US FCC Bans Use of 121.5mz EPIRBS, ELT's

[SASless]

For any of you who have US registrered aircraft.....


FCC BANS 121.5 ELTS


The Federal Communications Commission took the general aviation world by surprise when it said in a recent report it will prohibit the sale or use of 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters, effective in August. The Aircraft Electronics Association said it just learned of the new rule today, and has begun working with the FAA, FCC and others to allow for timely compliance without grounding thousands of general aviation aircraft. The 121.5 ELTs are allowed under FAA rules. The FCC said its rules have been amended to "prohibit further certification, manufacture, importation, sale or use of 121.5 MHz ELTs." The FCC says that if the 121.5 units are no longer available, aircraft owners and operators will "migrate" to the newer 406.0-406.1 MHz ELTs, which are monitored by satellite, while the 121.5 frequency is not. "Were we to permit continued marketing and use of 121.5 MHz ELTs ... it would engender the risk that aircraft owners and operators would mistakenly rely on those ELTs for the relay of distress alerts," the FCC says. AOPA said today it is opposed to the rule change.

"The FCC is making a regulatory change that would impose an extra cost on GA operators, without properly communicating with the industry or understanding the implications of its action," said AOPA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Rob Hackman. "There is no FAA requirement to replace 121.5 MHz units with 406 MHz technology. When two government agencies don't coordinate, GA can suffer." The AEA said dealers should refrain from selling any new 121.5 MHz ELTs "until further understanding of this new prohibition can be understood and a realistic timeline for transition can be established."

[malabo]

Who would buy an ELT today and not get a 406? I don't know why anyone would still be buying a 121.5, but if it takes a government edict to stop them, then so be it. The GA community would be better served with virtually "free" satellite tracking via the SPOT, which will give your location to an accuracy to about 10 metre, and has all the ID and contact numbers attached to the signal code. And would serve as a backup for all the times your 406 ELT malfunctions, doesn't activate, burns up, the antenna breaks off, etc. which here in Canada seems to be about 65% of the time.

Kannad AF 406 is only $785.

[Horror box]

I hope no one has bought an expensive Breitling Emergency recently then! Never did like them, but now I really laugh when I see one!

[birrddog]

Um... provided you want to let people know the time and location of your garroting :E

What is the procedure for deactivating a false 406 alarm?

Hard landing, e.g. hover auto's and other training scenarios could cause a few false alerts, which I'd imagine more of a pain to deal with than radioing Tower and letting them know it was a false alert..

[FlugMonkey]

121.5 monitoring is long since gone, the 406 system has proven itself time and time again.

As for false alarms, there is a reduction of such because if they get an emerg signal, they call your number to find out if it is a real emerg and if the elt is triggered, you can manually reset it from the cockpit. If your elt goes off while training, you are doing something wrong and most likely have crashed, this ain't your grandaddys ELT, welcome to the future.

I'm glad that most proffesionals are on board with 406, and i personally feel much safer having one in my a/c.

There is no valid argument against it, only stubborness.

Cheers

FM

[thecontroller]

Didn't the illustrious "Q" use his Brietling watch when he ran out of fuel, err, I mean had a technical problem and ditched somewhere cold.

Explorers or boys messing about? Either way, taxpayer gets rescue bill | UK news | The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/28/stevenmorris)

[SASless]

Rolex owners always knew the fallacy of cheap marketing ploys to get impressionable young aviators to buy flashy watches with all sorts of taps, dials, pointers, chimes, and alarms.....when all one really needed was a sinmple quality time piece that reliably told time and appreciated in value over the years.

How you Nubbin's feel now your fancy pants Breitling's are obsolete and just another watch?

[Bertie Thruster]

Funny that all the fancy new 406 elts still also transmit a 121.5 signal, 'cause 406 technology ain't always accurate enough for SAR assets to carry out a successful homing, (especially at sea).

[Horror box]

Rolex owners always knew the fallacy of cheap marketing ploys to get impressionable young aviators to buy flashy watches with all sorts of taps, dials, pointers, chimes, and alarms.....when all one really needed was a sinmple quality time piece that reliably told time and appreciated in value over the years.

How you Nubbin's feel now your fancy pants Breitling's are obsolete and just another watch?

SAS - couldn't agree more old boy. I went a little off the path and got a submariner instead of a GMT, some years ago - and I still maintain it is the cheapest and best watch I have ever bought. Worth at least 20% more today on the used market than I paid for it brand new.

[Horror box]

Didn't the illustrious "Q" use his Brietling watch when he ran out of fuel, err, I mean had a technical problem and ditched somewhere cold.

Explorers or boys messing about? Either way, taxpayer gets rescue bill | UK news | The Guardian

And that would be pretty useless now as I doubt very much whether Falmouth would detect the signal from however many thousands of kilometers with the frequency no longer being monitored by satellite.

[Motion Lotion]

As I understand it, 121.5 MHz is transmitted along side the 406 MHz. The 406 beacons can be either linked to a GPS or not. 406 beacons transmit code with its signal (including GPS information if available) that has pre loaded information that can identify it's owner, providing that info has been previously uploaded correctly and is current.

The 121.5 MHz signal is there for those looking for the beacon to home in on when in range of the beacon, as the 121.5 MHz signal is a more constant signal and easier to track using radio gear.

While I am all for updating the types of beacon we carry, I feel that the beacon is only of value after the crash, and providing it is still working. A large percent of the time it is damaged in the crash, it's aerial is broken, it gets buried in the ground / water following a crash or it simply doesn't work.

I would much prefer to have installed a satelite tracking device giving valuable information as to where I was moments before I went missing...

Surely we are missing the point here and should have satelite tracking installed and operating on all flights ..

Your thoughts on this?

[SASless]

My sailboat "Luna C", a common old boat, has far more emergency gear than ever did any aircraft I ever flew commerically. She has a 406 EPIRB, EPIRBS for the Life Jackets, VHF/UHF homers on each Life Jacket, DSC transmitting capability on both the VHF and HF/SSB, and DSC on the Handheld VHF (DSC provides Boat ID, Contact Information, Location information and in some modes the nature of the distress call).

Funny thing how when it is your own hind end, wallet, and decision to make.....what safety is worth and how much one is really willing to spend for it!

Now one day I shall actually leave the dock....and hopefully not put that gear to use.

[herman the crab]

Careful she doesn't sink with all that weight when you let the lines go SAS! ;)

Seriously its a shame there are not more people like you - read any of the yachting forums and there are regular arguments that liferafts/flares/etc. are a waste of money and not necessary... :mad:

HTC

[SASless]

It ain't the weight of the safety gear, grub, grog, and other kit (and Kittens...four legged) that endanger Luna....but the AUM of the lady friend that might get me. I have to "tag" her to keep Whalers from wanting to hurl harpoons.

To think I did not go into the floatation gear....ten foot RIB and outboard, Six Man Liferaft, inflatable life jackets with lifting harnesses, and old fashioned life jackets....MOB pole and horse collar with retrieving line.....pre-rigged hoisting line for the main boom, etc.

Heck....I even carry flares, whistle, mirror, smoke signals in the dinghy along with a patch kit, anchor, and air pump. One never knows what might happen on the two hundred meter transit to the dinghy dock!

The truth is my First Mates have not exceeded 120 pounds or stood taller than 5'2"......similar weight restrictions as some Bell 206/407 EMS operators I might add! The interview process has been quite revealing in arriving at finding excellent "crew".

Alas....the Commodore has final approval authority.....the ladies meet his muster or it is over. Thus far he has been an excellent judge of crew!

All that safety kit is expensive, costs money to maintain, but if one life is saved as a result of having it when needed.....that is money well spent. I like the idea of being able to mash a couple of buttons and knowing help is alerted, that if required I can abandon ship knowing I have the means to survive, signal my location, and communicate with SAR units....and all that works both well offshore and inside the barrier islands where it might be twenty miles or more to the nearest land.

[Pat Cox]

Annoying FCC policy, to say the least. Expensive, at worst. Myopic, as expected.:rolleyes:

I was an early adopter of a tri-frequency coverage (121.5/243/406) ELT, figuring that if I went down in the no-radio coverage area of Wyoming I routinely cross then I want the most noticeable electronic beacon possible and be found quickly.

I expect soon to find myself in the ludicrous position of complying with the FAA and common sense, but in potential violation of an FCC reg. I say "potential" because the FCC's definition of "use" may equate to transmitting, so if I don't crash -or land too hard -then perhaps my installation will meet the letter of the law. Annual transmitter testing may be a bit of a bugger, tho, but I'll get over it.

[SASless]

I reckone the FCC is just like Congress....they have to enact the law....without reading it....to find out how it works. The FCC has been trying to take over the Internet and inflict "Fair and Balanced" on us by any means possible. Perhaps they fear the Tea Party Revolution will use 121.5 as Up Rising Common much like the lanterns in the Church Bell Tower of old!

Hows that Hope and Change working out for you these days!

[Lame Ostrich]

A few more thoughts on this topic:

Pat's "early adopter" tri-frequency ELT should be perfectly acceptable for a long time yet. ALL 406 beacons (ELTs, EPIRBs, and PLBs) sold in the US are equipped with a secondary 121.5 MHz homing signal; some ELTs and PLBs also have 243 MHz. These secondary signals can be a lifesaver particularly when SAR crews are trying to close the final distance in darkness, fog, heavy vegetation, etc. So any beacon operating on a primary frequency of 406 MHz should be 100% compliant for a good long while, since the search and rescue satellites are still happily monitoring and relaying 406 MHz alerts direct to SAR authorities.

I guess the FCC just wants to safeguard those "late adopter" consumers who are still buying and/or using 121.5-only beacons, since the benefit of satellite alerting and locating for this decades-old technology ended on Feb 1, 2009. When it comes to a life-saving device, it's probably prudent to eliminate any false hopes/assumptions -- especially if you're the regulator.

And with respect to those much-loved Breitling watches ;): they're also still 100% okay in the eyes of the FCC! In fact, if you read the actual FCC document issued in June, there's a special paragraph dealing specifically with these watches. In a nutshell, since the watches were never intended to be "first alert" devices, and never conformed to international specifications for ELTs or PLBs, they were never considered to be bona-fide search and rescue beacons. Instead, the FCC will permit them to continue as short-range 121.5 MHz homing devices for downed aviators, which is what they were originally designed to be -- and nothing more.