Crab, Detgnome,
Thanks.
I totally agree with Crab's last point, that the Oil Companies are more concerned with box ticking and fuzzy feelings than real safety.
Never having used either generation of homer, I will hapily take the experts' advice, but if even the best cannot discriminate between a helicopter load worth of beacons, isn't all the more reason to opose the current plan to remove the existing smart beacons and re-issue dumb ones to all?
From the AAIB report:
Following the arrival of the first SAR helicopter in the vicinity of the ETAP platform, 27 minutes elapsed before the occupied liferafts were identified approximately 400 m from the platform. The search was hampered by the darkness, fog and the weakness/absence of homing signals on the emergency frequencies 121.5 MHz and 243.0 MHz, although survival equipment designed to transmit on both these frequencies had been activated by the crew. The liferafts were finally located by a combination of aircraft weather radar, visual guidance from personnel on the ETAP platform and a weak signal on 121.5 MHz.
Next time, there might not be an audience shouting "look behind you!"
TD