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Note to Editor: Survivor Ken Cohen was rescued as a result of carrying a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). He purchased it after he and his wife viewed a TV interview with outdoorsman Aron Ralston, who in 2003 amputated his own arm after becoming trapped in a remote canyon. Ralston, who did not have a PLB at the time, now endorses ACR’s line of Personal Locator Beacons as an essential piece of equipment for responsible backcountry use.

Quote from Aron Ralston: “I'm really blessed to know that my life's experiences exposed Dr. Cohen to the TerraFix and played a role in helping him out of an emergency situation.”

Locator Beacon Helps Save Disabled Motorist in 1 1/2 Hours

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL –  In a rapid, precise rescue, a satellite-detectable emergency Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) alerted authorities to the desperate plight of an elderly man stuck in snowy, rugged terrain.

Novice off-road driver, Ken Cohen, 65, readily admits that overconfidence and inexperience factored into his recent desperate situation in the high, snowy wilderness of southern Utah. When he set out in his Jeep on December 30^th to explore promising ATV trails, he brought a sandwich, carrots and raisins, a cell phone and, fortunately, a recently purchased PLB.

When his vehicle spun into a ditch at a 5,866-foot elevation, Cohen quickly realized that he was in a circumstance well beyond his expertise. He had no cell phone coverage and a spinal condition hindered him from hiking out. Having no water, blanket or other means of self-rescue, he activated his ACR Electronics’ TerraFixä 406 GPS PLB at 12:30 p.m., and prayed that help would arrive.

“The fact is that I’m a novice off-roader. I know my own limitations. I knew I couldn’t have walked out of there. I was 20 miles from the nearest city. I knew the degrees were going to be in the teens and twenties that night,” Cohen said.

Within 15 minutes, Cohen said his wife, Rita, received a phone call from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) and she confirmed that her husband was driving on Veyo Shoals Creek Road. The AFRCC then notified the Washington County Sheriff’s Office of Cohen’s location and a deputy was dispatched to Cohen’s GPS coordinates. The officer found Cohen, pulled his vehicle back onto the road and drove it down for him. The entire rescue took one-and-a-half hours.

This was the first PLB rescue for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, according to Chief Deputy Robert Tersigni. “The GPS location (from the beacon) took us right to him. It worked out good,” Tersigni said.

Cohen is a retired physician who relocated from New Orleans to St. George, Utah after Hurricane Katrina. He purchased his ACR PLB in the fall of 2006 when his wife learned about beacons on a TV news interview with outdoorsman Aron Ralston last summer. “As soon as I heard about PLBs, I knew I needed one,” Cohen said. “It’s my inseparable companion.”

Cohen calls his experience a humility lesson. “I’ll tell anybody: I don’t care how experienced, how young or how equipped you are, you must be nuts to go out without a PLB. I was so astonished. It was remarkable how it all worked out.”

A PLB is a satellite-signaling device of last resort, for use when all other means of self-rescue have been exhausted and where the situation is deemed to be grave and imminent, and the loss of life, limb, eyesight or valuable property will occur without assistance. All beacons must be registered following purchase. Simply go online to www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov.

ACR Electronics, Inc., part of Cobham’s Avionics and Surveillance Division, designs and manufactures a complete line of safety and survival products including EPIRBs, PLBs, AIS, SARTs and safety accessories. The quality systems of this facility have been registered by UL to the ISO 9001:2000 Series Standards.  Recognized as the world leader in safety and survival technologies, ACR has provided safety equipment to the aviation and marine industries as well as to the military since 1956.

Editor’s Note: To contact survivor Ken Cohen, please call Leslie Sheffield at 954-970-3394.