Sticky1

Sticky1

Well Known Member
Interesting read......

FAAST Blast
Notice Number: NOTC1594


FAAST Blast ? Mar. 17, 2009
Biweekly FAA Aviation News update


ELT Disposal ? Don?t Trash the Beacon!
As pilots transition from 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters (ELT) to the newer and more reliable 406 MHz digital emergency beacons, many of the older ELTs are finding their way to trash dumpsters and landfills. If the old ELTS are not removed and discarded properly, the device could be accidentally activated and broadcast a distress signal forcing emergency responders, namely the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), to locate the disposed transmitter. ?It is time consuming for our members to locate and silence ELTs in landfills and dumpsters,? says CAP National Commander Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter, ?but it is something that must be done to make sure all emergency signals are accounted for.? If you are discarding one of these devices, please remove or disconnect batteries so the device cannot be accidentally activated. Then, contact an electronics waste facility in your area for proper disposal.
 
I read that...

I can't imagine someone just tossing the thing in the trash with the battery still in it, what are they thinking:eek:
 
I can imagine it. I can also imagine people fishing them out of the trash, putting batteries in them, and activating them without knowing what it is.

One more reason to go with 406...
 
And Not Just ELT's

Last year I flew a CAP mission to find a non-distress ELT. We homed in on it in a landfill. The ground team we were working with spent four hours trudging through and finally found an EPIRB that had been thrown away with its batteries in and going off.

It gets even more fun. A few months ago our ground team found a non-distress ELT going off in someones fenced back yard. It was a beacon attached to a life raft that went off when the kids decided to inflate it in. This one had them nervous because it was right next to an uncontrolled mountain airport.

The stories could go on for ever. At least now we are not getting called by the AFRCC every time a 121.5 beacon goes off. But everyone should be a good citizen and monitor 121.5 on your second comm when you can.

My guess is that the landfill issue is more of an EPIRB problem in our area than ELT's since we have the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries filled with boats here.
 
Elt's in Landfills

I attended an ASF seminar this week and ELT disposal was discussed. The fear is that there will be a wave of false alarms until these transmitters are fully decomissioned. One case involved six people digging through a landfill for six hours to find the offending ELT. They shouldn't just be disabled, they should be destroyed. Help the CAP by freeing them up to deal with real emergencies.;)
 
Lionclaw said:
I can imagine it. I can also imagine people fishing them out of the trash, putting batteries in them, and activating them without knowing what it is.

One more reason to go with 406...
Click to expand...

I'm not following your logic here, Andy. Why is this one more reason to go with a 406 ELT?
 
The new ELT's

require re-registerng annually. The servce is free. The elt tells who is transmitting with type aircaft, phone number ect...

Andrew
 
awm said:
require re-registerng annually. The service is free. The elt tells who is transmitting with type aircaft, phone number ect...

Andrew
Click to expand...

From another perspective, in Canada we have to have our ELT's checked by the avionics shop. For the 121.5 we are charged $50. For the 406, it looks like it will be north of $80. That's every year! That's above the cost of battery replacements. Certainly not free for us....

My understanding is that a unique number is transmitted from the ELT. This can then be looked up on a database (automatically) to obtain all the pertinent information.

As for decommissioning the 121.5 ELTs, I would have liked to have seen a $25 discount for returning a 121.5 unit, applicable to the purchase of a 406. I'm sure there would be less units in the landfills.... well maybe just as many, but with circuitry crushed, and batteries removed.
 
Jamie said:
I'm not following your logic here, Andy. Why is this one more reason to go with a 406 ELT?
Click to expand...

^^ What Andrew and Alfio said. Plus, if the ratio of false alarms to real emergencies gets worse for 121.5, my thought is that emergency responders may act with less urgency to 121.5 signals. The ELT that cried wolf. I could be wrong *shrug*. In any case if someone else is going to pay to put better tech in orbit, I might as well buy an ELT to take advantage of it.
 
Pull of the battery pack before you throw it in the trash. They make awsome power supplies for your battery powered radio :)
 
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