Now I’m well aware that for a lot of people ELTs are a touchy subject in that their failure rate after crashes is very poor. They become submerged and won’t transmit; they burn in the post fire crash and won’t transmit, or they don’t transmit well with an overturned aircraft on them. The fact is that certified and amateur built aircraft are required to have a functioning ELT on board the aircraft. So, after Transport Canada started making noises about mandating 406 mHz ELTs and that SarSat satellites stopped monitoring 121.5 mHz I decided it was time to buy and install a new 406 model. I had been waiting for ACK to get their new 406 model certified, but it was taking forever for them to jump through all the government hoops. When it looked like it would take another six months or a year, I bit the bullet and bought the Ameri-King AK 451, their 406 and 121.5 mHz offering.

I paid $704.00 for the unit from Aircraft Spruce in November of 2012. The installation in the airplane was simple as it has the same footprint as the Ameri-King 121.5 mHz I had in the plane. I flew with the new ELT for a short time and then had some major engine difficulties with the plane so it only had a few hours of flight time on it. I turned it off but left it in the plane while I made my repairs.

The repairs dragged on but I finally was able to get back to flying last spring and was going to do some cross-country flights last fall. I thought I better check the functionality of the ELT and found it to be completely dead. The battery pack for this unit will set you back $200.00 but the batteries are supposed to last for 5 years. Not so. I started researching for problems associated with this ELT and found lots of complaints on the web. Many complaints were that the batteries didn’t last even until the warranty period was up because of some sort of short in the circuit board that put a small yet constant drain on the batteries, some people even found that the audible alert would constantly buzz at a very low level draining the batteries. Most of the complainants would also state that Ameri-King would recommend that the unit be returned for repairs costing between $200.00 and $500.00. As my warranty period of two years was up that is what I was told.

I thought this may just be a battery problem but wasn’t sure so once again I checked the web and found you can buy similar or the same 4 batteries that Ameri-King wants me to pay $200.00 for $7.00 each online. I bought the online batteries and tested the ELT after they arrived. I also had a 20-year-old Artex ELT that I had left the D cell batteries in and tested it at the same time. The Artex fired up on the 121.5 frequency immediately during the test. The Ameri-King would not. I tried the shake test with the Ameri-King and got nothing. I set the Ameri-King on the coffee table with no movement. About an hour later with once again no movement the Ameri-King started sending signals.

I spoke with the staff at Ameri-King and they said to send it to them and that I may have to pay as much as $500.00 to fix it. Didn’t want to do that. I thought I might get Aircraft Spruce involved as they were the vendor of this very important piece of potential lifesaving equipment. Jim Irwin, the owner of Aircraft Spruce responded to my complaint. In a string of emails between myself, Mr. Irwin and Ameri-king I made the point that I would not pay another nickel to fix this piece of equipment and that I felt that Spruce should not be selling a product of lifesaving equipment of dubious quality.

A very entertaining You-Tube video posted by a Swedish helicopter company who bought many of the units claims that the units have a 70% failure rate.

There is a wrongful dismissal suit going on in the states by an ex-employee of AmeriKing who claims he was fired because he told people outside of the company that his job was to scrape off the “Made in China” stickers and put “Made in USA” stickers on. He also alleges that Ameri-King repairs the ELTs with used parts from returned models.

I spent $35.00 to send my ELT back to Ameri-King. They told me the unit was not repairable, but I could purchase a new one from them for $370.00; a 50% discount of the retail price. I adamantly kept telling them in subsequent emails I would not pay for another AK 451. The kept reducing my cost to a final price of $198.00. I told them to drive over it with a car.

My option was then to reinstall my old Ameri-King AK 450 (121.5 only model) bought in 2010 which was taken out of service when I installed the AK 451. It had been stored with the batteries out of it since the fall of 2012. I believe it was serviceable when I removed it but I did not check. I bought new batteries for the AK 450 and installed them. When I switched the unit on the red light came on but no signal on 121.5. It would not give a signal in the arm position with a shake test. It too was unserviceable. In contrast the 25- to 30-year-old Artex ELT (that I replaced with the AK 450) that was stored since 2005 with the batteries in it gave a clear signal on 121.5 as soon as I switched it on. Worked fine on the shake test as well.

The saddest part about this story is not the $704.00 that I lost on the AK451 or the $189.00 that I lost on the AK 450 but the fact that an essential piece of lifesaving equipment mandated by government to be on most aircraft in the world can be of (in my opinion) such poor quality and can be marketed so readily. I believe in this case there should be ongoing certification checks. There must tens of thousands of these things installed around the world and may or may not work when lifesaving equipment is needed the most. I wonder what brand Malaysian Air Flight 370 had.

If you have one of these in your aircraft do a function test before your next flight. Maybe you can get it back to them before your warranty is up.

If you are considering purchasing a 406 MHz ELT I would strongly recommend you give this one a pass. Your life may depend on it.