[Eaa42-list] FCC Bans 121.5 ELTs

[Rob Stapleton]

Mr. DeBruhl,

 

Your logic is predictable. 

 

Change a regulation and make it mandatory so that manufacturers and patent
holders can profit from it. This is the way a "Free Country" treats its
servants.

 

This is also what is driving the cost of everything up in the U.S. Do you
have to pay $1000 plus dollars for a 911 call for help in a traffic
accident? And then what if the means in which you send for help is suddenly
changed by federal law, requiring an additional $2,000 for the same call. 

 

That's what is being protested here.

 

Yes 121.5 is not being monitored by our paid heroes any more, and yes a
switch to the 406 ELT is necessary for rescue and expedient first response
but is the ATC and our paid hero rescue systems ready to respond to false
alarms like Private pilots, CAP and over flying aircraft have been doing
since 1972? I don't think so. 

 

In addition there are other options like PABs that are far less expensive
than the cost of a 406 ELT and the installation that it will require.

 

Look at this from the perspective of an aircraft owner who is required to
have an ELT in their aircraft by the FAA. The new ELT frequency and device
is developed with a suggestion that owners should use this new better more
expensive device that just became available. Then a different government
entity says they are going to ban the use of the older units-forcing you to
use the newer ones, good or bad.

 

 This is like going to the dentist and having them shove their hand down
your throat and tell you that it is necessary so you can survive their oral
surgery because you will be so busy regurgitating that you won't notice the
pain of the surgery.

 

So I am all for using my brain-- but the banks have cut my credit, raised
the interest rates and I am looking for anyway possible to achieve being
self supportive and not calling on an expensive rescue by trained heroes,
and I don't think I need lawyers and Congress to legislate my safety by
killing off something that works for something that is reported to have a
low battery life. Not to mention the issue of a one time Lat/Long transmit
that will cost me $50,000 for first responder heroes to help me whether or
not it is a false alarm or a real emergency.

 

RS

 

Rob Stapleton, Jr.

Photographer/Writer

KL2AN

skype:rob.stapleton.jr

IM:foto at alaska.net

907-230-9425

www.alaskafoto.com

-----Original Message-----
From: eaa42-list-bounces at eaa42.org [mailto:eaa42-list-bounces at eaa42.org] On
Behalf Of Harry DeBruhl
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 8:16 PM
To: Walter Yankauskas; ehotline; eaa42-list at eaa42.org; govt at eaa.org; Lars
Gleitsmann
Subject: Re: [Eaa42-list] FCC Bans 121.5 ELTs

 


As a former Alaska ANG search and rescue pilot, I support this ruling.  Why
would anyone knowingly place their and their loved one's lives in jeapordy
by using an ELT on a frequency that no-one monitors anymore!?!  We all want
the latest and greatest in our airplanes, but cheap out on a piece of
equipment that is more reliable, more accurate, and is even programmable to
transmit your GPS position when activated.  Just because you don't use it
every flight doesn't mean it's not important.  Getting a 406 MHz ELT is a no
brainer, that is, if you use your brain.  

 

Harry DeBruhl

 

--- On Mon, 6/21/10, Lars Gleitsmann <larsgleitsmann at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Lars Gleitsmann <larsgleitsmann at gmail.com>
Subject: [Eaa42-list] FCC Bans 121.5 ELTs
To: "Walter Yankauskas" <w at waltery.com>, "ehotline" <ehotline at eaa.org>,
eaa42-list at eaa42.org, govt at eaa.org
Date: Monday, June 21, 2010, 6:55 PM

Another blow to GA owners! -government running amok!

FCC Bans 121.5 ELTs

June 21, 2010
By Mary Grady, Contributing editor

The Federal Communications Commission took the general aviation world by
surprise when it said in a recent report
(http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103500294837
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103500294837&s=1458&e=001M6yc39mJFVF4-fVIt75X
GecNDZbley9ii0QmGoSxeHCJrhR7Zni3UgFXolrO1ImXhsnHndlNQtzTcVcv-UIrwc5r-DKH4P6c
T7Lgjv9vb9vjVF0VMtHoCV8SzrHwfoLJzAGEbN-bFISS27c1pfT5p35CZSVeilT-tZaFdBSkMYfx
nqdWGTYCTQ==>
&s=1458&e=001M6yc39mJFVF4-fVIt75XGecNDZbley9ii0QmGoSxeHCJrhR7Zni3UgFXolrO1Im
XhsnHndlNQtzTcVcv-UIrwc5r-DKH4P6cT7Lgjv9vb9vjVF0VMtHoCV8SzrHwfoLJzAGEbN-bFIS
S27c1pfT5p35CZSVeilT-tZaFdBSkMYfxnqdWGTYCTQ==) it will prohibit the sale or
use of 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters, effective in August. The
Aircraft Electronics Association said
(http://aea.net/governmentaffairs/regulatoryupdates.asp?ID=42) it just
learned of the new rule today, and has begun working with the FAA, FCC and
others to allow for timely compliance without grounding thousands of general
aviation aircraft. The 121.5 ELTs are allowed under FAA rules. The FCC said
its rules have been amended to "prohibit further certification, manufacture,
importation, sale or use of 121.5 MHz ELTs." The FCC says that if the 121.5
units are no longer available, aircraft o
 wners and operators will "migrate" to the newer 406.0-406.1 MHz ELTs, which
are monitored by satellite, while the 121.5 frequency is not. "Were we to
permit continued marketing and use of 121.5 MHz ELTs ... it would engender
the risk that aircraft owners and operators would mistakenly rely on those
ELTs for the relay of distress alerts," the FCC says. AOPA said today
(http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2010/100621elt.html) it is opposed to
the rule change.

The entire article may be viewed at
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/FCCBans1215ELTs_202760-1.html


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