The New Distress Tracking

ARTEX ELT 5000 (DT) with crash survivability is the preferred solution among industry leaders worldwide.

ACR Electronics has secured key contracts with two of the three largest commercial aircraft manufacturers to supply its new distress tracking ARTEX ELT 5000 (DT) with crash survivability.

The supply agreements with the world’s industry leaders establishes the next generation Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) as the preferred solution to support production aircraft in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) 2023 Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS) initiative.

The ARTEX ELT 5000 (DT) is offered to the market in combination with SKYTRAC’s Autonomous Distress Tracking (ADT) system as a complete GADSS solution.

John Nguyen, President of ACR Electronics, said: “The two contracts secured by ACR Electronics in 2021 to supply the ARTEX ELT 5000 (DT) to the world’s major aircraft manufacturers are a powerful endorsement for our multi-faceted distress tracking ELT program. It demonstrates the high confidence in the industry that the development of the next generation ELT 5000 (DT) will future proof aircraft with a state-of-the-art emergency distress signaling and tracking solution. The ability to create a compliant system by combining the ELT-DT and ADT technology of sister brands ARTEX and SKYTRAC means the ACR Group is the only company with a full end-to-end GADSS solution for airframe manufacturers and airline operators.”

Triggered by a potential distress condition from independent aircraft monitoring, the 406 MHz ARTEX ELT 5000 (DT) intelligently activates and will automatically begin transmitting 406 MHz distress messages with the current location in real time while the aircraft is in-flight. The distress tracking provides the precise location of the aircraft to assist the relevant monitoring bodies in order to respond to the alert quickly and effectively using the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite network. Pilots can also trigger the ELT manually from inside the cockpit if necessary.

The SKYTRAC ADT 5000 solution interfaces with the ARTEX ELT 5000 (DT) to initiate a Distress Tracking transmission relaying high-resolution 4D positions of the aircraft in real-time.

The new International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) GADSS initiative recommendations are being adopted into regulations by various regulatory bodies, such as EASA. Aircraft manufacturers are required to solve three of the key GADSS Concept of Operations (CONOPs) objectives, including addressing late notification of Search and Rescue (SAR) services when aircraft are in distress, identifying the location of an end of flight aircraft position, ensuring efficient and effective SAR operations, and assisting with Timely Recovery of Flight Data (TRFD) by providing an accurate report of the aircraft’s final position.