Ian Cant wrote:
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.

All ELT's have a manual activation switch, so they can also be activated
by the pilot in the situation Ian describes. I hadn't thought about
doing this with mine, but it sounds like a good idea. The post-landing
checklist should have "Check ELT" on it, so the pilot would remember to
deactivate after landing if it's not needed.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org