CASARA ONTARIO - ZONE 3 - THUNDER BAY
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO AIR SEARCH AND RESCUE ASSOCIATION
PATERSON HANGAR, THUNDER BAY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
SAR REPORT
DATE: 2002-01-31
ELT SIGNAL - UPSALA, ONTARIO
LOCATION:
Town of Upsala, Ontario. High flyers and SARSAT picked up ELT signal on 121.5 MHz in vicinity of Upsala heliport. First signal received at 1300z and location confirmed by C-130 Hercules at 1542z.
ELT INFORMATION:
Signal ceased around 1630z. NOASARA ground crew confirmed that ELT inadvertently activated at Canada Post facility, followed to residence and deactivated by owner after being contacted by NOASARA crew.
PROBABLE REASON FOR ACTIVATION:
ELT was shipped by maintenance facility back to owner without being properly disabled. The container was unopened when NOASARA personnel arrived.
CASARA RESPONSE:
Page was received from RCC Trenton at 1304z. RCC was contacted and they explained that SARSAT and high flyers had picked up a weak ELT signal in the area of Upsala and they requested that a ground ELT team be dispatched. A NOASARA Ground Crew was assembled and left Thunder Bay at 1437z. Crew arrived in area at 1611Z. After coordinates were updated by RCC an ELT search was conducted using the hand held DF equipment. However, the signal was lost. Findings passed on to RCC who confirmed that there were no further satellite hits either. Ground Crew investigated and found that the ELT had inadvertently been activated at Canada Post facility which was then followed to residence and deactivated by owner after being contacted by NOASARA crew.
Vehicle returned to base at 2008z.
NOASARA stood down. Total time on search: 1.30 hrs.
Summary abstracted from official SAR OPS report.
From left to right:
Airplane owner Larry Leganchuk holding the offending ELT. NOASARA ground ELT search crew members Lori Luck, Peter Huneau, Ed Tulin and Brett Rushton.
For another perspective on this incident, click here.