Lost Radio Communication Procedure

wrote in message
oups.com...
Does anybody know the text book answer to the "Procedure for Lost Radio
Communication" between the glider and ground crew during a cross
country flight? What answer would you give if asked during a checkride?
Thanks


I suppose it COULD be asked in the oral but I've never hear of it. However,
it's still a good question.
You do need a plan for lost communications.

It's a good idea to have someone man a phone at the launch site until they
know you and your crew have re-established contact and a retrieve is
underway. This is SOP for contests.

Just a voice mail box is good alternative. Tell your crew that you'll call
their voice mail and leave a message after you land. They can call your
voice mail and leave a message too. I didn't say use your cell phone in
flight but.... You may very well be able to call your crew directly by cell
phone but don't count on it.

The most likely reason for lost radio communication is that you are out of
range. Try calling another glider who is in the general direction of where
you think your crew is and ask for a relay. That's worked for me several
times.

If you know you've lost comm and a cell phone or handheld isn't an option
then make every effort to land where you know there will be people and
phones even if it means abandoning your flight plan.

You've landed in the middle of nowhere and your cell phone doesn't work but
the radio is still OK? This IS an emergency so I'll probably try to contact
an airliner overhead on 121.5 or the enroute sector frequency and ask for a
radio relay to the crew on 123.3. If the relay doesn't work, I'll ask them
to phone the contest site or the crew's voicemail and leave my Lat/Long
landing location. I'll tell the airline crew that I'll be OK for 24 hours
on my own but after that, if I haven't contacted the local constabulary to
say I'm OK, call out the rescue teams. These days, you probably just flip
the switch on your PLB and sit back and wait...

There's an old 'phone trick used by crews since the beginning of glider XC -
at least you used to be able to do this. I haven't checked lately. This
how we did it before cell phones and radios.

Have your crew call you at the takeoff site person-to-person collect from a
pay phone. Of course you won't be there but, if the person answering the
phone is cool, they'll say, "he isn't here right now, he's out glider
flying, try later". Which means they haven't heard from you. Your crew can
do this every 15 minutes and there's no charge for the try. If they have
heard from you they'll say, "he isn't here but, if this is his crew calling,
he left a message for them." At which point your crew pays the tariff for
one call and writes down your landing location. A pocket full of coins was
standard issue for crews.

I still carry a signal mirror.

Bill Daniels