When an ELT is reported,
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, North Shore
When an ELT is reported,
what do you guys do? I know you want to know when we lose the signal, but on your end, what's the procedure?
Drinking outside the box.
We also start soliciting reports from other aircraft in the area. As was previously said, we record the position, time and altitude when the aircraft starts receiving the signal and the position, time and altitude when the signal is lost, as well as signal strength, if the signal is intermittent, etc.
All reports, are forwarded to the appropriate RCC (Rescue Coordination Centre) who triangulate the signal, try to determine if it is a false signal, and if required launch a SAR team.
The funniest story I have heard about a false ELT was late at night numerous a/c started reporting an ELT and most a/c would lose the signal after a short period of time, which is to be expected. However, three a/c received the signal the whole time they were flying through southern Saskatchewan, over approximately 350nM. It turns out one of these three a/c had accidentally activated their ELT while in flight.
All reports, are forwarded to the appropriate RCC (Rescue Coordination Centre) who triangulate the signal, try to determine if it is a false signal, and if required launch a SAR team.
The funniest story I have heard about a false ELT was late at night numerous a/c started reporting an ELT and most a/c would lose the signal after a short period of time, which is to be expected. However, three a/c received the signal the whole time they were flying through southern Saskatchewan, over approximately 350nM. It turns out one of these three a/c had accidentally activated their ELT while in flight.
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GilletteNorth
- Rank 7
- Posts: 704
- Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:09 pm
- Location: throw a dart dead center of Saskatchewan
Best ELT story I know of occured over 10 years ago. An American from New York flew up to Fort Simpson NWT to camp out 'in the bush' in the middle of winter. The local aviation companies recognized the guy was a danger to himself and refused to take him anywhere. Finally after many days the weather improved, the temp wasn't going to be below -10? so someone flew him out to Wrigley and he was driven about 10 miles out of the community to set up a tent. He had a very inadequate sleeping bag, very little provisions and really wasn't prepared to spend the night in the cold but he insisted he could take care of himself. Middle of the night an ELT goes off. RCC called the FSS and asked about any planes in the area of Wrigley. As far as FSS knew, no local planes were out flying so RCC sent a C-130 to investigate. I believe it flew from Winnipeg to the Alberta/Sask border near Fort McMurray before the specialist on duty recalled stories about this guy from New York circulating town, contacted the RCMP to investigate, and they found out it WAS the American. The RCMP found him in a bit of a panic, with his tent burned, and him claiming wolves had been attacking (which is why the tent had been set alight to drive them off) though no wolf tracks were found. He was packed off the next day, back to the USA where he apparently made some headlines about spending the night in the frigid Canadian north. Kudos to the specialist on duty that night for even remembering this wonderful fellow was out there.
