Third of beacons set off accidentally

More than a third of personal locator beacons are set off ‘‘inadvertently’’ each year in New Zealand, with incorrect disposal and rough usage cited as some of the reasons why.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) support services manager Rodney Bracefield said of the 815 beacon activations during 2017, 282 of them were ‘‘inadvertent activations’’ which amounted to almost 35 per cent.

Of those, 36 activations occurred after the beacon had been incorrectly disposed of.

Earlier this month, a beacon inadvertently set off in the Nelson Lakes National Park sparked a rescue operation. The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter was notified of the beacon, near Angelus Hut, on Easter Sunday about 7pm.

"It costs us time and effort because you have to treat it as if the beacon has been activated for real." Rodney Bracefield

Pilot Tim Douglas-clifford said it was hard to track as the beacon wasn’t transmitting a clear signal and appeared to be moving around.

The helicopter canvassed a nearby ridge, looking for any signs of life but was unable to find anything. It was later discovered a group of trampers at the hut had a beacon with them that had been inadvertently activated.

Douglas-clifford said when the group saw the helicopter, they checked their beacon, realised it had been activated and came outside.

The group told Douglas-clifford that the beacon had activated itself before, but they managed to turn it off before its signal was picked up.

‘‘Because it had gone off a couple of times, they just wanted rid of it.’’

Douglas-clifford said the crew brought the beacon back to Nelson, and on the flight home it continued to activate itself.

‘‘We kept on resetting it and I don’t know if it was the vibration of the helicopter, but it was just constantly going off all the way home, until we removed the batteries from it.’’

While it was believed the beacon was faulty, its manufacturer Kinetic Technology (KTI) said it was more likely that the beacon was set off by accident.

KTI general manager Mark Knowles said there was no known fault with the particular beacon involved in the incident. Although it was possible for beacons to be faulty, he said, it wasn’t a common occurrence.

‘‘Out of tens of thousands of these we have probably had two or three problems in Australia and a larger number in New Zealand and we are trying to work out why.’’

‘‘I think the search and rescue authorities generally take the attitude they would rather beacons go off inadvertently on occasion than not operate when they are needed.’’

By law, users are required to register their beacons and provide emergency contact information.

Bracefield said whenever a beacon was activated, RCCNZ contacted the person to check that it hadn’t been set off accidentally.

‘‘When it’s not registered, it costs us time and effort because you have to treat it as if the beacon has been activated for real.’’

To register, deregister or update your beacon details, visit www.beacons.org.nz.