406 hz ELT

[casey]

Was just wondering how every ones aircraft are aircraft fleet is progressing with the install to meet the dead line date Feb 01 I believe the date is.Our has the dead line date for install been changed and no one advised me.Raising the question because we have not done any of our a/c yet.Wait i think one is converted.

[Sulako]

My understanding is that as long as maintenance is actively working on converting all the aircraft in your fleet, they don't all have to be done by then. So if you have 4 planes and 1 is in the hangar getting the work done on Feb 1st, the other 3 can still fly while waiting their turn.

At least that's what our maintenance guys told me...

[Spinner]

from the TC letter, all depends on where you live I guess.

Following the coming into force of the proposed regulatory requirements on February 1, 2009, Transport Canada is planning a phased-in transition period of two years. This phased-in transition would allow for the number of units to be produced and the time required for their installation in the applicable segment of the Canadian civil aviation fleet. The transition would also enable the orderly implementation of the new ELT requirements by permitting persons, for a limited time, to operate aircraft equipped with ELTs that are not capable of broadcasting on a frequency of 406 MHz, or aircraft that are not yet equipped with an alternate means of emergency location. This transition period will be established through an exemption that will take effect following the coming into force of the regulation.


This phased-in approach would apply to persons who operate aircraft that are required to be equipped with ELTs or alternate means of emergency location in accordance with sections 605.38 and 605.41 of the proposed amendments to the CARs, except in the following situations:

newly manufactured aircraft will be required to have a 406 MHz ELT or
alternate means of emergency location as of February 1, 2009;

new or used registered aircraft following a transfer of ownership after
February 1,2009, will be required to be equipped with a 406 MHz ELT or
alternate means of emergency location;

aircraft operated in western Canadian airspace bounded on its east side by longitude
800 W and on its south side by latitude 55°N, as well as aircraft operated in eastern
Canadian airspace bounded on its west side by longitude 800 W and on its south side
by latitude SooN, will be required to be equipped with a 406 MHz ELT or an alternate
means of emergency location as of February 1, 2009.

The transition period would allow the aircraft's operators to delay compliance with the ELT requirements until completion of the first annual inspection of the aircraft after February 1, 2010, but before February 1,2011.

[HS-748 2A]

alot of specuation out there that equipment like SPOT might soon be aprovable. It's too bad that TC didn't wait a couple more years. There's so much in the way of improved technology comming along these days for a very reasonable dollar. The 406 MHZ is an improvement no doubt over 121.5 but some of the comercially available units are even better. (and much cheaper) COPA was really pushing for alternatives but it fell on deaf ears, as I understand. For private guys at least, they should make the exception.

[KnownIce]

The last article on COPA's website would suggest that TC is not remotely willingly to consider SPOT or any other device that won't auto-activate.

Perhaps by "alternate means of emergency location" they are allowing for future ADS-B implementation in certain regions?

[marceldulac]

What a waste of money! Such a huge cost to operators that will be changed in a few years anyway.

[culver10]

Canadian airspace bounded on its west side by longitude 800 W and on its south side
by latitude SooN, will be required to be equipped with a 406 MHz ELT or an alternate
means of emergency location as of February 1, 2009.

Does anyone know what an "alternate means" is??

[CD]

Discussed a bit in this thread last summer:

AvCanada: 406 ELT's

[culver10]

Like I figured, more TC mumbo jumbo lawyer talk. So there appears to be no "alternate means" for any aircraft flying north to CYMM?? Just install the 406 and get it over with. I installed an Artex ME406 in a customers plane in late Dec and it was not too bad. By the time I made up the new wire harness and routed it to the new switch, cut the new hole for the switch, mounted the new antenna and did all of the required paperwork it was a full days worth of work. The new tray did line up with the original mounting holes! I forgot about mounting the little buzzer thingy also.

[scouty-dog]

What a waste of time arguing. TC requirements are that they are installed, so do so. If you were to go down with a different mfg. tracking system that didn't self-activate, you might change your tune.

Install them. Complete TC's requirements. Carry on. I could sit here and argue, but I have the remaining fleet to finish.

[Expat]

Like I figured, more TC mumbo jumbo lawyer talk. So there appears to be no "alternate means" for any aircraft flying north to CYMM?? Just install the 406 and get it over with. I installed an Artex ME406 in a customers plane in late Dec and it was not too bad. By the time I made up the new wire harness and routed it to the new switch, cut the new hole for the switch, mounted the new antenna and did all of the required paperwork it was a full days worth of work. The new tray did line up with the original mounting holes! I forgot about mounting the little buzzer thingy also.

How much for the work in say...a C-172?

[hydraulic fluid]

We have 2 done 2 to go....no use to complain it has to be done

[CD]

Majority of aircraft in Canada using outmoded emergency beacons

25 Apr, 3:24 PM

HALIFAX, N.S. - The majority of commercial and private aircraft in Canada are flying with emergency locator beacons that use an outmoded satellite frequency, effectively silencing a lifeline that tells searchers where a plane is if it crashes or needs help.

The federal government switched the frequency for the critical equipment on Feb. 1 to align itself with international search agencies that are only listening to beacons using the 406 megahertz frequency.

The older analog beacons - the 121.5 megahertz frequency - no longer alert search and rescue authorities, leaving the 75 to 85 per cent of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft that haven't made the switch in Canada virtually in the dark if they have an emergency.

"When an accident or a serious incident occurs, that's when they really act like a crew's lifeline to survival," said Carole Smith of the National Search and Rescue Secretariat, a branch of National Defence.

However, Smith says an international satellite system, and Canadian search and rescue centres, are only listening for the newer beacons.

"Only those digital beacons that operate on a frequency of 406 megahertz will continue to be monitored," she said.

The beacon sends out a signal to the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system alerting authorities that an incident has occurred, automatically sending a location through to rescue authorities to guide them to the crash.

The devices, which can be activated manually or automatically under the force of impact, are mandated for use by Transport Canada on everything from a Cessna to a Boeing 737 and higher.

But the switch to the 406 megahertz frequency is still voluntary while the federal department drafts regulations.

Smith says the 406 digital beacon is an improvement over the older analog version because it provides ground search and rescue officials with more precise co-ordinates of a plane in distress and gives detailed information about the aircraft.

Not adapting a transmitter to use the 406 megahertz beacon means it could take far longer to determine the location of a downed plane.

Last month, a light aircraft still equipped with an analog beacon and affiliated with a training school went down near Fredericton.

Notification of the crash only came from another plane passing overhead and the location co-ordinates were far from where the small aircraft actually went down.

"It did take considerably longer than if that aircraft had a 406 megahertz beacon on board," Smith said. "(With 406 megahertz) search and rescue would have known within minutes that there was a distress and which particular aircraft was in distress."

But owners and operators have been slow to change over, saying there are fundamental, age-old problems with the transmitters that are simply being passed on with the new frequency.

John Davidson of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association said the emergency locator transmitters have a central design flaw that means they often don't go off.

It has a one-directional gravity switch that won't get activated if it isn't hit at a certain angle when a plane crashes.

"All of the installation factors are still a problem from the original 121.5 system," he said from Winnipeg. "None of the equipment has changed other than to change the frequency and that's the rub - all of the problem sets from the original system are still there."

Critics contend the new system has its own set of deficiencies and will cost up to $4,000 to install.

The new digital system will take about 50 seconds longer to alert search officials of an emergency, in which time an aircraft can sink, turn upside down or catch fire, all of which would prevent a signal from getting out.

The system is mandatory in several countries, but it will likely be years before Canada forces aviators to make the switch.

Draft regulations have been published in the Canada Gazette and are being reviewed, but the government is expected to grant a two-year implementation period once the regulations are brought in.

"We're currently reviewing feedback from stakeholders, looking at all technologies and working on finalizing regulations," said Maryse Durette, a spokeswoman with Transport Canada.

Davidson, whose group represents about 3,500 volunteers involved in search and rescue, said he wants regulators to consider other technologies before mandating the emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs, on the 406 megahertz frequency.

"The industry is saying, 'Why don't we fix it, why don't we get newer technologies out there that monitor airplanes,"' he said. "There are too many dangers of the ELT not working properly."

Full article here...

[The Wizard of OZ]

The new regulations pertaining to the 406 Mhz ELT have been put on hold by the minister. If you check the current CARs I think you will find that you are not required to have a 406 ELT....Yet....and you will not have to have the new ELT until the CARs are changed.

The Feb 1 Deadline was when The satellites would stop recieving the 121.5 signals.

Your current 121.5 elt will allow SAR to track to your location, But it will no longer trigger a SAR response is how I understand it.

So its up to you to decide if you want to change your ELT now or wait until you are forced to(which might not happen). As an aircraft owner or PIC that risk decision is in your hands right now.

[HS-748 2A]

According to what I read of the Regs, an airplane operated by an FTU can operate within 25 Nautical miles of the airdrome of departure without an ELT (either type) installed.

It seems that that is not allowable for private aircraft, not operated under an FTU.

Am I correct in this?

[AME 283]

Read Gazette 2 legislation has not been passed yet, until passed it is not law. The rest is all innuendo and TC can not force anything until it is law