C180 down Alaska Range - occupants survived

18 hours with a 121.5 ELT and no radar. That's really good.

And it ain't a good time of year, either.

Good news that everyone is fine. Conditions like that can lead to a successful emergency landing and still have everyone dead from exposure.
 
MakG1 how much better do the 400Mhz systems work for finding people. I'm hopefully planning a trip from Seattle to PAPG this summer. The plane is equipped with 406Mhz and i'm also thinking of renting one of those units that gives your GPS position via satellite every 10 minutes and has a mayday button on it
 
406Mhz ELTs are the only ones that are tracked and located by satellite systems, since 2009. The new system is very capable for sat location and some 406 ELTs even include self generated GPS coordinates in their broadcast(not necessary but makes location even quicker and more precise). 121.5 ELTs can still be used for RF tracking by rescue aircraft but if the aircraft is not anywhere near the search area, it can be a problem (which happened in this case).
 
MIFlyer said:
MakG1 how much better do the 400Mhz systems work for finding people. I'm hopefully planning a trip from Seattle to PAPG this summer. The plane is equipped with 406Mhz and i'm also thinking of renting one of those units that gives your GPS position via satellite every 10 minutes and has a mayday button on it
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If they are properly registered and undamaged, 406 ELTs are considerably better.

But they have to survive for 50 seconds after the crash to guarantee a position transmission. That's problematic if there is a fire or the antenna is damaged (e.g., a flight into trees or a flip-over). And at high latitude around mountains, it's possible the satellite may never see it.

All 406s include 121.5 as well.
 
Go set your 406 off with the antenna disconnected and I'll bet you get a phone call in a few minutes. A wreck in Alaska a few years ago put a 182 on its back in a swamp. The 406 worked with the antenna planted in water and muck.

Part of the TSO for 406 ELTs is a requirement for a panel switch to set off the ELT. If you think a crash is imminent flip that switch. And yes, the first signal from the beacon will include a precise location if you tied your GPS data line to the ELT. Without that it takes 10-15 minutes for the satellites to have a good position solution worked out.

The folks that got picked up last night were very lucky. Mostly because they were close to Kenai and Anchorage and Air Guard Pave Hawks could work the area effectively. The plane took an unusual route so until the east side had been searched hard nobody looked on the west side where they were.
 
There was a 406 PLB activation in central California a few days ago, and I'm told that the actual location turned out to be about three miles from the satellite-derived location. My recollection of 121.5 satellite-derived positions (when we still had them) were often quite a bit farther off than that.
 
Also a good time to plug getting a Spot or spider tracks, or other 406 with GPS.

Might add not all 406s have GPS input/output, that's a huge factor IMO.

Haven't done the ACK 121.5 to 406 swap yet, but I do carry a 406 EPIRB that has internal GPS.
 
I have a 406 ELT, hard wired Spidertracks, Inreach Explorer, and an Iridium phone. All have their strengths. I use all but the ELT on a regular basis.

I won't ride in a plane that still has 121.5.
 
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