Sorry to disapoint you but the FAA does not and never did respond to ELT
signals. The flight service station people do check airports for lost
and missing or overdue aircraft but the search is left to the US Coast
Guard if the elt is wet and the US Air Force/Civil Air Patrol if dry.

Both organizations continue to respond to any and all ELT/EPIRB signals.
This mission will not change with the closure of COSPAS/SARSAT. The 406
mhz signals will provice quicker, more precise position reports that
will result in more rescues and fewer errors.

Dave N

NoneYa wrote:
Stuart & Kathryn Fields wrote:

Not too long ago, a friend of mine had an off airport landing in his
helicopter, better make that a crash. His helicopter was destroyed on
a hill with a direct line of sight to the local airport. He suffered
only a sprain but had to walk out several miles to get cell phone
coverage. All this time the ELT was pinging away. When we got to the
crash site several hours later, we turned the ELT off. No one
responded to the ELT signal. It seems that he had been carrying
around a device that is normally ignored due to its false alarm rate.
Since the ELTs are not required on aircraft, just airplanes, I've
removed mine and depend on the cell phone and my legs. I think that
my friends ELT provided just a false sense of security and in his
particular case, nothing else.



FAA Technicians and/or the FCC did respond all the time to ELT signals.
FAA staffing is no longer available because all of the FAA technicians
have been replaced by the new FAA with big bubble butt black women on
civil rights staffs hanging out on the phone or at the local KFC ****ing
off on your IRS tax dime

That is why FAA ELT response has stopped. FAA priorities have changed
from aviation safety to "Kissing the Black Ass". The false alarm
scenario is bull**** to cover for their ****ed up priorities and reduced
staffing.