In the July 2004 issue of Sport Aviation, there was an article published on the
installation of ELTs. I have taken issue with the article with Tom Poberezny
and Scott Spangler, and before I go off half-cocked (how unusual for me) I'd
like some confirmation from this group. Understand that I may quote you
directly if you respond, so if you don't want your name mentioned, just say so.

Here's the deal: My contention is that EAA should have an editorial board that
reviews technical articles like this for theoretical as well as practical errors
of fact or judgement. Every ethical magazine in the world has a competent
review team that looks at an author's work and at LEAST asks the questions as to
where the data came from.

Now I'm not looking to pick the nits. They say that the CORPASS-SARSAT
satellites are flying at 528 miles. If the actual altitude happens to be 527.4,
that's a nit.

On the other hand, in the next paragraph (page 108, column 2, first paragraph)
they say that the analog ELTs operate on 121.5 MHz. and the digital ELTs operate
on 406 MHz.. There are two errors of fact he The VHF ELTs operate on 12.15
MHz. AND 243.0 Mhz. The UHF 406 MHz. ELT is NOT totally digital technology.

Now here's the challenge...

Find errors of technical fact AND practical installation (so far I've found ten
of them) and post them here (please do not send to me by private email). I'll
collate them and send them off to TomP. Perhaps we can get the folks back in
Oshkosh to listen and publish something that resembles the truth.

And yes, in case of an unfortunate incident, it CAN make the difference between
YOUR life and death.

Jim


Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com