Majority of aircraft in Canada using outmoded emergency beacons

HALIFAX, N.S. - The majority of commercial and private aircraft in Canada are flying with emergency locator beacons that use an outmoded satellite frequency, effectively silencing a lifeline that tells searchers where a plane is if it crashes or needs help.

The international satellite system that monitors the transmitters used to listen to beacons on two frequencies - the digital 406 megahertz and analog 121.5 megahertz beacons.

But as of Feb. 1, it began listening to only the digital emergency frequency.

As a result, the older analog beacons no longer alert search and rescue authorities, leaving the 75 to 85 per cent of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft that haven't made the switch in Canada virtually in the dark if they have an emergency.

"When an accident or a serious incident occurs, that's when they really act like a crew's lifeline to survival," said Carole Smith of the National Search and Rescue Secretariat, a branch of National Defence.

However, Smith says the international satellite system, and Canadian search and rescue centres, are now only listening for the newer beacons.

"Only those digital beacons that operate on a frequency of 406 megahertz will continue to be monitored," she said.

The beacon sends out a signal to the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system alerting authorities that an incident has occurred, automatically sending a location through to rescue authorities to guide them to the crash.

The devices, which can be activated manually or automatically under the force of impact, are mandated for use by Transport Canada on everything from a Cessna to a Boeing 737 and higher.

But the switch to the 406 megahertz frequency is still voluntary while the federal department drafts regulations.

Smith says the 406 digital beacon is an improvement over the older analog version because it provides ground search and rescue officials with more precise co-ordinates of a plane in distress and gives detailed information about the aircraft.

Not adapting a transmitter to use the 406 megahertz beacon means it could take far longer to determine the location of a downed plane.

Last month, a light aircraft still equipped with an analog beacon and affiliated with a training school went down near Fredericton.

Notification of the crash only came from another plane passing overhead and the location co-ordinates were far from where the small aircraft actually went down.

"It did take considerably longer than if that aircraft had a 406 megahertz beacon on board," Smith said. "(With 406 megahertz) search and rescue would have known within minutes that there was a distress and which particular aircraft was in distress."

But owners and operators have been slow to change over, saying there are fundamental, age-old problems with the transmitters that are simply being passed on with the new frequency.

John Davidson of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association said the emergency locator transmitters have a central design flaw that means they often don't go off.

It has a one-directional gravity switch that won't get activated if it isn't hit at a certain angle when a plane crashes.

"All of the installation factors are still a problem from the original 121.5 system," he said from Winnipeg. "None of the equipment has changed other than to change the frequency and that's the rub - all of the problem sets from the original system are still there."

Critics contend the new system has its own set of deficiencies and will cost up to $4,000 to install.

The new digital system will take about 50 seconds longer to alert search officials of an emergency, in which time an aircraft can sink, turn upside down or catch fire, all of which would prevent a signal from getting out.

The system is mandatory in several countries, but it will likely be years before Canada forces aviators to make the switch.

Draft regulations have been published in the Canada Gazette and are being reviewed, but the government is expected to grant a two-year implementation period once the regulations are brought in.

"We're currently reviewing feedback from stakeholders, looking at all technologies and working on finalizing regulations," said Maryse Durette, a spokeswoman with Transport Canada.

Davidson, whose group represents about 3,500 volunteers involved in search and rescue, said he wants regulators to consider other technologies before mandating the emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs, on the 406 megahertz frequency.

"The industry is saying, 'Why don't we fix it, why don't we get newer technologies out there that monitor airplanes,"' he said. "There are too many dangers of the ELT not working properly."