NASA Completes ELT Reliability and Surviveability Testing

Started by ♠SARKID♠, May 23, 2017, 09:45:30 PM

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♠SARKID♠

I could have sworn this was discussed on the forum but now I can't find the thread.

NASA did some crash, bang, boom tests on some ELTs and I just saw on the their homepage that they published the findings.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20170002586

TL:DR
QuoteAntenna  connection  integrity  and  crash  sensing,  along  with  installation  and  mounting  issues, were  observed to  contribute  significantly  to  system  failures  and  both  can  be  addressed  by modifying  the  way  in  which  new  designs  are  qualified. Vibration  and  fire  sensitivity  have  also been  shown  to  detract  from  ELT  performance  and  means  for  mitigating  those  effects  have  also been demonstrated.

One of the drop tests

Live2Learn

A C182 fatal accident occurred north of Coeur d' Alene, ID a couple of years ago.  The 406 ELT survived the post crash fire long enough to send a single data burst.  That was sufficient to launch CAP and other SAR resources and for searchers to located the wreckage about six hours later.  See:  The NTSB Factual report for Accident Number  WPR16FA006 at https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20151008X00634&AKey=1&RType=Final&IType=FA.  That is a pretty good testimonial to the effectiveness of the 406 mhz ELT.

sardak

QuoteThat is a pretty good testimonial to the effectiveness of the 406 mhz ELT.
And the effectiveness of the Cospas-Sarsat system to have a satellite system that can detect a single burst. The new MEOSAR system is not only be able to detect a single burst, but it can determine the location of a single burst even if there is no encoded position data.

Mike