NTSB Chair Hersman Confirms No Signal Was Received From 406-MHz Transponder

As authorities continue to look into the crash of the DeHavilland DCH-T3 Otter which went down in Alaska last week, there is a good possibility that there will be an investigation within an investigation. The accident killed former Senator Ted Stevens and four others.

NTSB Photo

Chris O'Connors, program manager for SARSAT, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, announced Thursday that the plane was equipped with one of the new 406-MHz transponders, and that it had been properly registered. But authorities did not receive a signal from the plane, despite confirmed satellite passes shortly after it went down.

Without the beacon's GPS coordinates, or even the knowledge the plane was down, the search for survivors was delayed for about two hours after the accident.

USA Today reports NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman confirms there was no signal received from the plane, but the board has not disclosed whether it believes any of those who died might have survived the crash itself.

Lieutenant Shawn Maddock, operations support officer for SARSAT, credits the new UHF beacons for saving the lives of 20 snowmobilers in Alaska over the past two years.

FMI: www.sarsat.noaa.gov, www.ntsb.gov