Quote:
Justin2006: Just curious - was the plane not equipped with an emergency beacon like a PLB or the older beacon on 121.5Mhz? If it was, does your group have an ELT for the 121.5Mhz beacon?


I don't know, and no, we don't have an ELT, and I don't know where we'd find one. It's Fire/Rescue first, SAR is an incidental occasional need. I'm sure that SAR specialists would have been called in, the Chief of Station 49 (it was their call, we're station 47), is good about calling for help when needed.

Quote:

Justin2006: Our S&R group has an ELT for the 121.5MHz beacon and recently did a field test out in the wilderness area (mountainous terrain). The signal jumped all over the place and would have led us down a canyon instead of towards the correct location up the mountain.


I've never used one, I guess all radio systems have problems of some kind.


Quote:

Justin2006:I figure a more recent PLB (with GPS) is a much better alternative, especially since the 121.5MHz beacon won't be picked up by satellites as of Feb 2009 (I think).


GPS wasn't really working where we were looking. Heavy tree cover, not a good angle for sky view. I have a Garmin GPS 60C and it's pretty darn good, and it could not hold even a 2D lock. I think that the feet on the ground approach was a good call and it worked well. If there was a trauma injury, it would have been not so good, but given the people and area to search, command did it right.