Several years ago, a friend of mine travelled to Tasmania (from Canada) with his kayak, as he planned to paddle around the island. He took a Spot transmitter with him, just in case. I was able to follow his progress from half way around the world. In this instance, I believe he had to transmit way points - it was not a continuous transmission. The instrument had an alarm button. It turned out one day, when I checked his progress and position on the website, it was full of alarm transmissions, so I knew he was in trouble, perhaps dead?
He had capsized when hit with a big wave, and was clinging onto his kayak for hours apparently. Fortunately, he was rescued by people who saw him from shore. The system was fairly young then, and the Spot notification from the US to Australia and then to Tasmania, wasn't handled correctly (in a timely fashion) by the Aussie rescue officials. The end of the story is that he was helicoptered to hospital and suffered no permanent damages.
Yes, amazing technology! With a few changes, such as automatic transmission pulses every minute or so, I don't see why something similar can't be incorporated on every air plane and vessel. |
