Busy UDF week...

[JoeTomasone]

Just to set the scene for you:

1.  Severe thunderstorms with some tornadic activity that impacted both a small commercial airport and:
2.  Sun & Fun, Lakeland, FL

Shake, stir, repeat.


Shortly after standing down from a Skywarn ham net, I got called up for a UDF mission for active ELTs at Lakeland Airport, the site of Sun & Fun, where between 50-70 aircraft were estimated to be damaged.   Before getting there, the team was redirected to a closer airport with an active ELT being heard on the field.   Upon arriving, we found several aircraft with collapsed landing gear, and one Cessna overturned.   "Bingo!", I figured, inverted = ELT, right?  Nope.    Turned out to be one of the aircraft with collapsed gear.   The aircraft was a Beech that had the ELT disarm switch near the tail in a small access port - but the switch failed to silence the unit.    The FBO contacted the owner and secured permission to enter the aircraft.   However, the disarm switch on the dash was inop as well.   The owner was contacted and he arranged for a maintenance crew to service the ELT.    We asked the FBO to call when the work crew finished (so we could verify with the tower that the ELT was silenced) and departed.

We were then advised that access to KLAL was suspended due to the amount of debris/fuel/etc.   The UDF mission was suspended there until the next morning. 

We arrived at KLAL and were taken to an impromptu "airplane graveyard", where damaged/destroyed aircraft were being taken (and it was a sad sight, trust me).   The theory was that the majority of activated ELTs would be there.    A quick check with the Sniffer and we were quickly being led OUT of the graveyard, to a distant point across the field.   We found an ELT going off in a plane that had suffered no damage, but had been lifted up and dropped by wind.    He silenced it, and there was no further signal to be found - which in itself was amazing.

I realized at this point that I hadn't received a call from the FBO.   I called them, and was told that the crew came, but couldn't verify that the ELT was disarmed as they had no equipment with which to check.   So I called the tower, who heard an active ELT on the field.   So, back to that airport, where we quickly discerned that the signal was NOT from the Beech that we found yesterday.    So, the hunt began.    We found one ELT in another aircraft with collapsed gear - but the contact phone number that the FBO had was disconnected.   Not good.   So, while they sorted that out, we found the other -- in a B-25.    Yes, a B-25.    It had been there as part of a show, but developed engine trouble and was stranded there.    After some initial stumbles, we finally got in touch with the foundation that owns the aircraft, who gave us permission to enter and silence to ELT.   So, we crawled up from the underbelly hatches and there it was. 

Failing to contact the owner of the other aircraft, the FBO was preparing to send someone to the owner's house.   However, by the time we got back to that aircraft, the battery on the ELT was so low that the signal wasn't propagating very far and was carrier-only.   So we advised the IC that we planned to just leave it and let it die, with the FBO notifying the owner.   

So there you have it..   4 finds in 2 days...  With a pretty unusual find for the storybooks.

[a2capt]

I wouldn't be surprised if that one that was "left to die" comes back on at least 3 times over the next week or so. As it dies just enough to stop draining and then gets a second wind, and third.. 

Thats exactly the kind we've dealt with on many searches here, in the days of satellite monitoring. "no, it's still on." "Yeah, it was, we lost it in exactly all the spots we had it" .. sure enough, it's back on again. .... and then it's off for a few more hours.

[JoeTomasone]

Well, it wasn't strong enough to make it far off the field, and was carrier-only, so it's unlikely to bother anyone.   And if it does manage to start sweeping again, the FBO knows which aircraft to check and who to go complain to.    AFRCC closed it out, so case closed for us. 

[♠SARKID♠]

I wouldn't be surprised if that one that was "left to die" comes back on at least 3 times over the next week or so. As it dies just enough to stop draining and then gets a second wind, and third.. 

Thats exactly the kind we've dealt with on many searches here, in the days of satellite monitoring. "no, it's still on." "Yeah, it was, we lost it in exactly all the spots we had it" .. sure enough, it's back on again. .... and then it's off for a few more hours.

Same thing was happening with an ELT we searched for on Christmas Day 2007.