What the ATSB found,Data from the ATSB database show that ELTs function as intended in about 40 to 60 per cent of
accidents in which their activation was expected.
ELT activation accounted for the first notification in only about 15 per cent of
incidents. However, these ELT activations have been directly responsible for saving an average of
four lives per year.
Safety message
Pilots and operators of general aviation and low capacity aircraft need to be aware that a fixed
fuselage mounted ELT cannot be relied upon to function in the types of accidents in which they
were intended to be useful. The effectiveness of ELTs in increasing occupant safety and assisting
SAR efforts may be enhanced by using a GPS-enabled ELT, using an ELT with a newer 3-axis gswitch, ensuring it is installed correctly, ensuring your beacon is registered with AMSA and preemptively activating the beacon if a forced landing or ditching is imminent. Additionally, carrying a
personal locator beacon (PLB) in place of or as well as a fixed ELT will most likely only be
beneficial to safety if it is carried on the person, rather than being fixed or stowed elsewhere in the
aircraft.
These data show that ELT activation is only one of many ways in which AusSAR are informed of
an aviation emergency. The most common method is by a third party (24%) contacting AMSA’s
Rescue Coordination Centre to report seeing or hearing an aircraft possibly in trouble or crashed.
This is followed by VHF radio calls from pilots (21.5%). Other agencies, for example Airservices
Australia, account for 16.7 per cent of notifications followed by phone calls (14.5%).
Of particular interest here are the incidents in which an ELT (or PLB) has assisted a search and
rescue effort and benefitted occupant safety. ELT/PLB activation, which can be detected either by
satellite (Cospas-Sarsat) or by another aircraft, represented a total of 68 or 15.3 per cent
(combined) of the incidents. The AMSA data reveals that 52 lives were saved in these 68
incidents. In other words, an ELT/PLB has directly contributed to saving the lives of 52 aircraft
occupants since June 1999, equating to four lives saved per year on average.