Did your ELT work?

Add another one to the "yes" column.

Larry Goddard
"01" USA


Eric Greenwell wrote:

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.
--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Yes it did. It was/is a Pointer. 121.5 Mhz.

(Fortunately I was in reasonable order and able to de-activate the unit
and walk away...)

On the other hand I have seen a couple of false alarms and also know of
a severe accident in the Alps where the ELT did NOT work. The pilot was
lying in the wreck with a broken back for 6 hours before he was rescued
after the wreck was spotted by someone else. The angle with which the
fuselage hit the ground was problably the cause why the ELT did not trigger.

Nils [AZ|CK]

Eric Greenwell wrote:
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.