Emergency Beacons (ELT)

1. Introduction

Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs), which have been in use since 1 January 2005, transmit on the following frequencies:

• 406 MHz for signalling and locating distress by satellite: alerts received can be identified by the identifier of the aircraft in distress, which is integrated into the code transmitted by the beacon.
• 121.5 MHz for on-zone guidance of search and rescue resources by direction finding.
• Since 1 January 2002, all ELTs installed on new aircraft operating in commercial transport have to operate simultaneously on the 2 frequencies.
• Since 1 January 2005, this requirement applies to all aircraft operating long-distance flights over water or over regions where searches would be particularly difficult.
• On 1 February 2009, the Cospas-Sarsat organisation deactivated its payloads relaying the 121.5MHz frequency. Satellite tracking of this frequency is no longer possible.

1.1 Terminology

The term ‘Aircraft’ refers to a aeroplane or helicopter.

The term ‘COSPAS-SARSAT’ refers to an international satellite search and rescue programme for sea, air and land vehicles covering the entire globe. The programme is based on two satellite constellations and a network of Mission Control Centres (MCCs) responsible for processing the alert signals transmitted by the satellites and distributing operational information to the various countries of the world, without discrimination, via ‘Single National Contact Points’ or SPOCs. These single points of contact are declared by each country and listed in document Cospas-Sarsat A.001.

The support MCC for the wider Europe area is the French Mission Control Centre, located at CNES Toulouse in France (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) and operated by the French Ministry in charge of Civil Aviation and Maritime Affairs.

1.2 Reference Documents

2. Procedure

2.1 Installation of ELT

2.1.1 Commercial aviation

From 1st July 2008 the installation of ELT on aeroplanes is applicable:

- all aeroplanes authorized to carry more than 19 passengers:

• Shall be equipped with at least one automatic ELT or two ELTs of any type, if the individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued before 1 July 2008.
• Shall be equipped with at least two ELTs one of which shall be automatic, if the individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued after 1 July 2008.

Note: No automatic ELT is required in the case where the requirements are met by another system capable of transmitting autonomously information from which a position can be determined by the operator at least once every minute, when in distress.

All aeroplanes of a maximum certificated take-off mass of over 27.000 kg for which the individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued on or after 1 January 2024, shall autonomously transmit information from which a position can be determined by the operator at least once every minute, when in distress.

All aeroplanes authorized to carry 19 passengers or less:

• Shall be equipped with at least one ELT of any type, if the individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued before 1 July 2008.

·         Shall be equipped with at least one automatic ELT if the individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued after 1 July 2008.

ELT equipment carried to satisfy the requirements shall operate in accordance with the relevant provisions of Annex 10, Volume III.

(ICAO Annex 6, Part 1, Chapters 6.17 and 6.18)

2.1.2 General aviation

From 1st July 2008 the installation of ELT on aeroplanes is applicable:

• Shall be equipped with at least one ELT of any type, the aeroplane which individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued before 1 July 2008.
• Shall be equipped with at least one automatic ELT the aeroplane which individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued after 1 July 2008.
• Shall be equipped with a survival ELT (ELT(S)) or a personal locator beacon (PLB) carried by a crew member or a passenger the aircraft certified for a maximum passenger seating configuration of six or less.

(ICAO Annex 6, Part 2, Chapter 2.4.12 and NCO.IDE.A.170 Regulation (EU) n ° 965/2012)

ELT equipment carried to satisfy the requirements shall operate in accordance with the relevant provisions of Annex 10, Volume III.

2.1.3 Helicopters

From 1st July 2008 the installation of ELT on aeroplanes is applicable:

All helicopters operating in performance Class 1, 2 and 3 shall be equipped with at least one automatic ELT and, when operating on flights over water, with at least one automatic ELT and one ELT(S) in a raft or life jacket.

A survival ELT (ELT(S)) or a personal locator beacon (PLB) carried by a crew member or a passenger, when certified for a maximum passenger seating configuration of six or less.

ELT equipment carried to satisfy the requirements shall operate in accordance with the relevant provisions of Annex 10, Volume III.

(ICAO Annex 6, Part 3, Chapter 4.7 and NCO.IDE.H.170 Regulation (EU) n ° 965/2012).

2.2 Codification of ELT

Each ELT is assigned a specific code which identifies the ELT or the aircraft equipped with it.

All coding must comply with the rules defined in document C/S T.001 ‘Specification for Cospas-Sarsat 406 MHz Distress Beacons CS/T001’.

The ELT codification contains :

• the identification of the State of registration (N° 253 for Luxembourg) and
• the registration of the aircraft either by its registration number or by its mode S code or by the serial number of the beacon.

The coding method is defined in annex 10 of ICAO Vol III Part 2 Chapter 5.

The code is expressed in the hexadecimal system.

It is coded either by the operator, the maintenance hangar or the beacon manufacturer.

This code is recorded in the aircraft registration file kept by the DAC (see § 2.4).

The beacon code can be checked using the programme available under this link.  

The DAC is responsible for transmitting the ELT codes and associated information to the Luxembourg Air Navigation Administration responsible for contacts with COSPAS-SARSAT.

2.3 Management of ELT

Operators or users are responsible for transmitting the beacon code(s) to the DAC

• during the aircraft registration process
• in case of the modification of the beacon

The information must be sent to the DAC using Form 101-9. 

Any change (e.g. change of beacon, de-registration of the aircraft or other) must be notified to the DAC. ELTs must be reprogrammed to reflect the new situation.

2.4 Use of ELT codes

2.4.1 Management of ELT codes by the DAC

The DAC manages the ELT codes and associated information in 2 Excel files called ‘beacon status’ sorted by operator reserved for aircraft operated in commercial transport and ‘general aviation beacon status’ for other aircraft. The 1st file is transformed into a ‘beacon-airport status’ file sorted by the identifier recorded in the beacon, i.e. the aircraft registration number, the transponder mode S code or the serial number of the beacon concerned.

This identifier is used to identify the operator or user whose contacts are recorded in a 2nd file called ‘operator-airport status’. The DAC sends the 2 files by e-mail to the Aeronautical Operations Department of the Air Navigation Administration each time they are updated. The file date is used to track updates.

2.4.2 Checking data in the "tags status" file

In order to comply with the standards defined by COSPAS-SARSAT, a check of the DAC ‘beacon status’ file is carried out every 3 years in January.

2.4.3  Role of the Aeronautical Operations department of the Air Navigation Authority 

The Luxembourg Air Navigation Administration's Aviation Operations department is responsible for maintaining permanent contact (24 hours a day) with the Toulouse MCC in order to provide it with all relevant information prior to launching a rescue operation in the event of an alert message being sent by the ELT of an aircraft registered in Luxembourg.

To this end, it has the ‘beacon-airport status’ and ‘operator-airport status’ files at its disposal.

Address for sending updates: aro@airport.etat.lu

All alert messages include the identification of the State of registration (253 for Luxembourg).

All COSPAS-SARSAT messages concerning Luxembourg are transmitted to the Aeronautical Operations department of the Air Navigation Administration.

The main action consists of identifying the operator and the aircraft concerned by the alert and then verifying, through contact with the operator or any other information, the relevance of the alert.

(It should be noted that a high percentage of alerts detected do not correspond to a real accident).

2.5 Upkeep of ELT

ELTs, remote control and monitoring must be checked annually to ensure that they are working properly. Frequency accuracy must be checked in accordance with the manufacturer's manual and by qualified personnel.

These tasks must be recorded in the maintenance manual.

2.6 Utilisation of ELT

If the cockpit is equipped with an ELT remote control switch, it must be identified and painted red.

It must be fitted with a device that prevents the beacon from being activated unintentionally.