Transport Canada has recently made a change in Standard 625 Appendix C (para. 12) that took effect earlier this year. It addresses the Maintenance of the Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT). The important change is that there is now a distinction between a 121.5 and a 406/121.5 MHz ELT, whereas before both were under the same guidelines. Now, the Performance Test for a 406 ELT is required every 24 months as opposed to 12 months for a 121.5MHz-only ELT. Both must still have an operational test done (by the operator) every 12 months.

This revised approach offers a significant financial benefit to the owner/pilot, given the cost of this maintenance task, and COPA is proud to share this news with our members, having been part of the working group that made this happen.

Note that an upcoming Advisory Circular (AC 571-025) will provide a lot of valid and useful information on the topic of ELT maintenance and COPA recommends that owners/pilots dedicate a few minutes to reading it when it comes out.

COPA reminds our members that your 406 ELT must be registered with the Canadian Beacon Registry and it is up to you to test it regularly with the help of your manufacturer’s instructions. This link will provide details on this and help confirm if your 406 is in fact properly registered.