For reasons unknown my 406/121.5 ELT started going off. It was in the hangar, but the door was open.

I called the head of SAR and told him to ignore it if they got a call on my tail number, then went to the FBO and asked if anyone knew what else I could do.

One fellow said I had two options...call the nearest control tower, or call the Air Force Rescue Control Center directly at: One8Hundred EightFifty-one ThirtyFifty-one.

I called Rescue Control and they'd just received the beacon, but with no location information (probably due to being in a hangar and a short transmission).

Canceling the alert at that point probably saved a few hours of phone calls at least. A previous accidental activation at a private strip near here resulted in a three-hour call out from SAR before it was figured out...not cool.

So if your ELT goes off accidentally, don't ignore it!

This is an excellent point to bring up. I admit I'd have to research who to call too in the event that I had an accidental ELT activation. Maybe create a label or info card for the airplane with procedure and numbers to call?

I was in the cockpit with my 2.5 year old a month ago and he was touching stuff while I watched (the master was off, what could possibly go wrong?) Of course he pushes the elt button. I immediately turned it off (reset) and even though it was on less than 3 seconds called fss.

About three weeks later we are getting on an alaska airlines flight and talking to the Capt, he invited my son in the cockpit, i declined, little guy can move fast when he wants to do something g.

My first thought would be to call Flight Service.

Call the AFRCC, i think. I had an accidental activation while doing pattern work. I notified the tower and asked what to do. They said I was good to go. When I landed, I found out that my emergency contacts (family/friends) were panicking because the AFRCC was calling people to ask if I was flying in AK. Not sure why they thought I was in AK. I do have a 406 elt.

Up here in Canada we have our 406 ELTs registered with the beacon registry. So in the case of an activation they call the ELT owner first, emergency contacts second before launching any SAR. It works pretty good.
For 121.5 activations SAR usually tries to contact owners/shops that are in the area to ensure they dont have a false alarm. I've been called a few times. Works pretty good.

All 406 beacons, whether ELTs or PLBs or EPIRBs, are required to be registered with NOAA, every two years. Registration is free.

The number to call, according to an email I have recently received from NOAA reminding me to re-register my ELT before its expiration date, is 1-888-212-7283. I think making a "in case of accidental activation, call" placard is a good idea, so I've just made myself such a placard and will install it near the manual activation switch next time I go to the hangar.

Cary

Cary wrote:All 406 beacons, whether ELTs or PLBs or EPIRBs, are required to be registered with NOAA, every two years. Registration is free.

The number to call, according to an email I have recently received from NOAA reminding me to re-register my ELT before its expiration date, is 1-888-212-7283. I think making a "in case of accidental activation, call" placard is a good idea, so I've just made myself such a placard and will install it near the manual activation switch next time I go to the hangar.

Cary

I was wrong--wrong number to call. I just looked on the NOAA SARSAT website FAQs, and it says for an accidental activation, call the appropriate rescue coordination center:

• U.S. Coast Guard at 1-855-406-USCG (8724)
• U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at 800-851-3051
• Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at 800-420-7230.

Then it says if unable to call one of them, use any means available to inform the appropriate authorities that a false alert has been transmitted and should be cancelled. I suppose that could include ATC, FSS, etc.

Cary

Headoutdaplane wrote:About three weeks later we are getting on an alaska airlines flight and talking to the Capt, he invited my son in the cockpit, i declined, little guy can move fast when he wants to do something g.

Don't do that! Some days the highlight of my job is getting a kid in the cockpit, especially one that's interested. I love the kids that flip switches. I point out all the ones that they can play with and let them go nuts.

Now...back on topic

I had a 406 ELT switch fail once, going into Oshkosh. The ELT had been alerting just a few minutes before my cell phone rang.....I looked at the number, and it was a Florida number......RCC.

Got on the ground and called them back. They'd left a message saying my ELT was active, and please call them if it's not an emergency.

They were very nice. The good news is, my Garmin 396 was connected to the ELT, so coordinates were transmitted to RCC with the FIRST hit. 406 beacons transmit a burst signal every 50 seconds.

I asked the nice Major if he had a location on my beacon, and he asked me to wait a minute while he plotted it. Came back and told me almost precisely where the airplane was parked.

If you haven't installed a 406 beacon yet, you really need to do so. ANd, buy one that will accept input from a GPS, then have it connected. That way RCC will know who you are, and precisely WHERE you are with the first hit. Without the GPS connection, getting a good location can take as long as a few hours.

MTV

Headoutdaplane wrote:…. on an alaska airlines flight and talking to the Capt, he invited my son in the cockpit....

I'm surprised to hear that,
I thohght inviting airline pax up to the front office went by the wayside after 9/11.

My 406 ELT came with a sticker/placard that has the phone number to call for accidental activation. Also keep in mind you can not test them in the first five minutes of every hour like the 121.5 elts.

hotrod180 wrote:

Headoutdaplane wrote:…. on an alaska airlines flight and talking to the Capt, he invited my son in the cockpit....

I'm surprised to hear that,
I thohght inviting airline pax up to the front office went by the wayside after 9/11.

He noted that they “were getting on” a flight. Cockpit isn’t “secured” during boarding, but guarded.

MTV

ELT's...

So we flew into the Frank for a couple nights. Landed, parked, and checked 121.5 prior to turning off the master. All good.

Few hours later a helicopter lands next to us and a fire crew and flight nurse get out. Yup...ELT went off, while the airplane was parked, for no known reason. We couldn't hear it because I'd disconnected the remote control, thinking that the wire going from the remote to the ELT was the culprit for the unexplained activation that spawned this thread.

The helicopter crew were super-happy to have something to do other than sit around the McCall airport...we'll see if the folks paying the bills feel as generous towards us.

Needless to say the ELT was turned off, disconnected from the antenna, and is now sitting on my desk waiting for a reply from ACK. I'm really hoping I don't get a bill for the helicopter flight...that'd put a dent in the flying budget for a year or two.