ELT mount location

[Jim Herd]

ELTs (121.5 & 406) have certainlyt saved lives, but they have failed to do so far more often than they have succeeded! There is limited data available, but it shows ELTs fail to call the cavalry in your hour of need - about 70% of the time! Even greater failure rate by some reports. Why? Simply because when you and your plane are in serious distres, so is your ELT. Yes, they have been beefed up in recent years, but the end result is not markedly different. The one area of great improvement is with false alarms - if/when they succeed in raising the alarm (whether bona fide or in error) the 406 units provide user information (if they have been registered) such that a phone call can often avoid a false alarm scramble for the SAR folks. That's great, but it doesn't do anything for safety.

As has been mentioned, SPOT is a serious alternative option, but it is not aviation oriented and leaves a lot to be desired. "Spidertracks" is a similar concept but designed specifically for G.A. With both units, the concept is near-real-time breadcrumb tracking, which is reported by sattelite to a web site for viewing by wheoever the owner authorizes. So with this concept the unit doesn't have to survive a serious crach to raise the alarm - the absence of the ongoing breadcrumb track pinpoints the crash site, within seconds. This technology is now mandatoy for all Alaskan state aviation operations. It is vastly better than ELT!

If you have a choice, forget about investing in a shiny new 406 ELT and look into Spidertracks. And no, I have no personal gain involved here. http://www.spidertracks.com/