ravi wrote:For a lot of reasons, unless you are on a flight plan your ELT will probably not get you help when you need it, or at all.
ELT signals are mostly errors...someone lands hard and their ELT activates without them knowing, then they tie down and it drones on, and on, and on. Now every commercial flight withing line of sight is picking up the signal and relaying it to ATC...creating a search area about the size of a small state.
Unless there is additional information that will narrow the search area AND lead authorities to believe that the signal is a legitimate distress rather than a mistake, no meaningful search is conducted. Typically the FAA contacts local law enforcement with the coordinates of where the receiving aircraft was when they picked up the signal. In a best-case-scenario, this information is dispatched to some poor field deputy who drives as near as possible to the area (which might well be 50 miles from the signal source), gets out of his vehicle, takes a piss, and clears it as "unable to locate without further information". END of search.
If you're on a flight plan and are giving position updates which will narrow the search area to a reasonable size, an ELT is great. Once you're overdue long enough, a search plane with a directional finding radio can home in on the ELT a whole lot easier than they can find you by looking out the windows. But if you're not on a flight plan, or your flight plan encompasses a nonstop flight across Nevada and you don't give any position updates, the ELT is almost of no value.
By contrast the PLB signal is quickly received via satellite, and it gives a very specific search area. Additionally, at least for the time being, there are very few PLB signals sent in error, so they are taken MUCH more seriously.
If you are of the impression that your ELT will summon help in the event you crash, it probably won't. A PLB will.
I can't speak for other states as here in Montana we are different. In all but a handful of states the Air Force thru the Civil Air Patrol does search and rescue. Here, Montana Aeronautics does the search and rescue. CAP may be called in for help but that is rare. We often get ELT's in the Tower or they are reported by other aircraft. Sometimes our first indication will be from the satellite. We notify Salt Lake Center as they are the coordination center. Montana Aeronautics gets notified, they in turn get their district person on the case. We had one two weeks ago about 30 NE of Billings. From the time we first discovered it until the district person was out in his plane searching with the direction finder was about 3 hours. This is fairly standard but can be delayed by weather. Whether anyone believes the signal is real or not doesn't affect how the search is conducted. A flight plan or lack of one is irrelevant. One interesting factor that is being used now and has helped to find someone who went down in the northern part of the state is your cell phone. Always leave your cell phone on while flying.
Here's what happened with that guy, as told to me by Aeronautics personnel. He was reported as overdue by family to Montana Aeronautics. They knew his origin and destination. No flight plan. They got Salt Lake centers radar data and found a likely 1200 code and used his cell phone number to narrow the search. Aeronautics got with his cell phone company and found out where the phone was sending its signals to the various towers as he flew by. They started looking where the phone last sent its signal to the towers. It wasn't a happy ending but the search was concluded pretty quickly.
