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I used to own a Citabria 7KCAB, hell of an airplane.

Fossett was in a Super Decathlon 180 hp, called an 8KCAB-180, same airframe as a Citabria but with a symmetrical wing and a 180 HP engine with a constant-speed prop. It was manufactured in 1980.

As far as I know it's only required to carry an ELT, which broadcasts on 121.5 MHz a "whoop-whoop-whoop" tone. It doesn't carry any position information from GPS and doesn't broadcast on sat frequencies like an EPIRB (406 MHz). Chuck is right, there is an inertia switch which basically consists of a pendulum touching a toggle switch on the ELT. When you hit HARD, the pendulum is supposed to swing forward and flip the unit ON. Not much use, however, if you hit so hard the unit shatters, which is why it's carried in the "way-back" behind an upholstered aluminum partition separating the cargo area behind the rear seat from the tailcone.

That said, he may have had an EPIRB installed, knowing his background. Somebody said he had a Breitling "emergency" watch which also broadcasts on 121.5.

If you have to crash, a Decathlon is a pretty safe airplane to do it in. The fuselage is welded, triangulated chromemoly steel, basically a space frame that you sit inside, covered in Dacron (called Poly-fiber or Ceonite, not "Canvas" LOL). It acts like a rollcage in a crash, and being an aerobatic airplane is equipped with five-point harnesses with ratchets that resemble the load binders used by truckers. You can crank yourself down in the seat so tightly you will lose circulation in your legs, that's how good these are.

Given that he took off with full tanks I wouldn't speculate he was going up for acro-- you usually don't use full tanks because it's not necessary. This was more of a cross-country, which would suggest he would keep the aircraft straight and level in trim. This leads me to speculate that an in-flight airframe breakup, such as one would experience during accelerated flight like acro, is unlikely.

Engine failure over bad terrain? Probably have time to mayday and ELT would likely go off even if you balled it up following a dead-stick landing. More likely something catastrophic and fast, like a prop hub failure, that results in an unstable, unmanageable aircraft.

Hopefully he will walk out of the desert to much relief. G_d speed Steve, blue side up.