Zenith C601 crash in Kenosha WI

[CardinalFlyer]

Referencing the Zenith C601 wreckage found over the weekend in Kenosha WI, a flight apparently headed to Oshkosh/Airventure...I'm curious if anyone knows if an ELT had been detected for this crash?  It appears to be a vertical impact, so perhaps the g-meter was not tripped, but the aircraft remained upright and the empennage was in pretty good shape, suggesting the ELT and its antenna survived the crash.  I'm assuming an active beacon would have helped tremendously in finding this wreckage sooner.

[PHall]

Vertical crash would have tripped the G Force switch. Big time.
And you assume much when you assume the ELT was mounted in the tail.

[TheSkyHornet]

Vertical crash would have tripped the G Force switch. Big time.
And you assume much when you assume the ELT was mounted in the tail.

Zodiac ELTs are indeed located in the tail.

There was a case last year where a Zodiac crashed and wasn't found for a while, even though the NTSB reported the ELT had activated.

There have been a lot of issues with the Zodiacs, and many countries have restricted/prohibited their use due to safety concerns, most notably with the flight controls. The FAA wasn't too happy when the manufacturers came out with an upgrade kit to fix some problems since a lot of owners weren't installing these upgrade kits and they weren't being tracked. Although it was taking the liability off of the manufacturer, owners are still responsible for the maintenance and inspection of the aircraft and equipment.

I'm not sure if the ELT activated on this one. Haven't heard much about it. The vertical impact should have triggered the ELT, but I don't know if the antenna was damaged or not.

These aircraft do not have a good safety record; although, they're cheap and relatively easy to put together as a homebuilt.

[PHall]

Vertical crash would have tripped the G Force switch. Big time.
And you assume much when you assume the ELT was mounted in the tail.

Zodiac ELTs are indeed located in the tail.

There was a case last year where a Zodiac crashed and wasn't found for a while, even though the NTSB reported the ELT had activated.

There have been a lot of issues with the Zodiacs, and many countries have restricted/prohibited their use due to safety concerns, most notably with the flight controls. The FAA wasn't too happy when the manufacturers came out with an upgrade kit to fix some problems since a lot of owners weren't installing these upgrade kits and they weren't being tracked. Although it was taking the liability off of the manufacturer, owners are still responsible for the maintenance and inspection of the aircraft and equipment.

I'm not sure if the ELT activated on this one. Haven't heard much about it. The vertical impact should have triggered the ELT, but I don't know if the antenna was damaged or not.

These aircraft do not have a good safety record; although, they're cheap and relatively easy to put together as a homebuilt.

It's a homebuilt. The manufacturer suggests the ELT be mounted in the tail. But you and I both know that home builders tend to be an independant lot.
A lot of them like having the ELT accessable in the cockpit so they can easily remove it.

[TheSkyHornet]

Vertical crash would have tripped the G Force switch. Big time.
And you assume much when you assume the ELT was mounted in the tail.

Zodiac ELTs are indeed located in the tail.

There was a case last year where a Zodiac crashed and wasn't found for a while, even though the NTSB reported the ELT had activated.

There have been a lot of issues with the Zodiacs, and many countries have restricted/prohibited their use due to safety concerns, most notably with the flight controls. The FAA wasn't too happy when the manufacturers came out with an upgrade kit to fix some problems since a lot of owners weren't installing these upgrade kits and they weren't being tracked. Although it was taking the liability off of the manufacturer, owners are still responsible for the maintenance and inspection of the aircraft and equipment.

I'm not sure if the ELT activated on this one. Haven't heard much about it. The vertical impact should have triggered the ELT, but I don't know if the antenna was damaged or not.

These aircraft do not have a good safety record; although, they're cheap and relatively easy to put together as a homebuilt.

It's a homebuilt. The manufacturer suggests the ELT be mounted in the tail. But you and I both know that home builders tend to be an independant lot.
A lot of them like having the ELT accessable in the cockpit so they can easily remove it.

Definitely true. They do suggest mounting the ELT in the tail. As you said, homebuilts are often changed for the builder's convenience.

They still need to be inspected to be certified airworthy; although, there are those individuals who sneak under the radar with some things. A piece of paper and actually performing an activity according to published procedures are very different.

On top of the aircraft, they need to have the ELT inspected, another issue with some of the amateur owner/builders out there. What happens is a lot of people let stuff sit for a while, they don't keep track of what needs to be inspected, and then go out and fly it regardless. Even if they know what has to be inspected, it doesn't mean they actually had it done.

In this case, that's all speculation. So I won't assume anything. But it wouldn't be impossible to have a crash where an ELT didn't function correctly, and that it did function correctly and other issues prevented it from being used correctly in a sense of it serving its purpose.

[♠SARKID♠]

CAP did respond and find this crash. ELT was activated.