ELT registration and what it means.

[Schllc]

So some years ago I purchased a plane and the owner was keeping the tail so I had to go through the process of reprogramming the ELT and transponder. 
This led to me going to NOAA and actually updating the info on the ELT. 
I was reminded the importance of this a few days ago, when I got a call from law enforcement about an elt signal they had received and I was still the contact 
Apparently the owner, whom I know well and talk to, had not done this, and when they heard and identified the beacon they reached out to me to make sure there was no emergency.

I asked several people I know with planes and realized most people do not know this and don’t go through the process  

If you have not done it with your current plane you really should .  
ps. It’s free

[Marc_B]

When I purchased my aircraft in 2021 I realized the previous owner had never registered the ELT.  

https://beaconregistration.noaa.gov/RGDB/index

You need the registration code, also known as the Unique Identification Number (UIN) or Hex ID, can be found on a label affixed to the ELT itself, and also in the manufacturer's documentation.  It's likely in your logbook (mine was) when the ELT was installed.

You renew the registration every 2 years and if I recall, I received an email reminder with link that made this pretty easy.

[kortopates]

If you fly internationally your NOAA beacon registration is the easiest way to prove you are 406 equipped and current. The registration sticker should be on the panel.


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[PT20J]

And the sticker has the number to call if you set it off accidentally! Another reason to put it on the panel.

[Marc_B]

@kortopates and @PT20J I wonder how many put the sticker on the panel?  I don't think I've ever seen one in any aircraft I've flown in...

[kortopates]

[mention=7862]kortopates[/mention] and [mention=17346]PT20J[/mention] I wonder how many put the sticker on the panel?  I don't think I've ever seen one in any aircraft I've flown in...

I can only say i have seen a great many. But i also live near the border where international flights are not uncommon.


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[Schllc]

I’ve owned 12 planes over years.
I have registered the beacon in every one. 
when I went to check at the noaa site day before yesterday, every single one was still registered to me.  Not one buyer had transferred. 
My current Mooney was purchased new by the owner I bought it from. He never registered the beacon. 
I suspect few people actually do this. 

[Hank]

1 hour ago, Schllc said:

My current Mooney was purchased new by the owner I bought it from. He never registered the beacon. 
I suspect few people actually do this. 

Until this thread, I've never heard of such a thing. I just passed 18 years of Mooney ownership  

13 hours ago, Marc_B said:

You renew the registration every 2 years and if I recall, I received an email reminder with link that made this pretty easy.

Because ELTs move to new planes so often! Be sure to register your ELT more often than the plane it is installed in . . .

Who thinks up these silly "rules"???

Never received an email from anyone, and my home email address predates my Mooney. 

[Rick Junkin]

25 minutes ago, Schllc said:

I suspect few people actually do this. 

I came from a culture where we weren’t allowed in the airplane until we had read all the books and passed tests to measure comprehension and understanding. Now I can’t do it any other way, minus the tests . The owner’s manual for my 406 ELT clearly stated the requirement to register with NOAA and the importance of doing so, and I did.

I’m finding many people lean toward treating their airplane and its systems like they do their cars. They have a manual (maybe) that came with the car and it stays securely stowed at the bottom of the glove compartment where it was when they bought the car. Maybe still in it’s protective plastic wrap. They get “everything they need to know” from friends or previous experience, no need to read the book. With airplanes we know we need to have the books in the airplane. The POH with all of the flight manual supplements posted is probably in one of the seat back pockets where it always is. But it can be easier to ask someone how to do something with your avionics or hot start your engine than to read and study to figure it out for yourself. I get it. The thing is, in the course of looking something up you invariably stumble across something else that you didn’t know or had forgotten. And that can lead to more reading and (re)learning.

ELT registration was a new thing with the introduction of satellite-based systems and unless you read the book or regularly stay in the know you could miss that requirement. All the 121.5 ELTs required were periodic battery changes and function tests, why would you think a new ELT would be any different? But in reading the book you’d learn about it, and probably stumble on the fact that attaching an external load during function testing could damage the transmitter in some units.

All this to say in my characteristically long winded way, read the books. Often. Or at least skim them occasionally when you have a question or are preparing for a flight review. I answer the majority of the questions people ask me with a brief explanation and a screen shot of the page(s) in the manual that provide the detail. I’m happy to do that. But some things you don’t even know to ask about, not knowing what you don’t know, and a lot of those things you’ll discover while looking up something else. So ends my PSA for today. 

[Greg Ellis]

When I purchased my 406 ELT it came with the registration information on how to register so I did and I get a renewal notice every 2 years and it is dirt simple and free to renew online.  Then a letter shows up in the mail a few days later confirming the renewal.

 

[Rick Junkin]

47 minutes ago, Hank said:

Until this thread, I've never heard of such a thing. I just passed 18 years of Mooney ownership  

Because ELTs move to new planes so often! Be sure to register your ELT more often than the plane it is installed in . . .

Who thinks up these silly "rules"???

Never received an email from anyone, and my home email address predates my Mooney. 

@Hank, I’m guessing you still have the original 121.5 ELT that was in your airplane when you bought it, so this thread doesn’t apply to you. The 121.5 ELTs broadcast a tone on 121.5 with no identifying information. The 406 ELT distress signals are uniquely coded to allow identification of the person or vessel that is in distress, along with their GPS location.

With the advent of satellite-based personal locator beacons and emergency locator transmitters it became important to ensure the search and rescue agencies had current contact information for the owner/operators of these beacons so they could immediately attempt to contact the owner to make sure a PLB/ELT signal was legit and not a false alarm. The response time for emergency signals from the 406 devices, theoretically and relatively speaking, is immediate. The emergency signal hits a satellite and then immediately goes to the SAR command center where they can dispatch SAR resources directly to the exact location as soon as they verify the signal is not a false alarm.

That’s why we need to make sure the 406 PLB/ELT is registered with current operator/ownership contact information. Does that make sense to you?

[Pinecone]

Who installed the ELT?  Why did they not tell the owner about the need to register???   

I switched to a different ELT as part of my avionics upgrade.  The shop registered it for me.

But, the PIC is the one ultimately responsible.  

[EricJ]

21 hours ago, Marc_B said:

@kortopates and @PT20J I wonder how many put the sticker on the panel?  I don't think I've ever seen one in any aircraft I've flown in...

Mine's been stickered since the 406 MHz ELT was installed about seven years ago.   The sticker gets replaced every two years when the registration gets renewed.

It's the same with PLBs, and you get the same stickers for them, too.   I keep the sticker on my PLB since it has the registration expiration date, etc.

 

[PT20J]

On 7/10/2025 at 9:27 AM, Marc_B said:

@kortopates and @PT20J I wonder how many put the sticker on the panel?  I don't think I've ever seen one in any aircraft I've flown in...

A lot of people put the sticker on the ELT. 

[Nico1]

I'm pretty sure the instructions that came with it mentioned placing it near the remote switch for the ELT on the panel (that's where I ended up placing it). Just renewed mine a few days ago. 

[Paul Thomas]

I had been delinquent in doing mine; it is now done. Thank you for the reminder.

[dkkim73]

Great reminder. 

I first learned about 406MHz ELT's and the SARSAT system when I got a PLB years ago taking my son (then 10 yo) on a first wilderness backpacking trip ("if I fall down and break a leg, unfold this and press this button..."). It's a very impressive system and way more capable than the old 121.5MHz transmitter (requiring DF), also IMHO better than a less-robust consumer messaging system. Though in truth I've not done a deep dive on the effective SLA's on those systems. 

Anyhow, I do recall the sticker is supposed to go *on* the device itself, both for PLBs and ELTs. 

However, I was advised to, and it is common practice, to put it on the panel. One easy reason is it reminds you to re-register every 2 yrs. 

And, I just moved. I guess this is a reminder to update my registration

 

[TangoTango]

When I bought my Mooney, the previous owner had the sticker on the panel next to the ELT switch. I liked it so much that when I updated the ELT registration I put the new sticker in the same place 

[PT20J]

On 7/10/2025 at 12:34 PM, Rick Junkin said:

@Hank, I’m guessing you still have the original 121.5 ELT that was in your airplane when you bought it, so this thread doesn’t apply to you. The 121.5 ELTs broadcast a tone on 121.5 with no identifying information. The 406 ELT distress signals are uniquely coded to allow identification of the person or vessel that is in distress, along with their GPS location.

With the advent of satellite-based personal locator beacons and emergency locator transmitters it became important to ensure the search and rescue agencies had current contact information for the owner/operators of these beacons so they could immediately attempt to contact the owner to make sure a PLB/ELT signal was legit and not a false alarm. The response time for emergency signals from the 406 devices, theoretically and relatively speaking, is immediate. The emergency signal hits a satellite and then immediately goes to the SAR command center where they can dispatch SAR resources directly to the exact location as soon as they verify the signal is not a false alarm.

That’s why we need to make sure the 406 PLB/ELT is registered with current operator/ownership contact information. Does that make sense to you?

When I managed a tech support group, we had a resolution code RTFM (Read The F*****g Manual) to close out a case involving questions clearly explained in the documentation.