Could not agree more about the desirability of good
location aids. Although the personal locator beacon
has the disadvantage of needing manual activation [which
in some situations might not be possible] it also has
the advantage that it can be activated in advance -
for instance, when facing a certain landing in dangerous
terrain, it could be activated on final approach, ensuring
a signal is sent out even if the landing is disastrous
and the ELT fails to activate on impact. Also, the
much better location accuracy with GPS should lead
to a quicker find - this accident apparently happened
quite early in the day but the ELT limitations did
not ensure location of the pilot before nightfall.

Both systems have some limitations, having both is
perfection, having at least one is good common sense
for most X-C flight.

Ian





At 13:48 18 April 2007, wrote:

There was a very serious glider accident Monday morning
involving a
glider flying along the Bald Eagle Ridge. The winds
were very strong
with gusts as high as 50 Kts and there was lots of
rain and snow. The
flight originated at Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The pilot was seriously injured with broken leg and
arm along with
other injuries. He did have an ELT, and his cell phone
did work
briefly until a local cell tower was damaged by the
high winds.

The search team was unable to locate the pilot all
day and called off
the search Monday evening due to extremely high winds
and snow/poor
visibility. They resumed the search this morning and
found him. It
took most of Tuesday to retrieve the pilot so a helicopter
could take
him to a hospital where it is expected he will recover.

The bottom line is the pilot spent a day and a half
alone in the
wilderness even though he had an operating ELT. Without
an ELT it
might have been several days before he was found. In
some conditions,
the glider might not be found for months.

If you fly - especially cross country - and even more
especially if
you fly over hostile terrain, you owe it to those who
will search for
you to carry a signaling device in your glider.

New low cost Personal GPS ELT devices are now available,
and they are
not so expensive. Check out our web site www.eglider.org.
I have
placed on the home page, the Aerofix 406 Personal ELT.
It is small and
we sell it for less than anyone I am aware of at $549.95

The pilot must turn on these Personal ELT devices.
They do not go off
themselves when you crash. However, most survivable
accidents do not
disable the pilot entirely. You should also have an
aircraft ELT
installed in your glider. Even these devices may not
go off depending
on how the glider crashes. The personal ELT can be
attached to your
parachute so the rescue team will find you and not
your aircraft.

While you are at it - review your emergency kit items
to see if they
are up to date. Don't forget a whistle!

On our home page, near the bottom, click on 'news articles'
and review
the article about emergency kits. There are suggested
items you should
consider carrying in your glider.


Thomas Knauff

phone 814 355 2483
fax 814 355 2633
www.eglider.org
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