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Last Update: Sunday, 20 Jul 2008
Back in the 1980's, this wing was easily spotted from the air. It was located within an old WWII pilot training field north of Redrock, Arizona. I once put a practice ELT on this wing during a CAP SAR exercise.
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The plane crash site below, I also utilized for a practice ELT search. It was deer season that particular day, and searching personnel in aircraft repeatedly circled an apparent campsite a mile or two west of us. I'm sure the hunters weren't too happy about it. Many times, I didn't have an actual aircraft to set up a practice ELT on, so they had no reason to believe that particular practice day was any different.
The aircraft with direction-finders on board (left-right, and signal strength meters), were quick to realize they were at the wrong location. Those using the null method, had a more difficult time determining my exact location. The null method requires triangulation of the signal source. To do this, the aircraft must make a circle, getting a wing between the transmitter, and the aircraft's receiving antenna. When the signal weakens (nulls), the wing is pointing towards the ELT. An observer then draws a line on a sectional, and they repeat this process a total of three times to triangulate on the target. Depending on the expertise of the searching crews, I either hid in the flatlands, or in the hills or mountains that would reflect the signal in many directions. Even aircraft with direction finders had problems finding me.
Back in 1989, I hid a practice ELT in a small cave north of Dragoon, Arizona that faced northeastward towards roughly Wilcox, Arizona. Of the three I remember, one thought I was in a raceway parking lot, another flew all the way to New Mexico, and the last was absolutely perfect.
The final aircraft was using the null method. First they circled to the southeast of us, then the northeast of us, then flew low and westward to where a hill blocked the signal. I told my friends they should fly right to us when they come around the hill. They did, and they were the only crew that found us that day. On the ground, I had a large arrow pointing to the transmitters' location. We were also dropped off in the desert, so searching aircraft would not have a car to zero in on.
I've got other pictures of school buses that were in accidents too. I'll be digging those out, and putting them on here in the near future. You'd be surprised how many drivers, "didn't see the school bus", before running into them. The one below, if I remember correctly, the school bus driver made a right turn into the rear of a stopped city bus.
A couple of years ago, after two local news TV stations, and two local newspapers inaccurately reported on the "lack of training" (not true, intense training initally, and throughout the year at inservice meetings) of school bus drivers, many motorists began to follow busses, flip-off drivers (with students on board), and intentionally try to cause accidents. Already having nut-case drivers throughout each day to avoid accidents with, the bad reporting created a very hostile environment, and made the roadway extremely dangerous. The only station to report the facts correctly, was KGUN-TV, who also did a special report on the training, and daily hazards drivers face.
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