There have been a number of US accidents in the last few years that were not
found for days..
- The glider was not missed until the end of the day when he did land back
at the airport and had not reported in.
- An installed ELT would automatically activate on most impacts and not
require a pilot with injuries to become conscious enough to activate it
- I agree a personal ELT will be with the parachute harness and not far from
the glider.
- A built in ELT can be manually activated.
- The recent mid air at Minden NV between a glider and a jet, the pilot
landed in the parachute beside or close enough to, his glider. The harness
was found next to the glider, as the pilot after waiting a few hours decided
to walk out before dark.
- Likely hood of mid air accidents are increased during contests because of
"gaggle" and common turn points, and missing gliders from accidents during
contests, increased notification time and likelihood of finding a pilot
before he succumbs to injuries, so SSA deems it necessary.

BT

wrote in message
oups.com...

Why do the (USA) present rules re ELT's stipulate that they have to be
mounted and meet FAA specifications, and that personal ones do not meet
the rules?

If you bale out, you might be a long way from the glider wreckage and
remain undiscovered if rescuers only have a fix on the glider wreckage.
Most survivable accidents, bale out or still in cockpit, have the
pilot still able to push a button and could use a personal ELT. That
seems to be the thinking of several UK piots who have or are thinking
about ELT's. I looked at the installation/certification details of a
fixed one (no approved scheme for it in the UK) and it looks difficult
to the point of being impractical.

Chris N.