Montgomery CAP

Volume 1, Issue 2 January 2009

Vacancies in the Region

MER has three positions to fill Director of Cadet Programs - This position is responsible for coordinating cadet activities in the region. This includes the MER Cadet Advisory Council, Region Cadet Leadership School, Region Cadet Competition and cadet activities at the Region Conference. They serve as an advisor to the Wing Directors of Cadet Programs, Region Commander, and the Cadet Program staff at National Headquarters. This person will also serve as a member of the MER Awards Committee. Director of Aerospace Education - This position is responsible for coordinating Aerospace Education and Activities in the region. They serve as an advisor both to the Wing AE Directors, Region Commander and to NHQ. Director of Professional Development - This position will be responsible for monitoring the progression of the members of MER staff and their training records, monitoring the Region Staff College and serve as an advisor on PD for the wings, region commander and NHQ. Anyone interested (or knows anyone interested) in the above position should contact the region chief of staff
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Meeting Minutes
1/20/2009 No information available

1/27/2009 Meeting Canceled

121.5 MHz ELT, Gone?

SARSAT drops 121.5 MHz On 1 February 2009, the International Cospas-Sarsat [1] Organization (U.S. included) will terminate processing of distress signals emitted by 121.5 MHz Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs). Pilots flying aircraft equipped with 121.5 MHz ELTs after that date will have to depend on pilots of over flying aircraft and or ground stations monitoring 121.5 to hear and report distress alert signals, transmitted from a possible crash site. Currently only 12-15% of the registered aircraft in the United States are flying with 406 MHz ELTs. This means that there is at least an 85% chance that an aircraft in an accident will only transmit a 121.5 MHz signal, thus remaining silent to the satellites. It will be up to other pilots monitoring the 121.5 MHz frequency in the cockpit to alert Search and Rescue authorities to accidents involving 121.5. When you fly, look out for your fellow pilots and when possible monitor 121.5 MHz. If a 121.5 MHz ELT is heard on guard, report to the nearest air traffic control tower, the time and location of when you first detect the ELT, when it is the loudest and when it drops off your radio. Listening and reporting may well be the difference that saves a life. Cospas-Sarsat System (U.S. included) has been and will continue processing emergency signals transmitted by 406 MHz ELTs. These 5 Watt digital beacons

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 1 2 3 3 3

MER Vacancies 121.5 MHz ELT no longer monitored by SARSAT Wing Response to Frequency Change What happened to the meeting minutes? Calendar of Events Q&A

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(see contact info below). We need to fill these positions as soon as possible. All selections must be approved by their Wing Commanders before taking the positions. Phyllis A. Griffin, Lt Col, CAP MER Chief of Staff pgriffin2@aol.com 410-484-9578 Home 443-562-6461 Cell

This coming week I will be the Group 3 duty I/C and the list of others will soon be posted. I suggest the pilots and especially the Observers become thoroughly familiar with the 406DF operation. CAP pilots are required to monitor 121.5 as well as Channel 4 on the CAP radio unless safety of flight or FAA/ATC directs otherwise. Ground teams will soon be provided GPS receivers to insure a quicker and thorough search. I am requesting each I/C that conducts a future REDCAP to place a brief summary of their findings on INFO in order to insure everyone is made fully aware of the upcoming changes and how this will affect future searches. We can all learn from past experiences and if search procedures are required they can be discussed and implemented as necessary. There will soon be several changes to the VAWG Operations Branch due to additional operational workloads and requirements. As of today, 1 Feb 09, Rick Ritchie (VAWG E/S Officer) and Jim Scuffham (Wing E/S Licensing Officer) will be assisted by Mike Wormington, from Monticello Squadron. Gene Jackson will also be assisting Lynn Jensen in Maintenance, monitoring flight release and aircraft flight logs and insuring all FRO's provide a Form 99 to Wing each month. Gene will also continue to be HLS/CD Director and assist me as Assistant Director of Operations. His effective date will be determined and announced at a later date. Justin Pahl is assisting Susan Parson in Stan/Eval. Thanks for all your dedication to the CAP. Jim Truxel, LtCol, CAP VAWG DO

Wing Responds to Frequency Change

DO Issues operating guidelines As of today, Feb 1, 09 the SARSATS no longer monitor 121.5/ 243, only 406. The only way we will know of a 121.5 ELT signal is from aircraft or ground facilities monitoring 121.5. If an aircraft at 30,000ft picks up a 121.5, you can only imagine the massive airspace involved in a search. However, I just talked to AFRCC and they advised they will only consider initial 121.5 aircraft reports at 15,000 ft and below. If they receive a valid airborne report they will attempt to confirm additional reports, perform the airport checks, etc for about 2 hours. If the signal is still heard, CAP will then be alerted. VAWG has the 406 DF capability installed in 5 of our 11 aircraft; the 4 Glass 182's and 818CP. How does this concern us? Instead of normally launching 1 aircraft and 1 ground crew we may be required to launch several of both as the search area will be so large. For 406 REDCAPS our initial launch will be the 5 aircraft with that DF capability. 406 DF also transmits 121.5 but I understand the signal is much weaker and will require a more positive search area before receiving the signal. Most of the pilots and flight schools I have talked with do not plan to install a 406 ELT in their aircraft due to the high cost. Many will purchase the personal beacons. I am suggesting to our pilots that they carry a VHF handheld Transceiver and cell phone as a minimum. There is some question as to the cell phone being on but a few years ago VAWG was part of a 4 State search for a missing CAP pilot in his private aircraft. 121.5 was not heard as the antenna was broken on impact. Normal search procedures were not successful. But we were able to triangulate his cell "pings" from the cell towers and he was located. As the 406 DF also transmit a very accurate Lat/long position to the SARSAT the search area should be greatly reduced. How this will affect us is still to be determined. But starting today we will soon find out.

SM Davis successfully creates a fire with rain-soaked wood (Aug 2009). Photo courtesy Heather Hansen.

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WHAT

HAPPENED TO THE

MEETING MINUTES?
The PAO needs YOUR help! This newsletter will only be as good as the effort put into it. All that is needed is for timely messages delivered to pao.va056@gmail.com with copies of meeting minutes or notes. If you have an event that you want to appear in this newsletter, feel free to include it as well!

CALENDAR

OF

EVENTS

REGULAR MEETING 02/03/2009 PLACE: CHRISTIANSBURG ARMORY TIME: 1900 Regular weekly meeting: A.E. UOD: Blues WING SARCAP 02/07/2009 PLACE: WG HQ Wing SARCAP exercise REGULAR MEETING 02/10/2009 PLACE: CHRISTIANSBURG ARMORY TIME: 1900 Regular weekly meeting: E.S. UOD: BDU REGULAR MEETING 02/17/2009 PLACE: CHRISTIANSBURG ARMORY TIME: 1900 Regular weekly meeting: M.L. UOD: Blues REGULAR MEETING 02/24/2009 PLACE: CHRISTIANSBURG ARMORY TIME: 1900 Regular weekly meeting: P.T. UOD: BDU/PT

transmit a much stronger signal, are more accurate, verifiable and traceable to the registered beacon owner (406 MHz ELTs must be registered by the owner in accordance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation at www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov). Registration allows the search and rescue authorities to contact the beacon owner, or his or her designated alternate by telephone to determine if a real emergency exists. Therefore, a simple telephone call often solves a 406 MHz alerts without launching costly and limited search and rescue resources, which would have to be done for a 121.5 MHz alert. For these reasons, the search and rescue community is encouraging aircraft owners to consider retrofit of 406 MHz ELTs or at a minimum, consider the purchase of a handheld 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) which can be carried in the cockpit while continuing to maintain a fixed 121.5 MHz ELT mounted in the aircrafts tail. Protect yourself and your passengers and Get the Fix Switch to 406.

Remember, after February 1, 2009, the world-wide Cospas-Sarsat satellite system will no longer process 121.5 MHz alert signals. Pilots involved in aircraft accidents in remote areas will have to depend on pilots of over flying aircraft and or ground stations to hear emergency ELT distress signals. For further information concerning the termination of 121.5 MHz data processing visit www.sarsat.noaa.govor contact Switchto406@noaa.gov with any questions.

The last newsletter was a lot better than this one, whats up? A. This newsletter is at the mercy of the effort put forth for the information contained. The PAO is not omniscient, and needs as much information as possible! You should have added XYZ event! A. See above! If you want your event included/mentioned, send a detailed message to pao.va056@gmail.com Do you think we could get some Aerospace articles in the newsletter?

A. Sure thing! Write me an article, and send it to pao.va056@gmail.com How about some dedicated columns for A.E. and E.S.? A. If you want regular columns, we need regular writers! Write some articles, or convince a fellow CAP member they need to write an article for the newsletter. Hey! I have a picture I want in the newsletter! A. Good! Send the photo + description to pao.va056@gmail.com It will even get entered into the photo contest!

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