*** Emergency Locator Transmitters *** From: "john cammidge" To: Subject: Emergency locator transmitters Date: September 28, 2000 06:37 Hi, I am a civilian SAR pilot and have been involved in the aviation and SAR communities for many years. I recently performed a search for a missing hiker, overdue after an 8 day solo hike. He had gone off the trail in mountainous, very rugged terrain. The search area was enormously difficult to search well, even in helicopters. Although able to make a small fire and fire flares, we were unable to find him. He eventually got motivated enough after watching us search a ridge line that he had been on and zigged instead of zagged at the end of it, that he hiked out and flagged down a transport helo. To make a long story short, a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) would have been a fabulous asset. It is a registered digital radio beacon and it is part of a radio system monitored world wide day and night by dedicated, motivated SAR professionals. These are the people who task aircraft, boats and helicopters who will move heaven and earth to find whoever is associated with the beacon. They work in jungle, swamp and mountains. Please pass this along in the EMERGENCY comms section and tell folks about them. They are available in many hiking equipment stores. I cannot tell you a brand name, but there are several manufacturers. EPIRB's (Emergency Position Indicating Rescue Beacons) are available for boats and ELT's (Emergency Locator Transmitters) are available for aircraft. Although many of my tasks have been to turn these off after someone inadvertently turned them on, they are an invaluable asset to someone who is lost. John Cammidge