I agree with your line of thinking.
But remember that many pilots simply don’t really have a mission, or a specific destination, and therefore they happen to only fly to places which are easy or cheap.
Actually I prefer flights that are not-over-difficult AND affordable 
But it is, at least partly, a matter of the general flying climate: the Netherlands is obviously adverse to motorised G/A, and implements this with an ELT requirement AND poor FIS service AND high requirements on aerodromes, making them expensive, both on fuel and on landing fees. I do not avoid that country because of the ELT requirement as such, but rather for its dislike of motorised G/A, of which the ELT requirement is only one exponent. Austria is a bit different: the ELT requirement may make sense there, at least in some parts of the country; which does mean that their airspace is, to some degree, more dangerous than average. Which is a quite separate reason for not flying there, at least not before I feel more confident. And I have a long list of destinations to visit in more welcoming/less daunting enviroments (CZ, PL, FR, HU, SK, … ) that I am not in a hurry to install that precious ELT. Like @boscomantico stated
And, by the way, 5-10k quid is quite a lot of money to this very-low-budget operator/owner/pilot: I am luckily/wisely under a regime that doesn’t know annuals at all. Even though I do perform regular checks and verifications, also by third parties, I would never afford that kind of money on them. Generally, they are in fact done against no formal bill at all. Or, put another way, 5000 € would easily buy 3000 litres of Mogas 95E10, more than sufficient for my year’s flying.
Peter wrote:
An ELT is obviously more than a few euros but by the time you rule out all the places which need one, which need 8.33, etc… you won’t be doing much flying
8.33 is a whole other subject, but there aren’t many places that require a £1000 ELT installation, so it’s really quite easy to avoid those two places. It’s a lot of money to pay especially if you expect to only perhaps fly to that place once, ever.
Many owners do face opportunity costs: they can either put in an 8.33 radio in this year or an ELT, but not do both at the same time and still have enough left over to avoid having to defer maintenance issues. And then there’s the value for money issue. A new 8.33 radio to replace an old Narco or KX170B is a good value proposition. You get a much more modern, probably better performing radio with more useful features. An ELT not so much. An ELT doesn’t really give you anything that a £200 PLB doesn’t, and it lacks some features that a £200 PLB has (such as you can’t tie an airframe-attached ELT to your person so it comes out with you in the event of ditching). In fact for the price of an ELT you could give everyone on board of a PA-28 their own PLB which is a much better value proposition.
@achima did you finally purchased the Kannad Safelink Solo ?
if so, are you happy with your puchase ? If not, which PLB did you purchase ?
Achim left EuroGA last year and doesn’t want to come back, even to respond to posts directed to him
Hm, I’m afraid I cannot at that; rather the contrary in fact. His postings added much value and interest. Then again, of course, people come and go, on forums like everywhere.
Well, I agree but as you say there is little one can do about it. Especially when one starts to list all the varied reasons over which people leave (talking generally here). I have been involved here for over 4 years and believe me you don’t want to see that list. And most come back, sometimes under another name.
Well that’s life…
Anyway does anyone have useful input on PLB ? I am planning to purchase one (note: mainly reason being not-related to aviation but trips in remote areas).
Was potentially looking for a “Kannak Safelink Solo GPS” and I am looking for comments/suggestions on this…
Perhaps nobody is saying much because unless one has used the device and been picked up (or perhaps not, but managed to survive anyway), who can really say very much about their PLB? Like everyone, I hope to never find out how good or bad mine is. All I can tell you about the one I chose (a McMurdo Fastfind 220) is that it’s more compact than I expected, lightweight and the instructions seem clear and easy to follow.
There is this page on rescues which at the very least confirms that PLBs can and do work: http://www.mcmurdomarine.com/rescues
McMurdo and Kannad are both brands of Orolia Group
jfw wrote:
Was potentially looking for a “Kannak Safelink Solo GPS” and I am looking for comments/suggestions on this…
Perhaps a SPOT or Garmin InReach might be better for that particular mission in view of the possibilities for two-way communication (inReach). Not the cheapest though.
