Many of you already know this, but on February 1, 2009, satellites will no longer monitor your 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitter. Other aircraft or a nearby ATC facility may be monitoring 121.5 MHz, but satellite coverage will cease. With a few existing exceptions, you’ll still be required by FAR Part 91.207 to have an approved ELT firmly mounted in the airplane. Regulations do not stipulate on which frequency that emergency locator transmitter must transmit, only that you must have an approved unit permanently mounted in the aircraft that automatically activates when subjected to an impact.

The combined Russian – US satellite network, COSPAS – SARSAT, that currently monitors 121.5 calls, was developed to locate marine traffic in distress. Those satellites will continue to orbit as they do today but they will only monitor 406 MHz, a unique frequency dedicated to emergency beacons. Unlike 121.5 MHz that is a selectable aviation band voice frequency, 406 MHz is internationally protected as a distress frequency.

Also, unlike a 121.5 MHz ELT, each 406 MHz transmitter broadcasts a unique code registered to the owner. When a 406 MHz alert is received, a search and rescue organization can identify and quickly contact the owner to verify whether the alert is legitimate or accidental. This allows the search and rescue team to mobilize within minutes, as opposed to hours, of receiving an alert. Conversely, nearly 98% of all 121.5 MHz alerts are inadvertent activations so each must be authenticated before rescue efforts commence. You’ve heard it before, one of those ATC witch-hunts, “Do you guys have an ELT going off on the field there some place? Somebody says they’ve heard it since yesterday.”

Here’s an editorial opinion you may want to consider.

Right now a 406 MHz ELT for your plane will cost in the range of $1,500 plus installation. Maybe the cost will decrease in the future but right now, that’s the ante. If you ever need to depend on an ELT after January 2009, two factors come into play:

Question 1. Will you be able to get out of the plane? and,

Question 2. Will the plane catch fire, sink, or otherwise be totally destroyed?

If you get out and the plane remains intact, you could remain undetected for hours (perhaps days if you didn’t file a flight plan) if you’re depending on only your 121.5 MHz ELT and cell phone reception. If you’re injured and can’t get out but the plane remains intact, you’re still in the same situation with your 121.5 MHz ELT pinging away but you’ll be depending on another pilot to pick up your ELT and hopefully notify someone of your general location.

What if you answer ‘yes’ to both questions, you get out okay but the plane flipped over on its back and buried the ELT antenna or, worse case, it catches fire and the ELT is destroyed? No beacon alert and hopefully your survival kit wasn’t neatly stowed away in the baggage compartment. (Most survival training teaches you to either wear a vest with your survival equipment or at least have your gear available in the cockpit and ready to leave with you.) Back to the possibilities, in the last scenario where the answer to Question 1 is no and the answer to Question 2 is yes, it won’t matter too much what you have for an ELT, will it?

Consider a 406 MHz personal locating beacon as an interim measure. You can wear it like an oversized cell phone so it gets out of the plane if you get out and it goes where you go. If for some reason it’s in your best interest to leave the crash site, the PLB will go with you. Most PLB units broadcast a GPS derived location that tells search and rescue your location within a few meters. Some units can also broadcast a 121.5 MHz homing signal to help direct rescuers to your location…and they’re available for a few hundred dollars.