A lone senior hiker went for a walk above Aiguebelette Lake in the French Alps on 27 May 2021, and used his cell phone to determine his location when he wandered away from the trail.
On his way back toward the trail he slipped and fell, and was knocked unconscious when his head hit the ground.
He regained consciousness shortly thereafter, but his phone had been lost when he slipped.
Fortunately, he still had his 406 personal locator beacon with him, which had been registered in the French Registry.
He set off his 406 PLB, which was quickly identified, and the MEOSAR data was rapidly transmitted to the ARCC Lyon (French Air Force) in charge of terrestrial beacon alerts.
Unfortunately, the emergency contact information was out-of-date, and the aeronautical details were for a 406 PLB with multiple uses, making it more challenging for rescuers to determine the nature of the emergency.
Time was spent checking information extracted from the French Beacon Registry and to confirm whether it was an aeronautical or a terrestrial SAR operation.
Because of the mountainous and forested terrain, the helicopters dispatched were not able to receive the 121.5 MHz homing signal being transmitted by the beacon.
However, with the location data sent by the FMCC plus information from a witness, the Sécurité Civile Helicopter managed to identify the site and a rescue team was airlifted at 17:50 UTC.
The man was then transferred to the nearest hospital in Chambéry with his 406 beacon.
Leaving the hospital safe and sound later that evening, triggered beacon still emitting, he went home to rest.
The hospital’s thick walls had been blocking the 406 beacon’s transmission, but once back outside, the beacon was again sending alerts to the Cospas-Sarsat System.
There was no “Off” button on the 406 PLB, and the hiker had no information on how to stop it from transmitting.
After some rest following his ordeal, the beacon was finally deactivated the next morning when police officers, sent by ARCC Lyon, came knocking on his door to get him to turn off the signal!
