Rescue Coordination Centre
The Letové prevádzkové služby Slovenskej republiky štátny podnik, a state enterprise, is a provider of Search and Rescue Services.
In spite of the fact that the main priority in provision of air navigation services is the maximum safety, it is impossible to fully eliminate the possibility of extraordinary air traffic events where the use of search and rescue services is necessary. In the Slovak Republic the responsibility for creation of the system of cooperation of civil, military and other authorities in search for aircraft and rescue of human lives is assumed by the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic.
The Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic assigned the execution of cooperation coordination in search and rescue to LPS SR. Search and rescue in the Slovak Republic is provided non-stop 24 hours a day via the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), based in Bratislava.
The search and rescue services in the case of aircraft accidents is guided by the international agreement on mutual cooperation in search for aircraft and support in rescue actions in the event of an aircraft accident, concluded between the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic, Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic and Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic.
RCC Bratislava is responsible for efficient organization and coordination of search and rescue activities. It continuously monitors transmissions on emergency frequency 121.5 MHz and cooperates with the Cospas/Sarsat evaluation centre in Toulouse, identifying the location of emergency signal transmission received by satellites. RCC also receives a requirement for provision of search and rescue services from the respective station of air navigation services (for example after receipt of transmitted emergency radiotelephone signal MAY DAY from board of an aircraft). During the preparation and execution of search and rescue RCC Bratislava also cooperates with the rescue coordination centres of neighbouring countries.
The rescue coordination centre in Bratislava uses the latest means and technology in its activities, including the terrain digital model which together with the respective program equipment makes the provision of search and rescue services as effective as possible. The centre is one of best equipped establishments in the world. Its activities are used in over four hundred cases every year, of which aircraft accidents and incidents represent almost 40 percent. The rest is covered by various incidents, such as false transmission of emergency location transmitters on board of the aircraft or other equipment malfunctions.