As a layman I was surprised to read in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the local Newspaper in Munich, that when a plane goes down on land the Flight Recorder does not send out a signal and they say that that's why it is taking so long to find it. Is this true, and if so what is the reason for this? When a plane goes down in Mountains it seems illogical for the Flight Recorder not to signal it's location in hard to reach terrain.
Yes, that is true. However, the ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) automatically activates if a certain g load threshold is passed and can be used to locate the wreck. Doesn't help much in this case as the wreck was found very fast, and i suspect it never activated in the first place as it was probably destroyed.