Distress Signal : Searchers for Plane Crash Find a Hoax

Authorities searched frantically for about nine hours Monday for what they believed was a downed aircraft near the Ventura-Los Angeles county line, only to find that they were the victims of what one investigator called a “very cruel hoax.”

Instead of finding the wreckage of an aircraft, they found an emergency locater transmitter in a tree, said Lt. Col. Frank Burnham of the Civil Air Patrol. The device is standard equipment on civilian aircraft and helps pinpoint crash sites.

“It’s more than a prank,” Burnham said. “It’s a very cruel hoax.”

A Federal Aviation Administration search-and-rescue satellite picked up an emergency distress signal about 3 a.m. Monday in the Rocky Peak area that straddles the county line, Burnham said. Officials of the two counties’ sheriff’s departments were asked to assist the Civil Air Patrol in a search for a possible crash site, he said.

About 30 air and ground crew workers from the three agencies searched the area for possible wreckage for nine hours before the transmitter was discovered about noon in a tree surrounded by heavy brush, authorities said.

“What a waste of time and money,” said Dave Heald, a helicopter pilot with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, who found the transmitter while helping ground crews scour the area. But Burnham said, “We have to consider every ELT signal as if it is a real crash with lives hanging in the balance.”

Authorities could not say how much the search cost.

Blocked Frequency

Burnham said that when an emergency transmitter is set off, its signal is picked up on the International Distress Frequency and can be heard by pilots in the air 100 to 200 miles away. He added that while the frequency is blocked with the distress signal there could be a real emergency.

Fred O’Donnell, an FAA spokesman, said the transmitters are not difficult to obtain and are often accidentally set off.

But Burnham said, “We haven’t had a hoax like this in several years; I don’t remember when an ELT was actually put out like this in the middle of nowhere.”

O’Donnell said he is not sure what could be done even if the person responsible for Monday’s incident is caught.

“As far as the FAA is concerned, it’s not an issue,” he said. “While it does create some hassle for people, there’s nothing we can do about it.”