Avionics News December 2013 - 23

sell Brown, Begich's aid, and the Anchorage-based pilot,
Don Jonz.
In reality, Congress mandated ELTs two years earlier,
after lawmakers in California and Washington moved to
require ELTs in response to the discovery of a crash survivor weeks after the plane disappeared. While opposition
ran high in the FAA and the pilot community, Congress
acted to preclude a patchwork of state laws encroaching
on the FAA's regulatory turf - much as it's defending its avionics authority against encroachment by the Federal Communications
Commission.

Reduced Options Available: Hold or Change

The FAA long ago terminated TSO-C91 for the earliest
121.5 MHz ELTs and replaced it with TSO-C91a - now also
terminated.
In canceling TSO-C91a, the FAA also acted to cancel
TSO-C126 and TSO-C126a authorizations, in part specifically addressing its withdrawal of approval for future installations of mounts employing hook and loop retention to
keep the ELT in the mount. In its filings, the agency
noted, "The FAA is taking this action based
on its determination that hook and loop
fasteners are not an acceptable means
of compliance to meet the mounting
If you care about your family,
and retention requirements of curAn Unnecessarily Hard Sell: Resistance
your friends and your business,
rent TSOs for ELTs."
Based on Myths, Misinformation
when the legacy boat-anchor of
This is partly a result of the
"They won't work any better than
an ELT needs a new battery or
Turbine Otter accident, in which
the old ones. They all have the same
the ELT mount itself was imflaws. They don't do anything new.
maintenance, prudence should
properly installed in the aircraft
They're too expensive. They're still
prevail and pilots and owners must
and findings of failures of the retoo expensive. They didn't give us
invest the few extra dollars to step
tainer bands made of a Velcro-like
any warning about this."
materials.
These claims continue to circulate
up to a true, modern ELT.
This leaves only TSO-C126b-aparound and around, beginning prior to
proved ELTs as eligible for new and rethe International Cospas-Sarsat Program and
placement installations to meet the Federal
ICAO announced the coming changeover in OcAviation Regulations requiring ELTs.
tober 2000.
And it leaves operators using the C91a-approved 121.5
Much of the argument focused on documented shortcomMHz ELTs with two choices: Continue to use and maintain
ings of the original TSO-C91 121.5 MHz ELTs; the arguments
the unit according to requirements - knowing, on top of their
based on costs seldom acknowledged that as designs proliferacknowledged shortcomings, that no satellites monitor the freate, options increase. The newer, admittedly more-costly 406
quency; or upgrade to a TSO-C126b, 406 MHz ELT.
MHz ELTs showed up at lower prices. And some operators
Fortunately, operators, pilots and aircraft owners enjoy a
discovered the life-cycle costs of the newer ELTs bested the
significant and growing list of options.
older, cheaper technology because of longer battery cycles and
less-costly replacement batteries.
Still, the aviation groups prevailed in their opposition to
sunsetting 121.5 MHz, despite the superior demonstrated performance the 406 MHz ELT offers to search and rescue agencies - more reliable and complete information allowing them
to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.
Requirements for use internationally helped push avionics
makers to satisfying the expected product development curve
of initially expensive solutions rapidly giving way to less-costly, more cost-effective options.
And those groups continue their opposition to even putting
a sunset date on allowing 121.5 MHz beacons to satisfy FAA
requirements for emergency locator beacons, even knowing no
satellites monitor the frequency.
Thankfully, the availability of new solutions helps to further push down the life-cycle costs of GPS-enabled 406 MHz
ELTs to equal that of the old 121.5 MHz models still flying.

A Growing List of Options

Consider suggesting some of these options for adding a superior ELT to your customers' aircraft - and note the benefits
they all enjoy: global satellite monitoring, higher accuracy and
near pinpoint position data from GPS-informed models of the
406 MHz ELTs.
ACK, Artex and AmeriKing
This trio of long-time ELT suppliers has kept up with the
times, moving into TSO-C91a units when they became the
dominant technology and following into the 406 MHz TSOC126b-approved units.
From ACK Technologies, one choice is the ACK 406/121.5
Continued on page 45
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Avionics News December 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News December 2013