"Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea Hawk at wow way d0t com wrote

If push comes to shove, you can always use a GPS,VOR's, or vectors from ATC
(assuming your battery doesn't go flat) to find your way back the first few
times - but you wouldn't want to become dependant on that kind of stuff.

Why not? This kind of advise always hacks me off, a little bit. Why do we have
these modern things, if not to take advantage of them? Plan for failures, as
unlikely as multiple failures are, and layers of backup.

Yes, we have to make plan B's, and plan C's.

Keep your situational awareness up. Know where you are, and where your useable
airports are, all the time, in case something does go seriously astray. Your
were doing this anyway, as you always do for any flight, right?

Have a GPS in your panel? OK, take along a backup hand-held GPS, and extra
batteries. You have a backup. If you panel mount fails, consider that a very
strong suggestion to land, and consider your next move, unless you know for sure
where you are, and can make it home on ded reckoning, and visual pilotage, and
perhaps another form of backup. If you are proficient on using VOR's, then you
might not consider losing two GPS units as a flight ending situation. Vectors
from ATC can usually be considered as even another layer of protection/backup,
if you have a handheld (or two) and extra batteries, and a way to hook to an
external antenna, if your plane does not allow for good handheld use without the
external antenna. Adapters to hook up your headset to the handheld may be
needed for your particular plane.

If your battery goes flat, because of your charging system packing it in, then
just MAYBE you ought to land, at night? No rocket science, in making that kind
of decision. Still, for the backup prepared, there need not be a life and death
situation, from having a dead electrical system. There can still be a ton of
backups. Oh, and of course, you do have your FAA required flashlight (with
extra batteries) with you, so you can see your panel, right?
--
Jim in NC