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ELT Location on the RV-14

lenlou

Member
Just a question the plans show the location of the ELT mounted on the aft deck under the Horizontal Stab. Has anyone had any issues of the ELT accidently going off because of off or on field landings with a tail wheel?
 
Not while landing and some of the first ones were doozies. Weirdly, it did go off while in the paint shop. Gosh knows what those guys were doing…
 
I can only assume Van’s put the ELT back there for W&B considerations. To me these seems to be a less than optimal environment.

If a builder is considering two batteries, locating one aft using the RV-10 rear bell crank plate provides a simple install for one battery aft (the RV-14 and RV-10 share such common parts). For this, moving the ELT forward to a more reasonable location would make sense.

I’ve seen one RV-14A with two 680 batteries on the firewall - very tight fit.

Sharpen you pencil and run some W&B calculations to see if this makes sense for how you build your RV-14. I did some number crunching for an RV-14 build and if anything the W&B seems better with one PC-625 mounted aft.

Carl
 
Besides W&B, two things to consider for the location, easy of access and in case of an accident where is it more protected.
On my last plane I put it under the passenger seat, between the ribs. I think it is a well protected area both for the ELT and the cable to the antenna but ease of access was not as much.
On the current project, I am planning on putting it on the standard area, under the VS, I think it is fairly well protected but easier access.
 
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