Sorry if this has been mentioned already- the posts keep changing & disappearing as I read-
I was under the impression that modern aircraft have ELTs which activate on contact with water or at a certain level of deceleration. So far I've heard no mention of any signal/pingers.
In the case of an in-flight breakup, would the ELT not activate then? Does it need either a) water or b)high deceleration g's (or whatever the technical term is) to activate?
From a cabin standpoint we have our portable 406 but I wasn't sure how the fixed one works. Cheers if anyone can clear that up.