On May 14, 9:13*am, wrote:
Having followed the discussions here on the SPOT messenger
(findmespot.com) I just bought one -- andhope never to need it of
course. While far from perfect, it seems like a very good aid should
search and rescue be needed. A few observations:

I had thought I might use it in OK mode to report my position more
frequently than the every 10 minutes in "track mode." At 120 kts,
that's every 20 nm, leaving as much as 1500 sq miles to search. Better
than those looking for Steve Fosset had, but still a lot. Of course,
the average will be less than 1500 sq miles. There is a 50% chance it
will be less than 400 sq miles.

I have Spot because I travel to Mexico a lot. 400 sq miles may seem
like a pretty bad worse case scenario but I can tell you from having
partisipated in several S&R missions that we would have loved to have
narrowed the target down to 400 sq miles. I've been on many searches
that were many states. My first one was a plane that took off from
Iowa bound for Davis, CA. We must have spent hundrends of man hours
searching the track between Iowa and California. 400 sq miles would
have been wonderful.

-Robert