RE: [Aus-soaring] ELT

[Allan Armistead]

There is one line of thought in road safety that we all have a level of "acceptable risk". Improve the cars and the roads and rather than getting a quantum increase in safety we take up the margin in increasingly risky behaviour. Give someone ABS brakes and they drive closer to the car in front. Same principle no doubt applies to some people with EPIRBS in boats. Create a better rescue organisation and the individual owner feels less compelled to be well prepared (says he, being also a boat owner...).   Many years ago, one researcher in England (I think it was) came to the conclusion that road safety would be much improved if we did away with seat belts, air bags, ABS brakes, radial tyres etc and surrounded the driver on all sides with sharp spikes pointed directly at him. I guess that would really focus you on the consequences of a collision... Allan Armistead ph (02) 6249 6470, fax (02) 6249 6555, mobile 0413 013 911 PO Box 908, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia "When once you have tasted flight, you will always walk with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you always will be." Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of skf1 Sent: Wednesday, 26 May 2004 19:29 To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] ELT Guys and Gals   The question was asked;  how may Beacon activations do we see in Australia per day? or something close to that.     I have checked, have taken some raw data, and come up with the following unofficial figures.   The average number of real activations per day over the past 12 months is approx 4, with an average of 1 person per day being rescued.  Most genuine activations are maritime incidents, with a growing number of bush walkers, and 4WD incidents in remote areas being notified by Distress Beacon activations.       Unfortunately some boaties use their beacons as their primary defence against their own stupidity, which has lead to one wit reassigning the acronym EPIRB to mean “Empty Petrol I Require Boat”      Unfortunate but true   SDF   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of skf1 Sent: Tuesday, 25 May 2004 8:33 PM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] ELT     Mike's Question   How many 121.5 alerts a day occur in Australia?     I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, but I will get the answer for you.   However the number will be far greater than I expect many of you will expect.  Over 90% of activations are inadvertent (usually due to miss handling) and a growing number of malicious activations, particularly in the Perth region. Several of the people responsible for malicious activations have been successfully prosecuted in recent times.   SDF

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Armistead;Allan
FN:Allan Armistead
ORG:Allan Armistead Consulting International
TEL;WORK;VOICE:(02) 6249-6470
TEL;HOME;VOICE:(02) 6249-6470
TEL;CELL;VOICE:0413 013 911
TEL;WORK;FAX:(02) 6249-6555
ADR;WORK:;;PO Box 908;DICKSON;ACT;2602;Australia
LABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:PO Box 908=0D=0ADICKSON, ACT 2602=0D=0AAustralia
EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
REV:20020314T051104Z
END:VCARD

_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring