On 02/18/2017 10:44 AM, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 10:30:57 PM UTC-5, Paul Villinski wrote:
Wondering if ADS-B equipped aircraft have any advantage should they
need search and rescue, given that they broadcast their ID and coordinates.

1) ADS-B ground stations logging data would need to receive ADS-B down
to near ground level to get close to the crash site. A glider can travel
a long distance from the altitudes mentioned as ground-station receive
floor in this thread.

I think people don't appreciate how extensive the FlightAware network
really is. I've tracked traffic down to landing, and then taxiing back
to their hangar from 30 miles away. Would be interesting if Sarah went
to flightaware.com, put in her N number, and saw what data the system
has on her flights.

The system even has some capability of tracking Mode S targets with
triangulation, although with reduced accuracy and coverage.



2) FLARM can assist in SAR (and has done a number of times). This requires
other gliders flying in FLARM-range of the crash, otherwise the search
area will not be narrowed to a helpful size. And the FLARM log files need
to be promptly recovered from gliders in the area and forwarded to FLARM
for analysis.