All due respect to your credentials, Jim, I think you're wrong on both
counts.

1. In my experience, a call to the manufacturer of a product about a
potential problem with that product generally results in a CYA
response: There's nothing wrong with our wonderful product, there
must be something wrong with the way you are using it.

Asking whether others had shared his experience was not insulting the
company. It's quite possible that someone else might reply, "I had
the same experience, and it turned out I had accidently shorted the
frammel connector to the glidget nut - check your connections" in
which case Mike would feel chagrined at his slight importuning of the
fine engineers at ACK (which I'm sure they'll recover from without
flame-mail or slander litigation). it's also possible that several
folks folks might pipe up and say, "Hey, I though it was just me that
happened to!" in which case a critical design flaw (and an ELT failing
with no notice is a critical flaw, would you not agree?) is brought to
light in such a way that it can't be swept under the rug (not that ANY
manufacturer of repute would ever do that.)

2. One does not have to be capable of creating a design in order to
point out a flaw in a design, especially a usability flaw. Perhaps
the system is working exactly as designed - and it's a bad design.
Designers and engineers are human, and we make poor decisions just
like pilots do. (I know, you're shocked - shocked! that such a thing
could be.) It's perfectly permissible for users to point those things
out. In fact, sometimes users are the only ones who CAN point these
things out, because they put the product to the test in the ral world.


At the very least, I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that a bunch of
folks are going to check their ELTs this week instead of taking them
for granted. And that just might save a life. Isn't that what this
group is supposed to be about?


Corrie Bergeron - designer and user

Jim Weir wrote in message . ..
(MikeremlaP)
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-Am wondering if there's a design flaw in the ACK E-01 ELT or just an anomaly?

What did ACK say? You **DID** call them and ask before insulting them publicly
on this newsgroup, yes?

-
-If a dying battery in the remote ***always*** sets off the ELT, then this is a
-design flaw.

And what credentials do you possess to make this determination?

Jim



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com