Rats, it doesn't look like my knee jerk response posted. Ah well,
nothing particularly interesting. Just some poking at Casey...
sometimes a Jeanne d'Arc is the most powerful appeal. Besides, if you
can lead with pathos, then counter the criticism with logic, you have a
much more powerful argument. But alas, that wasn't the intent (this
time).

I don't dispute the AOPA's numbers, just the sophistry of their
presentation. I've cited sources of such statistics in past in related
threads. Probably the most relevant is
http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/Beacons...provedList.htm which gives
the background and mission of SARSAT as well as a list of current 406
manufacturers. (I'm reviewing and pricing avaiation units now.) The
important message to take away from this site is that 121.5/243 MHz
ELTs were not designed to operate with satellites. Improvements have
been made, but the 406 MHz ELT is specifically designed to be
instantaneously detected by satellite and provide sufficient accuracy
(first pass doppler shift) to allow a manageable search effort.

Another general information page is
http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/emerbcns.html.

You can find the statistics quoted (in part) by AOPA at
http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/406vs121.pdf.

I've lost the link for failure rates of the first and second generation
inertial switches used in aviation ELTs. Maybe someone else recalls....

As for Casey's belief that transponders would provide a better
investment with respect to safety, it's hard to argue the value. Once
again, though, this seems to be a rule responding to the concerns of
contest organizers. All things measured, the transponder may be more
valuable to the pilot, but not to contest staff.

In fact, my guess would be that the best invesment we could make as
pilots would be annual recurrency training. It seems that even the best
of us are apt to pick up bad habits. If only there were experienced
coaches who could inspire enough respect to overcome our egos and do us
some real good. Barring that, impersonal, nonjudgemental gadgets seem
the next best bet.