CONDITIONS

You are part of a ground team that has found a distress beacon. Either there were no victims, or the victims have been taken care of, and the site is considered safe.

OBJECTIVES

Take the proper steps to deactivate the distress beacon.

TRAINING AND EVALUATION

Training Outline

1. It is essential to turn off any distress beacon (ELTs, EPIRBs, PLBs, or other transmitters. A transmitting distress beacon can mask other distress signals. The vast majority of distress beacon finds are non-distress situations, where an distress beacon has gone off accidentally. In a distress situation, the primary responsibility is to help any victims. Additionally, no one should put themselves in danger to deactivate an distress beacon.
2. Once the distress beacon has been found the following procedures should be followed (only a, c, e and f apply in distress situations):
1. Immediately report the find to mission base.
2. Attempt to locate the aircraft/boat owner in order to gain access to the distress beacon.
3. If the owner is unavailable, contact the FBO or harbor master and local law enforcement officials to permit access to the aircraft or boat.
4. Locate and deactivate the distress beacon, monitoring 121.5 Mhz to insure the signal ceases. If possible disconnect the battery. Distress Beacons are normally located in the tail section of small planes. Large commercial planes sometimes have a small access door on the fuselage to access an on/off switch to the distress beacon. ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE SIGNAL HAS STOPPED - YOU MIGHT HAVE THE WRONG DISTRESS BEACON.
5. Leave a distress beacon deactivation sticker, so that the owner knows that his distress beacon has been deactivated if not present when silenced. If you don’t have a sticker, leave a note where the pilot will find it.
6. Immediately inform the incident commander and pass on the following information:
1. Manufacturer, make, model and serial # of the distress beacon.
2. Battery type and expiration date.
3. Time of deactivation.
4. Aircraft or boat ID # (if appropriate)
5. Any other pertinent information.
7. If the distress beacon cannot be deactivated, disconnect the antenna or construct an 'antenna tent' with aluminum foil so that the signal will no longer interfere with SARSAT. While this process is going on, the team leader should contact the incident commander to keep him informed and to receive further instructions.

Additional Information

More detailed information on this topic is available in Chapter 6 of the Ground Team Member & Leader Reference Guide.

Evaluation Preparation

Setup:

Provide the team member with a distress beacon or a mockup with a power switch, battery and data plate. Have a distress beacon deactivation sticker available, but don’t provide it unless the team member mentions it.

Brief Team Leader:

Tell the team leader that he has located an active distress beacon in a locked airplane at an airport. Ask the team member what steps he or she would take to deactivate it. When the team member states that he/she would try to find the owner, ask the team member what he/she would do if the owner is not available. After this, give the team member the distress beacon and ask him to demonstrate what he/she would do. Finally, ask what the team member would do if the distress beacon could not be deactivated.

Evaluation

Student must receive a pass on all performance measures to qualify in this task. If the individual fails any measure, show what was done wrong and how to do it correctly.