Bryan Wood
Well Known Member
A co-worker was goofing around with a couple of ELT's and it caught my attention. Working for an airline I'm not used to seeing GA equipment at work so naturally seeing boxes full of GA ELT's surprised me. I guess they came on Airbus's and were mounted in the cockpit for the crews use but are now being replaced with 406mhz units. Whatever the reasons there are many, many ELTs and he was playing around with them.
With the ELT's in the armed position he would pick them up one at a time and make them level as he held them. Then in the direction of the arrow on the outside of the case that shows mounting direction he would slowly turn them down so that the arrow faced towards the floor. Some of these ELT's went off by gently pointing them down. Others had to be hit pretty hard to get the "G" switches to close simulating an impact and thus turning on the beacon. What impressed me was that several turned on without the impact to close the switches and how they could never live in an aerobatic airplane. I'm not implying anything about the quality of the units, just that it might be a good idea to check yours if you have one. JMHO
Best,
With the ELT's in the armed position he would pick them up one at a time and make them level as he held them. Then in the direction of the arrow on the outside of the case that shows mounting direction he would slowly turn them down so that the arrow faced towards the floor. Some of these ELT's went off by gently pointing them down. Others had to be hit pretty hard to get the "G" switches to close simulating an impact and thus turning on the beacon. What impressed me was that several turned on without the impact to close the switches and how they could never live in an aerobatic airplane. I'm not implying anything about the quality of the units, just that it might be a good idea to check yours if you have one. JMHO
Best,