We are pleased to inform you that EUROCAE WG-98 SG-1 “Return Link Service” has been created.

Several aircraft disappearances occurred over water, including Malaysian MH370, for which the survivors, the wreckage and the flight recorders have not been recovered. As the long-lasting or non-recovery of recorders greatly reduces the likelihood of discovering the actual cause of accidents, and in order to improve the recovery of wreckage and flight recorders following an accident or incident, it is necessary to improve performance standards for new-generation ELTs and their means of activation. In addition, remote activation from the ground of ELT offers the possibility to localize in-flight a non-cooperative aircraft and therefor participate to the ICAO Global Aeronautical Distress & Safety System (GADSS) autonomous distress tracking function. Finally, a general effort has been made to make General Aviation (GA) safer, including safety recommendations to make the complete ELT system more reliable (from the ELT unit to the antenna, including the cables) and reduce the GA distress cases where the ELT unit is operational but not the complete ELT system (unplugged antenna, damaged cables). This effort led to the development of ELT with internal/integral GNSS receiver and SAR antenna. For those integrated ELT, a remote activation from ground would be relevant for disappearance cases when the ELT is not triggered by G-switch or manually. The WG will develop a MASPS for Return Link Service.

More information here.