Did your ELT work?

Ed Byars said he has had two successful 121.5 style ELT activations; I
know a pilot in our club that had a successful activation (the police
were alerted and arrived in short while). So the scorecard is:

3 Successful activations
? Unsuccessful activations

I don't know of any other cases. This is a very unscientific poll, but
perhaps others can report their experiences in actual crashes, which
might give us a better idea of their value.

Personally, I fly with an 121.5 ELT, for several reasons:

1) Because I fly a motorglider, I often fly when (or where) other glider
pilots aren't flying, so there is no one to give my position to.

2) I often fly a 100 miles or more away from home, so I can't contact my
base station.

3) I frequently fly over mountains and other terrain where locating the
glider would be difficult.

4) My wife said it makes her feel better, knowing I might be found
sooner after an accident.

5) It might (in some areas) make search and rescue people more likely to
search for me.

The cost was about $300, because I bought a small one that could be
mounted more easily. The larger ones are quite a bit cheaper, and
probably no harder to mount, now that I've seen some other installations.
--
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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Fortunately, have never been in a crash. However, a few years ago during an
off field landing, the glider wheel fell into a ground hog hole while I was
still rolling at about 20 mph. The glider stopped instantly with damage to
the gear mechanism. The ELT activated.

I would count this as a successful activation

--
Bob
bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom --fix this before responding

Eric Greenwell wrote in message ...
Ed Byars said he has had two successful 121.5 style ELT activations; I
know a pilot in our club that had a successful activation (the police
were alerted and arrived in short while). So the scorecard is:

3 Successful activations
? Unsuccessful activations

I don't know of any other cases. This is a very unscientific poll, but
perhaps others can report their experiences in actual crashes, which
might give us a better idea of their value.

Eric,

My ELT in an ASW-24 activated and transmitted well after a gear-up
landing in Uvalde. The glider was taken to someone's house for repair
and fuselage was turned over to work on the belly. I had forgotten to
de-arm the unit. At around 1AM the Civil Air Patrol people got the
person doing the repairs out of bed. They told him very politely that
he may not be aware of it but there appears to be a crashed airplane
in his backyard.
There was no fine, no fuss about the incident. The ELT had
transmitted through the bottom of the glider (ELT installed in one of
the tubes where the thermos bottles used to reside)with the stock
antenna stowed horizontally in another tube. Time from activation to
rescue people showing up: around 4-6 hours, not bad considering there
was no missing pilot report.

Herbert, J7

Ed Byars said he has had two successful 121.5 style ELT activations;

??????

A few years ago a friend of mine decided to turn his glider into a lawn dart.
His ELT activated as designed. Fortunately he walked away from the crash
(cartwheeling through the forest canopy dissipates energy quite nicely).
cp

"ChuckPilot" wrote in message
...
A few years ago a friend of mine decided to turn his glider into a lawn
dart.
His ELT activated as designed. Fortunately he walked away from the crash
(cartwheeling through the forest canopy dissipates energy quite nicely).
cp

cp: some time hit do, sometime hit don't. I know! (I'm referring to energy
dissipation, not ELT activation).
Ed Byars

Shaber CJ wrote:

Ed Byars said he has had two successful 121.5 style ELT activations;

??????

"121.5 style ELT" = older type of ELT (121.5 mhz only), allegedly with
less reliable activation than the newer 406 mhz units. So far, no one
has reported a "failed to activate" situation.


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Specifically, I have for several years, used the $185 Ameri-King ELT
available at any glider or aircraft supply house. I like it because it is
compact, easy to mount, and uses only 6 of the inexpensive D cell flashlight
batteries available at Walmart or any hardware store. You can take the unit
out, plug in the furnished portable antenna and a microphone and transmit
while you are awaiting rescue or walking back to civilization.
This unit was in use for my two successful activations.
Ed Byars

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
Shaber CJ wrote:

Ed Byars said he has had two successful 121.5 style ELT activations;

??????

"121.5 style ELT" = older type of ELT (121.5 mhz only), allegedly with
less reliable activation than the newer 406 mhz units. So far, no one
has reported a "failed to activate" situation.


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Here's a brief, interesting read...

http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/cont...y_locator.html

On 6/22/04 9:58 AM, in article ,
"Todd Pattist" wrote:

"Ed Byars" wrote:

Specifically, I have for several years, used the $185 Ameri-King ELT
available at any glider or aircraft supply house. I like it because it is
compact, easy to mount, and uses only 6 of the inexpensive D cell flashlight
batteries available at Walmart or any hardware store. You can take the unit
out, plug in the furnished portable antenna and a microphone and transmit
while you are awaiting rescue or walking back to civilization.
This unit was in use for my two successful activations.
Ed Byars

I'm glad to hear the Ameri-King worked, as that's what I'm
using now in my glider. OTOH, the article cited by Chris
says 121.5 ELT's can only be located within 12 nm radius or
450 square nautical miles. The 406 units allegedly get
within 2 nm, and it takes a 406 plus GPS to get right to
you. Given those numbers, I'd really like to confirm what
Peter Masak was using before I make a decision on what to
buy for my airplane (and possibly swap into the glider). If
anyone reads this, knows what he had installed, and does
not want to post here, I'd greatly appreciate an email at:



Thanks.
Todd Pattist - "WH" Ventus C
(Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.)
The 121.5 ELT signal is "heard" by satellites passing overhead. They record
both the Doppler shift and relative signal strength. After several passes by
one (or more) the search area is localized to the approximate area that
Chris mentioned. As soon as the search is dispatched, they use direction
finding equipment to rapidly narrow the search and home in on the target.

The big difference between 121.5 and 406 ELTs is (not counting the 2009
issue) is the time it takes to get the search established. For 121.5, it
takes several satellite passes (at about 90 minutes each) to raise a
warning. With the 406, it's almost instantaneous, and the dispatch center
can call to verify that a search is needed and dispatch it right away.

I do not know what ELT peter was using. But, remember that the 406 ELT also
transmits a homing signal on both 121.5 and 243 MHz. If I remember
correctly, a tow plane was sent looking for Peter (and a 121.5 signal) at
the end of the day. The local search began as soon as possible using the
121.5 signal.

However, on the 2 occasions where I had inadvertently put my glider in the
trailer with the ELT (121.5) transmitting, the search party was at my
doorstep (the glider trailer was in the driveway) within 8 hours.

I have had an ELT in my glider since 1988 when I started flying Cross
country seriously.

--
Bob
bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom --fix this before responding