the usefull part (missing for 9 Weeks) you did have me very worried for a while
Regards
Rick
His eldest son, Gus, was killed when a Piper PA-18 (Super Cub, registration G-AYPN) crashed into a hillside at Ditcham Woods near Petersfield, Hampshire on 28 August 1971. His body, together with that of the pilot and aircraft were found on 31 October 1971, the plane had been missing for just over nine weeks. Bentine's subsequent investigation into regulations governing private airfields resulted in him writing a report for the Special Branch of the British police into the use of personal aircraft in smuggling operations. He fictionalised much of the material in his novel
Im sorry I dont think many on the other side of the pond have a concept of the large area of nothing that exists 50 miles North of Las Vegas - If you dont care to take my word for it - ask Tonks or St George
Definitely. Can't recall the specific highway, but I recall taking a road trip years back on a road in Nevada that's supposedly the most desolate stretch of two-lane in the US. Over a hundred some-odd miles of nothing. Also try driving through Kansas or Nebraska. Miles and miles and hours and hours of flat nothingness. Beautiful and humbling and disconcerting all at the same time. I can't imagine searching for a tiny plane out there. Like trying to find a needle in a haystack...
As a member of CAP who's only been involved in searches from the ground and a couple of exercises to date, it is hard to explain how hard an airplane accident is to find if not in the perfect conditions or an active ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter). Our biggest problem is false alarms (people setting off their ELTs by accident either by bumping the aircraft during maintenance, movement on the ground, hard landing, or hitting the switch among other methods) and our second biggest is the ELT and it's associated search technology. Once we get ahold of the signal either via ground or aircraft radio, we can find it quite quickly. The problem is getting the signal. First, the current (121.5 MHz) ELTs are very weak (less than 5 watts) and thus very difficult to get from the ground, short ranged (10 miles) from the air, and very susceptible to interference (either from other transmitters or nearby obstructions like buildings and terrain). Second, the broadcasting ELT's are initially located by SARSAT, a satellite that is equipped to locate and pinpoint the location of an ELT broadcasting on 121.5 MHz (civilian ELT), 243.0 MHz (military ELT), or 406.0 MHz (new ELTs and EPIRBs/Personal Beacons). 121.5 because of its weak signal is prone to large variations in location on each pass of the SARSAT, so it can get us within air range of picking up the ELT most of the time, but not necessarily ground range. Most 406 units are equipped with GPS and transmit both their signal and GPS coordinates to both the SARSAT's replacement COSPAS system and GPS satellites equipped with receiving antenna which will greatly speed the locating of downed aircraft and lost persons, and also eliminate much of the obstruction problems because the 406 unit has a higher powered transmitter that is not as susceptible to interference. Beginning in 2009, both the 121.5 and 243 MHz beacons will no longer be montiored in the US and all ELTs will move to 406.
I don't know if 406 would have helped Mr. Fossett, but the 121.5 personal and aircraft beacons that were present and the terrain in question would have been very limited in range because of it, and so sadly it's not surprising that we may never find him. About the only way that the satellite would have detected his beacon would have been a direct overhead pass of the impact site, and with SARSAT's orbit, it will not happen by 2009 (besides, the ELT battery only lasts about 72 hours), so only a chance discovery by an overflying aircraft or hunters/hikers/etc. will solve the mystery of what happened.
