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?