Got this from the NTSB today

[flyguy06]

NTSB Safety Recommendation A-07-51

************************************************************

The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that the
Federal Aviation Administration:

Seek authority from Congress to require the installation of
Technical Standard Order C126 [406 megahertz (MHz)]
emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) in all applicable
aircraft at the earliest possible opportunity. Further, the
Federal Aviation Administration should strongly consider
establishing a compliance date for upgrading to 406-MHz ELTs
on or before the date that COSPAS-SARSAT will cease
satellite processing of 121.5-MHz signals. (A-07-51)

************************************************************

[mikeylikey]

So one famous guy goes missing, who in part didn't file a flight plan, borrowed the Hilton's plane without telling them when he would be back, and the NTSB wants to rubberstamp legislation through.  When the Congress buys me an ELT, then I will comply.  JK

[RocketPropelled]

This is unrelated to the Fossett search.

The NTSB and FAA have wanted this change for a while, and every time it comes up, certain groups (AOPA, for one) oppose the idea of a "costly, mandatory installation of equipment."

So the proposal goes away.

I think it's gonna start sticking once folks realize that their "mandatory" ELTs aren't good for anything unless someone happens to be monitoring the freq when they fly by.  Most pilots don't know about the COSPAS/SARSAT sunsetting of 121.5 monitoring.

It's more a political thing than a common sense thing.

[flyguy06]

So one famous guy goes missing, who in part didn't file a flight plan, borrowed the Hilton's plane without telling them when he would be back, and the NTSB wants to rubberstamp legislation through.  When the Congress buys me an ELT, then I will comply.  JK

I dont think this ruling has anything to do with the current mission going on.

[bosshawk]

Guys: there are a couple of leaps of faith that have jumped up on this subject.  First, this is not an NTSB ruling, it is a recommendation.  It has no force of law.  It happens to make sense, but that has never much influenced the FAA to put anything into law.  There are precious few aircraft owners(like me) who will run right out and pay up to $3000 for one of these new ELTs.  Perhaps they will come down in price as they become more popular.

Second: the comments about Fossett not filing a flight plan need explanation.  One, he wasn't required to file a flight plan: he was flying VFR.  Secondly, I doubt that he even knew exactly where he intended to fly to look at dry lake beds as a possible location for his next attempt to set a land speed record.  If you don't know where you are going, how to do you tell the FAA where you intend to go.  Even if he had filed a VFR flight plan, he was likely below radar coverage in that area.  Now, who is going to monitor him?  Not the FAA, until the limits of his fuel had expired.  That is exactly what happened, as far as I can tell.  His plane held 5 hours of fuel and after he failed to return to the Flying M Ranch, his friends called the authorities.  What more would you have had him do?  I have been flying over 47 years and I am not sure what more I could have done in similar circumstances.
A flight plan is one form of insurance: not a life saver.

I am an experienced search pilot and I can tell you that searching in those hills and desert areas in Western Nevada and eastern California is not an easy task.  In the desert, every trash pile looks like a crash site, with sunlight glinting off metal and glass and there are thousands of trash piles out there.  In the mountains, the trees are largely impenetrable to visual search.  You find aircraft wrecks mostly by dumb luck.  Remember, a downed airplane does not look like an airplane: it looks like a trash pile.

I will probably fly on this search Friday and Saturday.

[mikeylikey]

^  I wish you luck Colonel!

[bosshawk]

Thanks, ML.  Every time that I strap on a 182 or 206, I need a certain amount of luck to go with what I hope is good judgement.  I have flown a lot of this search area in previous searches and it is not a fun place to fly.  The mountains go up to 14000 ft and they are chocked full of cumulus granite and trees.  The desert isn't flat: mostly hills and valleys.

CAWG had 12 aircraft up there today and NVWG had six, with the GA-8 from Utah.  Lots of CAP support so say a prayer for our intrepid aviators.

[Frenchie]

One of the problems right now is I don't think there's even a FAA standard for 406 mhz ELTs.  So even if you had one installed today, there's nothing stopping the FAA from coming out with a different standard tomorrow that would make your new ELT a $3000 paperweight.

The FAA should at the very least establish a 406 mhz standard by which new aircraft and/or new installations are required to comply with.

[sardak]

TSO C-126 for 406 MHz ELTs was issued by the FAA on 12/23/1992, and hasn't been changed since, so there is a standard, and has been one for almost 15 years.

In 1994, the NTSB, in comments to the FAA on a NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) on ELTs, advocated a fleet wide conversion to 406 MHz ELTs.  18 other commenters to this NPRM also recommended replacing 121.5 ELTs with 406 ones.

In 2003 the Coast Guard got federal law changed to require 406 MHz EPIRBs after January 1, 2007.

Unfortunately, the FAA will not fight AOPA over mandating 406 MHz ELTs.

Mike

[jb512]

Here it is:  http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=2989.0