, or the forest.

Further information can be obtained from Bob Scott at (207)326-9444 or ati@aerotropic.com or from the Greatland Laser web site.