The question at hand is whether the new transponders will really reduce
the need for S&R? It may reduce the search time somewhat, but it won't do
much to eliminate the rescue operations.

It may be all hype, but I thought the new 406 mhz ELTs were designed
to report your position in Lat/Lon, like a GPS? If that's the case,
the "Search" part of a SAR mission has been entirely eliminated.

I also thought these things were being touted as all-but-eliminating
false signals? Sadly, false alarms made up the vast majority of our
CAP SAR missions, so a huge percentage of CAP SAR will be eliminated
if this feature is truly functional.

Anyway, with no one listening to 121.5, I suspect most pilots will be
switching to 406s when their current batteries die. If everyone
switches, this will be a great enhancement to safety, but it *sounds*
like 90% of CAP's purpose (outside of educational -- which means we're
back to "Boy Scouts Without a Mission") will be eliminated.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"