Improper beacon disposal costly

An obsolete emergency beacon left at Te Maunga refuse transfer station has sparked a costly and unnecessary search that lasted almost 24 hours and involved police, helicopter crew and rescue agencies, New Zealand's MED reports.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) says the incident highlights the importance of people disposing of old beacons properly.

At about 3pm on Monday, RCCNZ was alerted that aircraft flying over the Bay of Plenty region were picking up a distress signal on the old 121.5 megahertz (MHz) frequency. The air traffic control tower at Tauranga Airport also detected the signal.

A helicopter was despatched from Rotorua to try to identify the source of the signal. Its crew narrowed it to a smaller search area, but it could not be pinpointed.

Radio Spectrum Management was tasked to the area to locate the signal and traced it to the Te Maunga refuse transfer station in Mount Maunganui. However, by then it was dark and considered unsafe to search until daylight.

The incident was finally resolved around midday Tuesday, after the beacon was located in the recycling centre. It had been placed on a glass conveyor belt and was probably triggered when it was lifted off the belt and set aside on a railing.

Old emergency beacons operating on the 121.5MHz and 243MHz frequencies stopped being detected by satellite in February 2009, but can still be picked up by aircraft, which use the frequencies for emergency communication.
New beacons, which use the 406MHz network, have a digital signal that provides much more accurate positional data.

RCCNZ’s search and rescue officer Chris Wilson says the incident used 21 hours of coordination and search time, and cost thousands of dollars in helicopter flight time and other resources.

She says this is a reminder that old beacons must be deactivated before they are disposed of.

“This means disconnecting the battery before dumping it, or taking the beacon to your local police station, Coastguard or a beacon retailer. Or call us at RCCNZ on 0800 406 111 for assistance,” says Chris.

“Inadvertently triggering an alert in this way is not only time-consuming and wasteful, it can tie-up resources when they are needed to respond to a genuine emergency.”

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