As the saying goes, “aviation regulation is written in blood.” In the case of the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) regulation, I suppose it would be more accurate to say “written in horrific survival.”
I just finished Ross Nixon’s detailed and informative book, “Finding Carla,” which tells the nightmarish story of 15-year-old Carla Corbus, her mother and step-father Phyllis and Al Oien, Sr.
The three survived a plane crash in the Trinity Mountains of California on March 11, 1967. At the time, there was no regulation requiring the use of an ELT in general aviation aircraft. Search and rescue efforts focused on the wrong areas.
From a diary found at the crash site in October 1967, readers learn mother and daughter survived for eight weeks. “No food, just snow and hope,” kept them alive.
As Carla’s story spread, momentum gathered to do something. Congress, the FAA and industry looked to find a solution. Learning the story behind the creation of FAR Part 91.207 and Aeronautical Information Manual 6-2-4 is a worthwhile effort.
I worked on that Cessna 195 “Portland Rose” as an apprentice mechanic at Western Skyways at Troutdale, Oregon. We were all overcome by the loss of this trajedy. I kept a copy of the Oregonian article “60 Days from March” for years.
I guess you didn’t read the book as closely as you should have. Starting a fire was an impossibility. I wonder what the contents of the survival bag that was left behind were.
It’s a great book, well written. Definitely worth a read. The author does a good job of remaining unbiased and factually correct.
I think that a flare gun could have made the rescue much easier
One of the lessons from that tragedy is that rescuers (and technology) may need some help from the Rescuees. Carla and her mother saw and heard more than one aircraft fly over their crashed plane during their ordeal. Yet they made no effort to signal searchers nor make themselves stand out from their surroundings. Had they just lit a fire, or three the outcome might have been different.
Let’s not blame the victims. Poor taste.
No, “blame” is not observing the details of a tragedy, then drawing from it lessons learned. It is “poor taste” to ignore the gift of experience and the lessons that the misfortunes of others teach us. I do not disrespect the victims, I honor their memory by learning from them. For those of us who are too timid to do so we fail to understand the value of history and reject the gifts wrought by the blood of victims past. Would you deny the Holocaust because thousands of its victims failed to resist until it was too late? It’s clear from thousands of NTSB reports of aviation accidents that pilots (and passengers) continue to perish for the very same reasons today as in the past. True respect to the victims of the past demands that we pay attention to what actions they took which resulted in survival, and what actions did not.
You raise a valid point, John. Survival in that type of situation is more than just staying alive.