Satellite Beacons Prove Time And Again To Be Lifesavers

A Navy Knighthawk helicopter crashes during a training exercise in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Of the 17 aboard, four are injured. Though the area is remote and hilly, and though weather conditions are less than accommodating, emergency rescue teams are quick to pinpoint the downed chopper's location and evacuate all the crewmembers to safety. Abby Sunderland, a California teen attempting to set a new record for the youngest solo sail around the world, is pounded by a monster storm that rips the mast off her boat and disables her satellite phone. Though she was set adrift 2,000 miles off shore somewhere in the Indian Ocean, authorities are able to quickly find her alive. The reason for such amazingly speedy recoveries: SARSAT, NOAA's Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system.

Now nearly 29 years old, the international system uses NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites plus Russia’s COSPAS spacecraft to rapidly detect and locate distress signals from emergency beacons onboard aircraft (emergency locator transmitters or ELTs) and boats (emergency position-indicating radio beacons or EPIRBs), and from smaller, handheld personal locator beacons (PLBs). The 406 MHz beacons transmit digital signals and can be uniquely identified almost instantly, giving rescuers immediate data on the identification and location of the registered user.

For just about anyone who loves to embark on adventures in isolated locations, the benefits of owning an emergency beacon is clear. In 2010 alone, NOAA satellites were instrumental in the rescues of 295 people from life-threatening situations throughout the United States, pinpointing distress signals from downed pilots, shipwrecked boaters and stranded hikers. Since 1982, over 28,000 people have been rescued worldwide, 6,534 in the US.

Obviously it's a great idea to purchase a coded 406 MHz beacon, and if you do, you must register it with NOAA. It's smart, and it's the law. Also if anything changes, like if you moved, were lucky enough to buy a new boat or if you sell your beacon, you have to notify NOAA and update your registration. Doing so helps provide better, faster assistance to people in distress by providing information about the location of the emergency, the number of people needing assistance, what type of help may be needed and other ways to contact the owner.

So if you are an adventurer, help emergency crews help you if you ever get into trouble-get a beacon and register it. You don't have to be piloting a Navy Nighthawk or circumnavigating the globe, disaster can strike anywhere, anytime.

sources: newsadvance.com, msnbc.msn.com, sarsat.noaa.gov, wikipedia.org photo: NOAA

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