SAR Actual November 10 2001

SAR Actual November 10, 2001 -- ELT Search at Thunder Bay Airport

On November 10, NOASARA member Peter Huneau, who was carrying the pager, was contacted by RCC Trenton to investigate a suspected nuisance ELT at the Thunder Bay airport. An ELT is an emergency radio beacon that is installed on airplanes to signal Search and Rescue in case of an airplane crash.

Peter contacted John Bouley, Spotter Coordinator, to call out an ELT ground team. Phil Cotton and Wayne Corkum were dispatched with the handheld direction finder and began searching the airport property.

In short order, the signal was located in a turboprop parked near a maintenance hangar. Repairs were being performed on the plane and the ELT had been inadvertently switched to the "on" position. Once the problem was discovered, repair personnel restored the unit's selector switch to the normal "arm" position, which makes the ELT ready to transmit its signal when triggered by a G-switch in case of a crash.

The entire procedure, from pager call to completion, took a little over one hour.

Search with the handheld direction finder begins near the Paterson hangar.

Using a combination of signal strength and direction readings, the team begins to "home in" on the signal.

The nuisance ELT signal is discovered in a turboprop undergoing maintenance. At this point, the ELT is de-activated and the Rescue Coordination Centre at Trenton gets a report of the findings.