Find Me SPOT Gen3
I use a SPOT Gen3 beacon during cross country flights. The issues with emergency locator transmitters (ELT) are known to most pilots. For example, there is a description of the issues from COPA. The linked article has some excellent information on the limitations of ELT and personal location beacons (PLB), how to configure PLB for speedy response for aviation, and discussions of several types of personal locator beacons.
My father called SPOT devices to my attention. He was considering obtaining one of these when flying north to go fishing in the Lake LA-4 in summer, or more importantly in the Aeronca Chief in winter. Both of these aircraft spend one or two hours over the bush and well away from roads or even well traveled water-ways. This is where the fish are - obviously. To this date he still hasn't equipped himself with an inexpensive bit of potentially lifesaving technology. Which he can easily swap between aircraft.
When I started flying up to Fort McMurray on a regular basis this technology made sense. Most of the usual track is over the interior of British Columbia or northern Alberta. Both of these locations have a very great deal of area and almost no people at all.
I purchased the basic version from Aircraft Spruce. It came in a very small box and I set it up using a mobile phone and my sister-in-law's back yard (we flew to Dawson Creek in the Cherokee Challenger) Took about fifteen minutes while entertaining some little nieces and nephews and having a couple of beers. In other words: not complicated.
Once the setup process is finished using it is a matter of pressing a couple of buttons at the start of the flight and tossing it on the glare-shield. Every ten minutes the device checks its position. If it is moving it transmits the co-ordinates to the satellite and the system drops a pin on the beacon's tracking web-page.
The way I set up the custom messages is to press the "I'm OK" button at the start of a flight which texts and emails a few people that I have started a flight. The "Custom" button is set up to let the same people know I have arrived. The remainder of the buttons are for escalating levels of emergency assistance. These can be linked to various services in the basic plan and more options are available for an additional subscription fee.
My flight plan templates on the NavCanada web-page are set up with a link to the SPOT Gen3 beacon's tracking web-page. If I go down and NavCanada is looking for me, they are a mouse click away from my last position. If I should ever fail to close a flight plan, they are also a mouse click away from where the aircraft is parked.
You can log into a web page after the flight and see your track which is very educational. I particularly like emailing it to passengers after their ride. Gives them a much better sense of the scale of their trip. The data points expire after a few weeks if you don't download them.
The device is in-expensive with about $150 to purchase and $150 a year subscription fees. It will probably be the least expensive bit of airplane avionics I will ever purchase. It is portable and useful for camping trips or hiking or skiing or hunting or whatever.
The peace of mind it affords my family when I am on one of my cross country VFR trips is good. This is a valuable and useful little bit of kit.
Where I am
When I started flying up to Fort McMurray on a regular basis this technology made sense. Most of the usual track is over the interior of British Columbia or northern Alberta. Both of these locations have a very great deal of area and almost no people at all.
I purchased the basic version from Aircraft Spruce. It came in a very small box and I set it up using a mobile phone and my sister-in-law's back yard (we flew to Dawson Creek in the Cherokee Challenger) Took about fifteen minutes while entertaining some little nieces and nephews and having a couple of beers. In other words: not complicated.
Once the setup process is finished using it is a matter of pressing a couple of buttons at the start of the flight and tossing it on the glare-shield. Every ten minutes the device checks its position. If it is moving it transmits the co-ordinates to the satellite and the system drops a pin on the beacon's tracking web-page.
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| Riding around on the glare shield |
The way I set up the custom messages is to press the "I'm OK" button at the start of a flight which texts and emails a few people that I have started a flight. The "Custom" button is set up to let the same people know I have arrived. The remainder of the buttons are for escalating levels of emergency assistance. These can be linked to various services in the basic plan and more options are available for an additional subscription fee.
My flight plan templates on the NavCanada web-page are set up with a link to the SPOT Gen3 beacon's tracking web-page. If I go down and NavCanada is looking for me, they are a mouse click away from my last position. If I should ever fail to close a flight plan, they are also a mouse click away from where the aircraft is parked.
You can log into a web page after the flight and see your track which is very educational. I particularly like emailing it to passengers after their ride. Gives them a much better sense of the scale of their trip. The data points expire after a few weeks if you don't download them.
The device is in-expensive with about $150 to purchase and $150 a year subscription fees. It will probably be the least expensive bit of airplane avionics I will ever purchase. It is portable and useful for camping trips or hiking or skiing or hunting or whatever.
The peace of mind it affords my family when I am on one of my cross country VFR trips is good. This is a valuable and useful little bit of kit.
Where I am
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