Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: DonanClara(at)aol.com
Just a comment on a sad event yesterday. Out at Kakabeka Falls our Ultralight instructor and a passenger were found in the wreckage of a CubyII. No telling how long they were on the runway. Pictures show a typicaldeparture stall effect. Will have to wait for the transport safetyinvestigation for cause. Kakabeka falls is about 20 NM from Thunder BayAirport with lots of trafic into it. No mention was made of an ELT, even though TB is a busy commercialairport. Again will have to wait for the findings. It started mythinking of a very light ELT for the Piet. After almost two and a halfyears of building and interacting with the Piet chat group, I don'tthink I have heard the topic come up. What works (none of them do all the time), what's affordable, and anyrecommendations?Sure got my wife worked up, as we both knew the instructor.________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: steve(at)byu.edu
Actually, ELT's are generally quite inexpensive. check outhttp://www.avionix.com/elt.html for 2 ELT's at $199 each. This was a topicof a great deal of discussion in the local Newfoundland media last yearwhen a Pilatus PC-12 crashed. It had an engine failure and they tried tomake the field at Clarenville. The ceiling was less than 500' and vis waspoor. The Gander tower tried to vector the plane to the field, but thefield shows up on thier screens as a dot about 5 miles in diameter (a verygood firend of mine is an ATC in Gander). They broke out of the clouds atquite a distance from the field and ended up in a bog. with a number ofseriously injured passengers and crew.In the aftermath, it was determined that the plane was without an ELT.According to Transport Canada, you can remove an ELT for service andlegally operate the plane for a specific number of days without it (30,60, 90 ?, I can't remember which). When the media figured out that theELT's cost less than $500, they had a field day at both the airline's andTransport Canada's expense. I, too, was wondering about the logic behindthis waiver. Murphy's Law dictates that the only time you will need one iswhen it's not installed. Even if the PC-12 had some sort of exotic ELTthat cost 10 times what a gen av one does, it's still only $2000 to have aspare standing by.Personally, I have an ELT and fully intend to use it in my Christavia.It's VERY cheap insurance. This is especially true for Canada with such alow population density.Oh yeah, here's a question asked at a TC safety seminar. What do you do ifyou make a precautionary landing in a remote area while on a flight plan? For example, you're flying a flight plan in a float plane (say that 5times fast and decide to put down on a lake due to deterioratingweather and can't call anyone before you land.The answer surprised me. One hour after your ETA, you TURN ON YOUR ELT! After hearing the explanation, it makes perfect sence. SAR will start asearch if you have not reported in 1 hour after your ETA on a flight plan.Since they are already looking, you might as well make it easy for themand allow them to send a helicopter directly to you. Of course, you shouldmake every attempt to contact someone before this. When I flew on floatsin Newfoundland, I always had a list of ALL the frequencies used in thearea including company frequencies of the airlines, Gander Centerfrequencies, etc. That way, it increased my chances of reaching anoverflying airliner in such a case. Oh well, enough rambling.KenOn Mon, 3 May 1999, Ian Holland wrote:> No mention was made of an ELT, even though TB is a busy commercial> airport. Again will have to wait for the findings. It started my> thinking of a very light ELT for the Piet. After almost two and a half> years of building and interacting with the Piet chat group, I don't> think I have heard the topic come up.> > What works (none of them do all the time), what's affordable, and any> recommendations?________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Eli or Robert or Teresa Bozeman
>I have the ACK ELT in my Air Camper. Mounted behind the front panel onthe>fuse crossmember. I may be wrong, but I think the regs say that youhave to>have one if you are flying outside your test area, and you have morethan>one seat. The ELT was about $200 and has the remote indicators andswitch.>I mounted the antenna ahead of the front windshield. It is about 24"long.>Not very authentic looking but the only place I could find a groundplane.You're right about the reg, Steve, at least in the US. There was anextensive discussion on r.a.h awhile back about it. US regs say youhave to have one. I thought it was a little weird on something likethe Piet, but that's the rule.Glenn________________________________________________________________________________