Lost comm while VFR in Class Bravo

[Roy Smith]

How would you handle the following situation.

You call up NY Approach, VFR, and say "Request class bravo clearance at
1500 for some sightseeing down the Hudson River". The controller says,
"Cleared into the class bravo as requested".

Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
upon calling, get no response.

I'm not aware of any FARs that cover this situation. One might try and
apply*the rules in 91.185*(IFR operations: Two-way radio communications
failure), but it's a bad fit for a number of reasons.

What would you do?

[Jim Weir]

Fly the airplane.

Write down the squawk code assigned.

Fly the airplane.

Set transponder to 7600 for one minute.

Fly the airplane.

Return transponder to assigned code.

Fly the airplane.

Continue last known clearance...down the Hudson at 1500 until you are clear of
the Bravo, then remain clear and do whatever you wish about the radio failure
outside of seriously controlled airspace.

Jim




Roy Smith >
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

->How would you handle the following situation.
->
->You call up NY Approach, VFR, and say "Request class bravo clearance at
->1500 for some sightseeing down the Hudson River". The controller says,
->"Cleared into the class bravo as requested".
->
->Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
->upon calling, get no response.
->
->I'm not aware of any FARs that cover this situation. One might try and
->apply*the rules in 91.185*(IFR operations: Two-way radio communications
->failure), but it's a bad fit for a number of reasons.
->
->What would you do?

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
>
> How would you handle the following situation.
>
> You call up NY Approach, VFR, and say "Request class
> bravo clearance at 1500 for some sightseeing down the
> Hudson River". The controller says, "Cleared into the class
> bravo as requested".
>
> Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
> upon calling, get no response.
>
> I'm not aware of any FARs that cover this situation. One might try
> and apply the rules in 91.185 (IFR operations: Two-way radio
> communications failure), but it's a bad fit for a number of reasons.
>
> What would you do?
>

Squawk 7600 for about half a minute, return to the assigned code, continue
down the Hudson River at 1500.

[Ben Jackson]

In article >,
Roy Smith > wrote:
>
>Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
>upon calling, get no response.

Jim had a good answer, but you might try broadcasting your intentions
blind in case they can hear you. I had a radio failure on the way to
my private checkride and got a green light from the tower surprisingly
fast. Turns out they could hear me even though I couldn't hear them.
After shutting down and talking to the examiner we tried it again and
the problem went away, at which point the tower said they'd heard all of
my calls. I bet that was annoying, too, since I used every combination
of 2 radios and 2 headset jacks and the hand mic!

--
Ben Jackson
>
http://www.ben.com/

[David Cartwright]

"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
> How would you handle the following situation.
> You call up NY Approach, VFR, and say "Request class bravo clearance at
> 1500 for some sightseeing down the Hudson River". The controller says,
> "Cleared into the class bravo as requested".
>
> Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
> upon calling, get no response.
>
> I'm not aware of any FARs that cover this situation. One might try and
> apply the rules in 91.185 (IFR operations: Two-way radio communications
> failure), but it's a bad fit for a number of reasons.

As well as the "fly the aeroplane" "squawk 7600" suggestions from a couple
of other people here, it's worth mentioning that some ATZs (in the UK, at
least) have published specific radio failure procedures, usually relating to
how to obtain permission to land. It's always worth checking before you set
out whether this is the case with the airfield you're flying out of/into.

Oh, and the other thing is: if you're not too busy thinking about flying the
aeroplane and keeping away from the busy bits of sky, think about what the
problem might be. Do you have a second COM box you could switch to, and do
you know how to switch to it? (I know at least one person who didn't know
how to switch to COM2 in our club's Warrior, and was really surprised when I
pointed out that you could listen to the ATIS on COM2 whilst remaining on
the Tower/Approach frequency on COM1). The other problem I had once was the
controller having trouble making out my broadcasts; I wondered whether the
switch on the yoke might be faulty (the rubber handgrip was coming loose, so
I figured that a wire might be becoming dislodged) and so I pulled the
headphone jacks out of my side, plugged them in the right-hand side, and
used the thumbswitch on the other yoke. It was a bit awkward to use, but it
solved the problem (and fortunately, the headset sockets on the PA-38 were
in the gap between the seats, not on the far side of the cabin like they are
in the Warrior).

I'm fortunate enough never to have a full radio failure - though I was on a
solo navex when I was a student and the RAF Marham controller's radio died.
One minute he was talking to me (very fuzzily) as I flew through his MATZ,
the next he wasn't there. So I switched to London Information and told them
of the situation; they gave him a bell and there was more than a little
amusement in the London guy's voice when he reported back to me: "His
radio's broken, he'll call you in five minutes when he's been to fetch a new
one".

D.

[g n p]

Turn on your hand-held, battery powered, transceiver you have for just such
an eventuality (right next to your emergency batterey powered hand-held
GPS).
You DO have them, right??
You DID check them during your preflight, right??
________________
G. Paleologopoulos, PPASEL-VFR, SX-ADE


"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
> How would you handle the following situation.
>
> You call up NY Approach, VFR, and say "Request class bravo clearance at
> 1500 for some sightseeing down the Hudson River". The controller says,
> "Cleared into the class bravo as requested".
>
> Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
> upon calling, get no response.
>
> I'm not aware of any FARs that cover this situation. One might try and
> apply the rules in 91.185 (IFR operations: Two-way radio communications
> failure), but it's a bad fit for a number of reasons.
>
> What would you do?

[Mark Kolber]

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 15:25:59 -0700, Jim Weir > wrote:

>Set transponder to 7600 for one minute.
>
>Fly the airplane.
>
>Return transponder to assigned code.

Why all the switching?

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Mark Kolber" > wrote in message
...
>
> Why all the switching?
>

Switch to 7600 to insure ATC knows you're NORDO, switch back to the assigned
code to silence the annoying alarm that code generates and allow your data
tag to correlate with your radar target.

[Peter R.]

Roy Smith ) wrote:

> You call up NY Approach, VFR, and say "Request class bravo clearance at
> 1500 for some sightseeing down the Hudson River". The controller says,
> "Cleared into the class bravo as requested".
>
> Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
> upon calling, get no response.

My first thought would be to descend below 1,100 ft MSL, which is the
ceiling of the VFR corridor over the Hudson river, then turn north to fly
out of the corridor below class B to land at an uncontrolled airport.

I would not have thought to temporarily set the transponder to 7600, but
upon reading it here, I think doing do just before descending into the
corridor would be a good, quick way to let ATC know of the NORDO situation.

--
Peter

[Ryan R. Healy]

"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
> How would you handle the following situation.
>
> You call up NY Approach, VFR, and say "Request class bravo clearance at
> 1500 for some sightseeing down the Hudson River". The controller says,
> "Cleared into the class bravo as requested".
>
> Sometime later, you realize you havn't heard from them for a while and
> upon calling, get no response.
>
> I'm not aware of any FARs that cover this situation. One might try and
> apply the rules in 91.185 (IFR operations: Two-way radio communications
> failure), but it's a bad fit for a number of reasons.
>
> What would you do?

Roy,

Simply squawk 7600 and press on with your operation. Once you exit the
class B, do not re-enter it.

I'd give the controller a telephone call upon landing to let him know what
happened.

-RH

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Ryan R. Healy" > wrote in message
...
>
> Simply squawk 7600 and press on with your operation. Once you
> exit the class B, do not re-enter it.
>

Squawk 7600 just long enough to make the controller aware you're NORDO.
Then return to your assigned code.