ELT or PLB

[horsepower 24]

Im getting close to painting my fuselage but I have a question on ELT,s, if I have a Personal Locator Beacon, do I still have to have a ELT?I know that the 406 M/Hz ELT,s are spendy,the old system 121.5 are cheap on Ebay.I am going to have a PLB but not sure what to do on the ELT.If I have to have one I kind of want to get it mounted before I go much further on the Fuselage.The ELT will transmit on impact and PLB will not so maybe I have to have one anyway.

Thanks Randy

[SuberAvid 617]

Im getting close to painting my fuselage but I have a question on ELT,s, if I have a Personal Locator Beacon, do I still have to have a ELT?I know that the 406 M/Hz ELT,s are spendy,the old system 121.5 are cheap on Ebay.I am going to have a PLB but not sure what to do on the ELT.If I have to have one I kind of want to get it mounted before I go much further on the Fuselage.The ELT will transmit on impact and PLB will not so maybe I have to have one anyway.

Thanks Randy

Hi Randy,

You have to have an ELT if you want to fly more than 50 miles from your home airport; PLB's don't satisfy the requirement. It does not have to be a 406; the 121.5 is still legal even though it is not monitored except by another pilot if they happen to, so it is pretty much worthless, but those are the rules. Wherever you mount it, you need to be able to get to it so you can change the batteries. Some of the 406 units are made to directly replace the same brand 121.5's so you could install a cheap 121.5 for now and change it out to a 406 when you have the cash or hopefully the price continues to go down.

Randy

[horsepower 24]

Hi Randy,

You have to have an ELT if you want to fly more than 50 miles from your home airport; PLB's don't satisfy the requirement. It does not have to be a 406; the 121.5 is still legal even though it is not monitored except by another pilot if they happen to, so it is pretty much worthless, but those are the rules. Wherever you mount it, you need to be able to get to it so you can change the batteries. Some of the 406 units are made to directly replace the same brand 121.5's so you could install a cheap 121.5 for now and change it out to a 406 when you have the cash or hopefully the price continues to go down.

Randy

I kind of remember reading something about that,I will probably bite the bullet and get a 406 ELT.Its kind of like insurance, you pay for it and hopefully never have to use it.Thanks Randy