Personal Locator Beacon - USA

Does anyone have any thoughts about why one would
want a personal ELT over a fixed unit?
Todd Pattist - "WH" Ventus C

The portable EPIRB (personal ELT) I own costs
$159 at West Marine. The impact activated
ELT with 4 "D" batteries and a remote activation
switch for panel mounting costs $200.

In every case of flying, I'd prefer the $200
version. But since I fly non-owned aircraft
exclusively, I can't rely on having one installed.

I originally bought the personal ELT for sailing.
I started bringing it with me on flights when
I noticed:

1) Many of the planes/gliders I flew either had
no ELT installed or had no remote activation switch (older ELT)

2) I read somewhere (maybe AVWEB?) that only 25%
of accidents actually activate the installed ELT on impact.

So the idea of just flipping a switch of something I wear
on my chest with an antenna that won't be broken
is comforting.

In theory, I'd activate it anytime I'm below 1000 AGL and
about to make an off field landing, then I'd shut it
off if the landing goes "well".

In practice, I was once below 1000AGL about to land at
a lousy off-field in mountains and hadn't activated it.
Fortunately I found a low thermal instead. The reality
of having to land out came up so quickly and I was so busy
setting up, I didn't flip the switch on my chest.

Over mountains in power planes, however, I fly quite high
and am sure I'd have plenty of mental time to flip the
EPIRB. In a non-transpondered ragwing experimental
high over the desert far from anything my hand-held
radio can call, that EPIRB was the first thing on
my mind if my engine quit.

If you own your own aircraft, spend the $200 and
install the remote switch as well, and hit that
switch early if you even THINK you may crash
(this is better than the 25% chance it'll activate).
If all goes well, you can reset it 5 minutes later,
right? The little blinking light on the
panel will help to remind you...

P.S. Duats makes it so easy to file a flight plan
and get a briefing, I do this for all of my
cross-country flights (glider and otherwise).
Print it out, have your O/O sign it and that
becomes your declaration too, eh?

In article ,
Todd Pattist wrote:

Do they sell Personal ELT's in the hiking/camping market? I
always thought of it as an aviation related product - as
that's the only context I've seen it in. It makes a *lot*
more sense to me if it wasn't intended for aviation use.


From http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/download/R7AnnexC.pdf -

4112 : Sept 1982 - December 2001 number of SAR Events
1184 : ELT (Emergency Landing Transmitter) aviation
2421 : EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radiobeacons) maritime
507 : PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) other

So the sailors need resucuing by a 2:1 margin over the aviators. I guess
the hikers don't get lost much.

--
-Mark

Mark James Boyd wrote:

P.S. Duats makes it so easy to file a flight plan
and get a briefing, I do this for all of my
cross-country flights (glider and otherwise).
Print it out, have your O/O sign it and that
becomes your declaration too, eh?

What do you put in your flight plan? I've never considered it since I
rarely know where I'm going, sometimes even after I've been in the air
an hour or two.


--
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Replace "SPAM" with "charter" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

In article ,
Eric Greenwell wrote:
Mark James Boyd wrote:

P.S. Duats makes it so easy to file a flight plan
and get a briefing, I do this for all of my
cross-country flights (glider and otherwise).
Print it out, have your O/O sign it and that
becomes your declaration too, eh?

What do you put in your flight plan? I've never considered it since I
rarely know where I'm going, sometimes even after I've been in the air
an hour or two.

Eric Greenwell

Before going to Avenal, the night before I look very closely
at the Blipmaps (THANK YOU DR. JACK!)
http://www.drjack.net/BLIPMAP/contributors.html

From there I decide if I go north or south (south is only
good if there is convergence).

Then I check the thermal strengths to decide how far,
and I put one of my standard planned declarations in the
flight plan. I can usually do this the night before
on DUATS (www.duats.com).

100km triangle, 200km triangle or 300km out and return.
So I always have SOME declaration before takeoff,
and I'm always flying something a little bit close to
that flight plan. For example, even if I launch too
late to make the full 300km south route, I'll still go
south some to feel it out.

This would keep searchers from going East or West
ever, and tells them North or South. It also
clues in my tow pilot so when he gives his
last tow before coming to retrieve me, he releases
the guy on the way to getting me (saves $$$).

Maybe for commercial operators and some clubs with
computers, having pilots file a flight plan before
every X-C attempt is efficient. Then the pilot
has all NOTAMS, ATC knows where to look for you,
the FBO knows there may be a landout and can retain
tow staff/crew, the CFI (if needed) has some
printout to review, and your O/O has something to
sign right before takeoff.

It's a little extra effort to prep some declarations
(with lat/long for ATC) right before filing, but
once I've planned them once, it's easy to review the weather,
pick a route, and fly something at least in that
compass quadrant...

For me, I always have SOME idea what I'm going to do
before takeoff, and I let someone on the ground
know what it is in even more detail than the flight
plan, right before takeoff...
Often this includes my likely (and favorite) landouts.

Duats is great once one gets over the initial learning
curve. It gives some info (like winds at possible
landouts, and winds aloft at various altitudes) which
is very valuable.

You can also change, and THEN activate, your flight
plan in the air. Simple changes like routing
give the guy little grief. Your FBO/crew can then
call 1 800 WX BRIEF and get the latest if
you're overdue too...