Aren’t planes required to have PLBs?
Most of us would never be in a small plane going out over the ocean, but it would be nice to know ahead of time if the plane had one and how it worked. Or have your own to take with you.
With the move to the 406 MHz ones, are the 121.5 MHz ones going to still be useful? And they may be coming on the used market (e-bay) and worth a look if they still have a way to be picked up.
U.S registered aircraft are required to have a 121.5 MHz ELT. An ELT generally doesn't do much good if the plane is ditched unless it floats, and few do. After Feb. 1, 2009, with no satellite alerting, the 121.5 MHz ELTs will be even more useless than now.
The FAA is not mandating replacement of 121.5 MHz ELTs with 406 MHz ELTs. Those that are removed, are generally being kept by the service center to sell to those needing to replace failed ones where the owner doesn't want to upgrade to 406 MHz due to the expense. Why you'd want one of those 121.5 MHz pieces of junk is another question altogether.
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