Lifeguards in the Sky

Global Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) is a system that can be very useful in emergency situations, however, recent integration with GPS systems might not have been such a good thing.
“In the course of researching this column, I discovered that the Coast Guard and NOAA, concerned about the low number of successful GPS-assisted SARSAT calls, did some real-world testing off Key West, Florida, last year. I’ve read the report, and it’s disturbing. Some models seemed to deliver GPS position poorly, if at all.”