Effective Feb 1 your Emergency Locator Tranmitter will no longer be satellite monitored.
What does that mean?
If you are involved in an accident or turn your ELT on search and rescue, like the Civil Air Patrol, will still respond. The difference will be how the process starts. They will be notified by ground based facilities or other pilots that monitor 121.5 in flight not the satellites.
What should you do?
Nothing or
Buy an upgraded 406 ELT for $1000 now but expected to decrease a lot in the near future and 3-8 hours of labor to install
somewhere between those two options is what most of us do anyway. File a flight plan, request flight following, tell a loved where you are going and when you will be there.If you are a renter tell the dispatcher where you are going. There are many ways to be safe after Feb 1st. A very cool personal locater call SPOT is really worth a look, and can be used if you go camping, hiking, etc.
Go to the safety seminar this Feb 11th - click here for a link to the seminar and sign up!
