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Sat, Aug 13, 2005

Accidentally Triggered ELT Sends Montana Crews On Frantic Search

Plane Found Safe In Owner's Garage

When the signal came in, search crews in Big Fork, MT, hit the bricks, in an effort that involved both ground and air units, looking for the source. Thirty-seven hours later, the search ended when the source of the Emergency Locator Transmitter signal was found -- in the owner's garage.

The owner, who was asleep when searchers finally pinpointed the source of the ELT signal, didn't want to be identified in the media (can you blame him?).

"I accidentally triggered the emergency transmitter while working on the plane and didn't know it," he told the Big Fork Eagle.

"A lot of money was spent," Flathead County Under-Sheriff Mike Meehan told the paper. "A lot of manpower and resources were used in looking for this plane.

"It was a careless mistake," Meehan said. "It was obviously unintentional. The man was very embarrassed."

Meehan told the Eagle his department was still deciding whether to bill the unnamed pilot for the cost of the search -- which could climb into the tens of thousands of dollars.

FMI: www.sarsat.noaa.gov/emerbcns.html

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