GPS for ELT??

[James331]

Your freedom costs everyone else money. That's selfishness. If you want to be free take the darn thing out. Man up, rebel! At least now we know post #16 was a load of crap.

What are you going off about?


So, if "something" happens it might cost others money, based off that we all probably should not fly, or ever leave our house eh?


And nothing I said was crap, I think the 406 with GPS is great, I'm planning on doing the upgrade myself, but I don't think just because it's great for my mission (especially if I didn't have the EPIRB) everyone else should be forced to buy the dang thing too.

I mean if you're flying near major cities all the time in a C150, you probably wouldn't even NEED a ELT at all since if you put it down you'll be very noticed.

 

[Stewartb]

You ever complain about welfare recipients? They should do something to get off the dole, right? So should the average pilot. 406 ELTs make some sense. 121.5 ELTs make no sense.

 

[James331]

You ever complain about welfare recipients? They should do something to get off the dole, right? So should the average pilot. 406 ELTs make some sense. 121.5 ELTs make no sense.

Yes, personally I'd end quite a bit of the government if I had the choice, country seemed to run very well before everything was mandated and taxed into oblivion.


And your cell phone argument is exactly my point!!
The reason most have cell phones and upgrade them is because it's a good value for their money, people see the benefits, and on a cost to what they get for their money it makes sense for most, nearly everyone has a cell phone and most also upgrade when a feature comes out that they like, and not a mandate was needed



Also what a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in when one American appreciates having more freedom and another Americans response to that is "grow up".

 

[bnt83]

I've never understood how the new 406 could possibly be certified with a Velcro retention strap. That was a YGFSM moment from the get go.

Also, why the hell isn't there a dual antenna requirement? A top and bottom mounted antenna...

Then there is the plastic rod type antenna... Seems like the AmerKing looked like a tiny soon to be brittle POS.

406 is better, the execution wasn't.

 

[bkspero]

You make my point for me. It's all probabilities. Probably the most common scenario where the ELT is destroyed is CFIT, which is exactly the situation where you will not know that you are "on the way down" before you hit the cumulogranite. Also, how many of us who know we "are on the way down" will be 100% busy working on a best landing option and not remember a little red switch that we haven't thought about in years and which is not on our emergency checklist? I would not bet big money on myself to remember the switch though I should probably update my checklists. YMMV

I think this argument is a stretch. No one expects an ELT to be of much use for a CFIT crash into granite (or anything else). In those there is no one left alive to rescue. Same with low altitude loss of control (stall/spin) where there will also be no time to trigger an ELT...and also substantially no chance of survival. But for many types of incidents where chances of survival are reasonable; like fuel exhaustion, or in-flight engine failure, or even in-flight fire; having a gps-linked 406 ELT that can be triggered in the air (the topic of this thread) provides a benefit can't be matched by either a 406 ELT without gps, or a 121.5 ELT.

As for not remembering to trigger an ELT in the air prior to an off field landing (i.e., crash), it is something that can be made part of an emergency flow and practiced so it won't be forgotten. As for being too busy to trigger the ELT, the switch for mine literally takes 2 seconds to reach and tap. I hope that I never have the need to trigger it for real, but if I do, I will make the time to do so.