Has a glider ever been found using the transponder radar track?

I am a member of Search and Rescue - on the ground end of things. I have
been involved in a number of missing aircraft searches and have my own ELT
tracking equipment. We regularly practice searches in mountainous country.

My experience has been that when we have a report of a missing aircraft and
begin the search, that the sparse information we get is ambiguous and
incomplete. By the time information gets to us, it has been through a
number of relays. Our area is the Coast Range of Western Oregon.
Transponder tracking is undependable and late at best. In most cases we get
no information at all. In one case, involving a fatality, the only useful
information we had was from a "last seen" report from a fellow pilot. We
picked a spot on the map that was likely and sent in ground teams on logging
roads to do a visual search. Weather was bad. We found the aircraft after
2 days, before either the National Guard or the CAP. The aircraft was
destroyed. After searching the wreckage, we found an orange piece of
plastic - similar to the color used in ELTs - the size of a quarter dollar.
In a second fatality, our ground team was out searching when a logger
reported a plume of smoke by his cell phone. In both cases, the aircraft
had ELTs and transponders. In both cases, the aircraft was found by luck
and/or good guesswork.

The ELT is not bullet proof. I believe it is likely to survive a crash if
the pilot does, but no more. The installation is also critical. For
example, with a remote antenna, the coax cable could be severed in a crash,
rendering the entire system useless. I suppose the best solution would be
to have an ejection system and ballistic parachute for the ELT, so that just
before a crash the pilot hits a button to eject the ELT and bring it down to
safety, But I can tell that idea will never fly.

Colin N12HS (Yamhill County Sheriffs Search and Rescue)


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