Originally Posted by
rickair7777
That makes sense for submarines, because somebody could still be alive on the bottom. Not so much for airplanes.
Cheaper to just leverage existing comms systems for automated position reporting at short intervals.
Yes I believe you are right, but if you add up the cost of the search such as this (and AF 447) the analysis of economics could change.
Of course the advantage of release of an ELT-style floating beacon upon impact is that it could be relatively low power (no sattelite Tx needed), and would not be able to be deactivated intentionally or with fire, electrical failure, intentional act, etc.