writer needs help

Wendy,


1- Regarding 100LL. I gather from your replies that it evaporates very
quickly. But I'm talking about a major flood of it in an enclosed area
with only moderate ventilation in just below freezing temperatures. I
have no idea how long it would take to evaporate and the whole segment
depends heavily on this.

Well, you don't tell much about the scenario (which is perfectly ok), but I
could imagine some problems with it: First, if the "flood" is coming from the
crashed plane, please keep in mind that, especially after some period of
flight, there might not be enough fuel aboard for a flood. Consider the fuel
carrying capacity of the Mailbu, the duration of flight and the hourly
consumption. Also, after a crash, I find it hard to imagine that there will be
an area enclosed enough for the fuel to not simply drain away into the ground -
but again I don't know enough about the scenario. Below freezing would
certainly decrease evaporation, but it would also make it very hard for your
character to survive for 24 hours, fuel vapors not withstanding. If he/she
comes in direct contact with fuel, the cold from the evaporating fuel would add
to that, so the other effects you mention might not be his/her primary problem.
Also, rain at just below freezing sounds kind of unlikely.

3- Regarding the ELT. While surfing the internet, not only didn't I
find the answer to this one, it only netted me more questions. This
pilot has a Piper Malibu airplane (the name is not specified in the
story because I'm really not interested in getting sued, but that's the
model I'm using). The ELT can be off, on, or armed. Here's what I
need to accomplish ... That airplane cannot be found before 24 hours or
it'll mess up the rest of the book. The Civil Air Patrol told me that,
when they go looking for a missing airplane, the only thing an ELT does
is locate the "general area" which could be 20-30 square miles. They
still have to set up a grid and comb the whole area with air and ground
crews ... it doesn't tell them exactly where an airplane is. Is that
right?

Well, CAP certainly know how to do it right. It would have to be difficult
terrain, I guess, to not find the ELT in 24 hours. Also, it would not be
uncommon for the ELT to not work or to run out of battery power before 24 hours
are over.


4- What position does the ELT have to be at in flight, for it to go off
by itself when it needs to?

Armed. You can also manually put it to on after the crash if the automatic
function didn't work.


5- Here are the extra questions that came up when I was looking for the
answer to the previous one. I found a .wav file of what an ELT sounds
like when it goes off. Is that an audible noise? How long does it
last? That would drive my pilot batty if it goes on very long.

That noise is audible only in a radio tuned to 121.5 MHz (or 243 MHz, the
military emergency frequency). This radio signal emitted by the ELT is used by
rescue workers to find the ELT.


--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)