Originally Posted by John Doe

I'm plane dumb (as opposed to plain dumb): do planes not have EPIRB or its equivalent? If not, wtf? I also thought Fossett had a $100K watch that was like an EPIRB but relayed 'health' data if something went wrong?

I just don't understand how a 25 ft. sailboat can be found floundering in 200K sq. miles of ocean but they are having to do a grid search for a plane in a 600 sq. mile area.