A friend was in a crash in August, 1970. 4 people in a Cessna 182. His description is they flew into smoke from forest fires in the area while landing in Wenatchee WA, suddenly power lines were right in front of them, the pilot pulled hard back on the yoke, stalled and hit a cliff. He was the only one mobile. The other 3 including the pilot had serious injuries.

He said the pilot told him to get the ELT out of the plane and beat it on a rock to be sure it was activated. The antenna coax had pulled out of the ELT so after he beat it on a rock he put a coat hanger wire in the hole where the coax had been. Short story is a helicopter soon landed and rescued them. They all recovered.

My questions are. Did ELTs in 1970 not have a switch to turn them on, a light to indicate it was transmitting, and was there a requirement for a remote switch on the instrument panel?

The NTSB report https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/brief.aspx?ev_id=329&key=0

ELTs have always had an inertial switch, which, at least in theory, activates the beacon upon sudden deceleration.

So, the pilots logic in that case was to bang the thing on a rock to ensure it had activated.

And, no, back then, ELTs we’re not equipped with remote switches or lights to indicate they are active and transmitting. Those are relatively recent developments.

MTV

Thank you MTV. I'll let him know he did good.

Some wire technique for future wire incidents. If we know we are going to hit them, the best chance to cut them is with the prop. Spray planes have cutters on gear and windscreen, but the two I cut were with the prop. And yes, when I saw I was going to hit I pushed on the stick to attack rather than pulled up to present my gear and belly to them.

A push the nose down rather than a pitch up startle muscle memory has been useful to me over the years. Many iterations of energy management turns, with ground rush, help with this I think. Practice high first, but when comfortable get low enough to see the ground coming up in the nose down portion of the turn. Get the wing level before pull up.

contactflying wrote:Some wire technique for future wire incidents. If we know we are going to hit them, the best chance to cut them is with the prop. Spray planes have cutters on gear and windscreen, but the two I cut were with the prop. And yes, when I saw I was going to hit I pushed on the stick to attack rather than pulled up to present my gear and belly to them.

A push the nose down rather than a pitch up startle muscle memory has been useful to me over the years. Many iterations of energy management turns, with ground rush, help with this I think. Practice high first, but when comfortable get low enough to see the ground coming up in the nose down portion of the turn. Get the wing level before pull up.

That depends on the wires. If it's a big transmission line the prop will not cut them and I would be pulling/pushing to avoid. Smaller lines will definitely get cut by the prop and then I agree with the idea of centering them on the prop.

On the ELTs, most of the old ones had switches on them to switch them on, along with the G switch. My first thought before hitting it on a rock would be to check that first, then hit on rock second.

A1Skinner wrote:

contactflying wrote:Some wire technique for future wire incidents. If we know we are going to hit them, the best chance to cut them is with the prop. Spray planes have cutters on gear and windscreen, but the two I cut were with the prop. And yes, when I saw I was going to hit I pushed on the stick to attack rather than pulled up to present my gear and belly to them.

A push the nose down rather than a pitch up startle muscle memory has been useful to me over the years. Many iterations of energy management turns, with ground rush, help with this I think. Practice high first, but when comfortable get low enough to see the ground coming up in the nose down portion of the turn. Get the wing level before pull up.

That depends on the wires. If it's a big transmission line the prop will not cut them and I would be pulling/pushing to avoid. Smaller lines will definitely get cut by the prop and then I agree with the idea of centering them on the prop.

On the ELTs, most of the old ones had switches on them to switch them on, along with the G switch. My first thought before hitting it on a rock would be to check that first, then hit on rock second.

I'll second the comment that I wouldn't rely on prop cutting wires as well.
It's not just size dependent either - there's a fair bit of all-aluminum transmission conductor that would likely be cut by a prop. A majority though is steel core - if it did cut it wouldn't be pretty.
On the distribution side you're just as likely to find steel core with 5000# plus breaking strength as old copper that would cut/break much easier. For whatever it's worth I think my first instinct would be to dive under lines if possible instead of straight in. I'd rather rip the top of my rudder off than decapitate myself or flip the plane over on its nose.
If I did hit some wires, I can also rest easy knowing the 406ELT is probably already singing.

FWIW, the power lines are the big BPA lines that are on the Seattle Sectional just east of Pangborn Field in East Wenatchee. The report says two passengers but there were three. Hearing them describe the accident it sounds like if the pilot had not stalled the plane they would have hit the cliff right behind the power lines.

Always wondered why, for the price of a ELT, they they dont have a stowed whip antenna on them for remote use. Like what’s the point on making them removable if they can’t get a signal out without the antenna that likely is FUBAR/sunk etc with the wreckage

NineThreeKilo wrote:Always wondered why, for the price of a ELT, they they dont have a stowed whip antenna on them for remote use. Like what’s the point on making them removable if they can’t get a signal out without the antenna that likely is FUBAR/sunk etc with the wreckage

Actually, the 406 beacons transmit the 406 signal at somewhere around five watts, compared to the old (and current) 121.5 signals go out in the milliwatt range.

The 406 signal goes out as a VERY short burst, followed by silence, another burst, etc. the point is, they can transmit at much higher power because they’re only transmitting a very small amount of time.

I had a faulty 406 beacon alert, RCC called, said turn it off, I did, they called again, said turn it off. It was disconnected from the external antenna, and lying inside a metal airplane, surrounded by metal. The folks at RCC assured me they were receiving a solid signal.

So, I SUSPECT that a 406 beacon could still get a signal out to RCC Even missing it’s antenna. Now, plane upside down in a swamp…..who knows?

MTV

More information on the plane crash. In august of 1970 there was a night time lightning bust centered around Lake Chelan on the Wenatchee National Forest. When the fire detection plane went up at first light the next morning the observer said he could see 10 fires that were 100 acres or larger and numerous smaller fires.

The Forest Service had set up a helitack base at Pangborn field for initial attack on new fires as they were located. The 3 passengers were fire fighters from the Naches Ranger District enroute to the helibase. The Forest Service had chartered the 182 out of Yakima.

It took about 90 minutes for the helicopter to arrive at the scene after they had beat the ELT on a rock. The helicopter that rescued them was a Huey piloted by a Forest Service employee pilot working out of the helibase which was very close by. I'm making and assumption that they had picked up the 121.5 ELT warble and had flown a grid to locate it.