NORDO and Flight Following question

I was talking with a friend the other day, and he posed an interesting
question to me.

I use flight following occasionally. It's a great service, and as a
VFR pilot I appreciate the (workload permitting) traffic advisories.
We were discussing this when my friend asked 'So, what do you do if you
have a radio failure?' I opened my mouth to answer, but then realized
that I wasn't sure.

Here's my thought process:

First, I figured 'easy, I'll just squawk 7600.' The controller will
understand. Then I thought about it a little more. If I'm out in
class E or G, I don't really need a radio, and there are plenty of
barnstormers still flying without. So, why squawk an emergency-type
code?

Second, I wavered. If I just stopped talking to the guy, I'm making
his life more difficult while he tries to contact me, and probably
annoying him. At best, he'd probably just write me off and his
interest in providing this service to future FF requesters might drop a
tiny bit. At worst... would some FAA guy meet me at the field and
start yelling?

We went back and forth. I did some research on the newsgroups, and I
found plenty of references to pilots just 'dropping off' flight
following and nobody caring, but I'm curious to find out not only what
experienced pilots would do, but also if anyone knows what the company
line is. I read the FAR/AIM stuff about FF, and it was just radio
terminology and a description of the service. I might not have looked
in the right place.

At one point, we discussed some sort of formula of squawking 7600,
hitting Ident, waiting a few seconds, then squawking 1200. At another
point, we thought just squawking 1200 would be enough, though that
sounds kinda rude.

So, what would you do? Thanks!

Ben Hallert wrote:

So, what would you do? Thanks!

Squawk 1200. If you ever do this and still have a good radio, you'll hear some
variation of "your N-number here radar contact lost, frequency change
approved, g'day." That's all there is to it.

George Patterson
"Naked" means you ain't got no clothes on; "nekkid" means you ain't got
no clothes on - and are up to somethin'.

On 26 May 2005 18:16:13 -0700, "Ben Hallert"
wrote in .com::

So, what would you do?

Why, fire up the handheld, of course.

I'd do nothing (i.e. continue on NORDO). After a while I'd probably
squawk 1200, figuring I've been unsucessfully passed on to the next sector.

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On 26 May 2005 18:16:13 -0700, Ben Hallert wrote:

So, what would you do? Thanks!

Ben,

This happened to me though I was only getting flight following out of
Charlie airspace.

I am trundling along to my destination, and after 25 miles, started
realizing, yep, no ATC.

I could hear other planes, but not approach. Since I was on the edge of
their airspace, I broadcasted in the blind, Jackson Approach, 43L
broadcasting in the blind, squawking VFR. Not sure what the cause was, as
I could hear other planes, but I never heard anything bad about it...

Since I wasn't going to be a traffic factor inside their airspace, I didn't
try to contact another plane on the frequency.

Allen

"Ben Hallert" wrote in message
oups.com...

So, what would you do? Thanks!

Fly the airplane, look out the winder, squawk 1200, fly the airplane and
look out the winder some more. It ain't a big deal.

"Ben Hallert" wrote in
I was talking with a friend the other day, and he posed an interesting
question to me.

I use flight following occasionally. It's a great service, and as a
VFR pilot I appreciate the (workload permitting) traffic advisories.
We were discussing this when my friend asked 'So, what do you do if you
have a radio failure?' I opened my mouth to answer, but then realized
that I wasn't sure.

Here's my thought process:

First, I figured 'easy, I'll just squawk 7600.' The controller will
understand. Then I thought about it a little more. If I'm out in
class E or G, I don't really need a radio, and there are plenty of
barnstormers still flying without. So, why squawk an emergency-type
code?

Second, I wavered. If I just stopped talking to the guy, I'm making
his life more difficult while he tries to contact me, and probably
annoying him. At best, he'd probably just write me off and his
interest in providing this service to future FF requesters might drop a
tiny bit. At worst... would some FAA guy meet me at the field and
start yelling?

We went back and forth. I did some research on the newsgroups, and I
found plenty of references to pilots just 'dropping off' flight
following and nobody caring, but I'm curious to find out not only what
experienced pilots would do, but also if anyone knows what the company
line is. I read the FAR/AIM stuff about FF, and it was just radio
terminology and a description of the service. I might not have looked
in the right place.

At one point, we discussed some sort of formula of squawking 7600,
hitting Ident, waiting a few seconds, then squawking 1200. At another
point, we thought just squawking 1200 would be enough, though that
sounds kinda rude.

So, what would you do? Thanks!

Nothing. You have no emergency. Stay out of airspace where a radio is
required and relax.

moo

On 26 May 2005 18:16:13 -0700, "Ben Hallert"
wrote:

First, I figured 'easy, I'll just squawk 7600.' The controller will
understand. Then I thought about it a little more. If I'm out in
class E or G, I don't really need a radio, and there are plenty of
barnstormers still flying without. So, why squawk an emergency-type
code?

I've never squawked 7600, because I don't have a transponder.

Nor have I ever used flight following.

I do carry a handheld radio, however. It's not always reliable in
transmission, but very good in reception. It also causes interference
with the GPS, so I switch it off when I am flying cross-country.



-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com

Thanks guys! My friend just squawked 1200 when it happened to him and
mentioned that he got yelled at, but it might have been controller
specific. Hopefully I'll never lose comms, but I'll file this away
just in case.

Just so long as the FARs don't specifically say there's another
procedure to do, my A is C'd.

Ben Hallert wrote:
Thanks guys! My friend just squawked 1200 when it happened to him and
mentioned that he got yelled at, but it might have been controller
specific. Hopefully I'll never lose comms, but I'll file this away
just in case.

I lost comm while on my way out of a class B. I squawked 7600 for a
minute or so, just to let the controller know what was going on, then
switched to 1200. They were fine with that.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)