13 MayELTs in the news
Emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs, are one of the factors that are often included in a post-accident discussion of search-and-rescue efforts.
Although a huge variety of factors affect the ultimate outcome of an aircraft accident, the presence or absence of an emergency locator transmitter, and how it performed during the incident are often discussed.
Here are two of the most recent news stories involving emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs.
“Everything worked like it was supposed to…”
Alaska, May 12, 2011
Earlier this week, the Alaska Air National Guard and U.S. Coast Guard were successful in their rescue of two people from a downed Piper PA-18 Super Cub.
“Everything worked like it was supposed to after the crash occurred,” Tech. Sgt. Gail Paculba of the 11th Air Force Rescue Coordination Center was quoted as saying by The Seward Phoenix Log.
“Because we had the satellite information from the emergency locator transmitter onboard the plane and the confirmation from SPOT, we were able to get rescue assets to the crash site quickly.”
The two individuals were rescued from an area a little more than 50 miles southeast of Cordova- near the Gulf of Alaska. According to The News Tribune in Anchorage, the crash was simultaneously reported by an Alaska Wildlife Trooper who witnessed the accident, and the aircraft’s on-board ELT.
Within two hours of the initial incident, both crash victims had been rescued and were en-route to definitive medical treatment in Anchorage.
The Alaska Air National Guard’s 211th Rescue Squadron and the Coast Guard were awarded two saves for the mission by the 11th Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
“No signal was picked up…”
Guwahati, India, April 30 – May 4
About 96 hours after it dropped out of contact, villagers finally found the wreckage of the VT-PHT helicopter carrying Arunchal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, two pilots, and two additional passengers. All were pronounced dead at the scene.
The VT-PHT is a AS350 B3 helicopter manufactured by Eurocopter, reports operating company Pawan Hans. After the craft’s initial disappearance, the company issued a news release on the condition and capability of the helicopter.
According to that release, the helicopter was fitted with an ELT that operated on both the 243.0 MHz and 406 MHz frequencies. The ELT is designed to activate upon impact.
Various news outlets are reporting that no ELT signal was picked up after the crash. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation in India will be looking into why the ELT did not activate.
Although 406 MHz ELTs have come to be recognized as providing solutions to many of the issues seen in their earlier 121.5 MHz counterparts, there are still some potential issues that are presented. Although there are some exceptions, the majority of 406 MHz ELT systems still require an external antenna.
“In a crash situation, there’s a lot of things that could go wrong to make the ELT not work properly, namely the antenna breaking off or something similar,” says Jamie Luster, FreeFlight Systems Director of Sales and Marketing.
The investigation into the crash is expected to continue.
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