AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2014 - 86

P&E

FRUGAL FLIER
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EVEN THOUGH not required
by regulation, 406 MHz
ELTs have fallen so much
in price and increased in
capability that they are a
good value for GA pilots.

A tipping point
for 406 MHz
New technology is a compelling value
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N

A PAIR OF EVENTS last year changed my
mind about ELTs and spurred me to
take a long-delayed action. First, in early
December, a Beech Bonanza A36 with five
people aboard disappeared from radar
over a remote and rugged Idaho wilderness. An intense air and ground search was
launched, but adverse winter weather hampered efforts to locate the missing airplane.
A month later, no trace of the Bonanza or
its occupants had been found, and the only
ones still actively scouring the mountainous area where the airplane was last seen
on radar were heartbroken family members.
Next, the ancient 121.5 MHz ELT in my
own airplane went off while parked overnight in a hangar. I wouldn't have noticed,
but an alert airport neighbor tuned the
emergency frequency on his handheld radio
transceiver and heard the distinctive alarm.
The distress signal was faint, perhaps
because it had been going off for some time

86 | AOPA PILOT March 2014

without notice and draining the ELT battery.
The battery was almost due for replacement, but I decided to upgrade to a modern
406 MHz ELT instead-and the cost of a
new, more reliable, and far more accurate
ELT ($559 for an ACK Technologies E-04
model) was far less than I had anticipated.
Earlier generations of 406 MHz ELTs had
topped $5,000 in 2009, and $2,500 in 2011.
Now, they're much more affordable.
Also, the installation itself was simple.
The new ELT is exactly the same dimensions as the ACK E-01 it replaces, so it
clips into the same bracket. There is a new
antenna and a GPS connection, but the
entire installation can be done in about one
hour. Now, in the event of an accident, the
ELT will broadcast its GPS position (and
aircraft identity) with pinpoint accuracy.
ELTs became required equipment for
general aviation aircraft in 1973 after congressmen Hale Boggs and Nick Begich

perished in an aircraft accident in Alaska
and the wreckage of their airplane was
never found. ELTs, however-especially
back then-were nearly worthless. They
activated in fewer than 20 percent of accidents, and 97 percent of their signals were
false alarms. In an effort to improve the
ELT system, the U.S. government launched
a satellite monitoring program. But after 27
years, that monitoring system was canceled
in 2009 with little to show for it.
Today, digital technology has come up
with a better solution-the 406 MHz ELT.
It's far more durable; sends fewer false
alarms; and, best of all, it transmits GPS location and aircraft ID as well as a radio homing
signal to rescuers. It is orders of magnitude
more precise than its predecessors.
AOPA has long lobbied against new
mandates for 406 MHz ELTs. The association believes informed pilots should be
allowed to make their own choices about
the equipment they buy for their airplanes.
Now that the technology and reliability of
new ELTs has been proven, however, and
prices have fallen, 406 MHz ELTs are a
compelling value. In my mind, the scales
have tipped in favor of 406 MHz ELTs.
(PLBs and satellite messengers are terrific,
too, but survivors of an airplane accident
may not be able to find or correctly operate
them when it matters most.)
Pilots who choose to stick with the old
121.5 MHz ELTs certainly have the right to
do so. They know the kinds of places they
fly, and they can evaluate the risks. But
pilots must know that their chances of being
found after an accident in a remote area are
exceedingly poor with old ELTs-and better safety equipment is widely available at
reasonable prices. If the Bonanza lost over
Idaho had been equipped with a 406 MHz
ELT, chances are much greater that it would
have been promptly found.
AOPA
EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2014

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