Distress Beacons

Question 1

What is a distress beacon?

Answer 1

An electronic device that, when activated in a life-threatening situation, assists authorities in their search to locate those in distress.

Question 2

What are the three basic types of distress beacon?

Answer 2

• Aviation - Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT)
• Maritime - Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)
• Personal Locator Beacons (PLB)

Question 3

What frequencies are used by digital beacons?

Answer 3

406 MHz

Question 4

What frequencies are used by analogue beacons?

Answer 4

• 121.5 MHz
• 243.0 MHz

Question 5

When must pilots report beacon detections to ATC?

Answer 5

When greater than 10 seconds.

Question 6

Who can detect analogue beacons?

Answer 6

Passing aircraft.

Question 7

How are digital beacons detected?

Answer 7

By satellites that form the COSPAS-SARSAT network. This is then relayed to a Local User Terminal.

Question 8

How can ELTs be activated?

Answer 8

• Selecting ‘on’
• G-force loading (e.g. crash)
• Immersion in water (e.g. sinking)

Question 9

Where are Australia’s LUT sites?

Answer 9

• Albany WA
• Bundaberg QLD

Question 10

What are the key elements of the COSPAS-SARSAT network?

Answer 10

• DIstress radio beacons, which transmit signals during distress situations.
• Ground receiving stations, or LUTs, which receive and provess the satellite downlink signal to generate distress alerts
• Mission Control Centres (MCCs) which receive alerts produced by LUTs and forward them to Rescue Coordination Centres (RCCs), Search and Rescue Point of Contacts (SPOCs) or other MCCs.

Question 11

What are the two types of satellite/system in the COSPAS-SARSAT system?

Answer 11

1. Polar Low-altitude Earth Orbit (LEO) - LEOSAR system
2. Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) - GEOSAR

Future? - Medium-altitude Earth Orbit (MEO) - MEOSAR.

Question 12

Is it possible to determine the location for beacons not equipped with GPS?

Answer 12

Yes, by measuring Doppler shift.

Question 13

A GPS beacon will provide a location within _______ in ________

Answer 13

1. 120 metres
2. 20 minutes

Question 14

A non-GPS beacon will provide a location within ____________ in ___________ to _________

Answer 14

1. 5 km
2. 90 minutes
3. 5 hours

Question 15

Pilots should monitor 121.5MHz when?

Answer 15

Before engine start and after shutdown.

AIP GEN 3.7

Question 16

After receiving a beacon report in excess of 10 seconds, what actions should ATC take?

Answer 16

1. Declare a distress phase.
2. Provide initial advice to JRCC, which must detail:
   - position
   - route
   - height
   - time signal was first received, and
   - description of signal characteristics.
3. Send a Distress Beacon Signal Report Form following initial advice to JRCC Australia

Question 17

The HexID or Unique Identification Number (UIN) is what?

Answer 17

The unique code programmed into each 406 MHz distress beacon and transmitted when the beacon is activated.

-15 characters long
- hexadecimal numbers and letters