Radio out- Would you fly?

In article ,
Robert Tenet wrote:

Would you fly?

probably.

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Do not feed the trolls.

Do not feed the trolls.

What troll? It's a legitimate question, especially considering that not
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Jose
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"Jose" wrote in message
. ..

Do not feed the trolls.

What troll? It's a legitimate question, especially considering that not
everyone here has oodles of experience.

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



Check out Wikipedia "Internet Trolls"

Check out Wikipedia "Internet Trolls"

Why? I know what a troll is.

Jose
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"Robert Tenet" wrote in message
...

The situation:

The aircraft was originally certified without an electrical
system. It's usually flown with a handheld radio powered by
a battery. The battery is dead. The airport is
non-towered. The wind is nearly 90 degrees crosswind. You
haven't been able to fly in 4 weeks, and if you don't fly
today, you won't be able to get in the air for at least
another week.

Would you fly?


Yes.

You can't be serious.....possibly not flying because there's no radio.

Robert Tenet wrote:

The situation:

The aircraft was originally certified without an electrical
system. It's usually flown with a handheld radio powered by
a battery. The battery is dead. The airport is
non-towered. The wind is nearly 90 degrees crosswind. You
haven't been able to fly in 4 weeks, and if you don't fly
today, you won't be able to get in the air for at least
another week.

Would you fly?

"Robert Tenet" wrote in message
...
The situation:

The aircraft was originally certified without an electrical
system. It's usually flown with a handheld radio powered by
a battery. The battery is dead. The airport is
non-towered. The wind is nearly 90 degrees crosswind. You
haven't been able to fly in 4 weeks, and if you don't fly
today, you won't be able to get in the air for at least
another week.

Would you fly?


Absolutely without a doubt. What the heck does a radio have to do with a
crosswind?

"Dave Stadt" wrote:

Would you fly?
Absolutely without a doubt. What the heck does a radio have to do with a
crosswind?


OK, no one said "No," and in fact, that's what I did - I
flew. The answer to the question of "What the heck does a
radio have to do with a crosswind?" is that I was concerned
about traffic switching ends. I couldn't monitor AWOS or
hear traffic announcements. That didn't actually bother me
at all - I'm a "see and avoid" guy who is quite happy NORDO,
but I'm at a new airport and didn't want to get a reputation
for recklessness and turning on final for runway 27 as some
other aircraft taxis onto runway 9 for departure - which is
of course exactly what happened.

Another question was why I didn't just buy batteries. The
handheld radio was wired into a portable intercom/radio
power system that used a lead acid rechargeable. The
handheld part worked, but it's impossible to hear outside of
the intercom. I actually carried a spare lead acid battery.
I thought they were both dead, but it later turned out to be
a damaged wire inside the portable system.

We've looked at my decision to fly - let's work on other
decisions I made and see how they hold up under the
withering r.a.p spotlight (criticism? analysis?).

1) This aircraft has not been in the air in a a month, and
it's 60 years old, with a tiny (low climb rate, but
relatively quiet) engine. I'm going to do one pattern just
to check things out. My personal preference is to stay well
within gliding range of the airport at all times on this
first pattern. To completely achieve that desired safety
goal, given my limited climb rate, means I would have to
cheat on the noise abatement (fly rwy hdng 'til 1000' AGL)
and the pattern altitude (1000'AGL). What would you do on
this first flight?
a) Fly well beyond glide range and comply exactly
with noise abatement/pattern altitude, or
b) Fudge altitudes to stay closer.

2)I departed in the direction the last aircraft used, which
seemed a reasonable direction in the variable wind. As I
turned final I saw an aircraft rising into the air at the
opposite end of the runway. Initially I thought it was
moving away from me, but then realized it was coming towards
me. It's moving to my left, his right, and will be well to
one side of the runway and above my altitude if I continue
my descent to land. There is no other visible traffic. What
would you do ...
a) maneuver and reenter the pattern. If you
maneuver, how would you maneuver?
b) land anyway.

Thanks for your comments.







It's moving off runway centerline to my left and , but
then

My personal preference is to stay well
within gliding range of the airport at all times on this
first pattern. To completely achieve that desired safety
goal, given my limited climb rate, means I would have to
cheat on the noise abatement (fly rwy hdng 'til 1000' AGL)
and the pattern altitude (1000'AGL). What would you do on
this first flight?

This depends on how "first" the flight is. If I had a concern for
safety, that overrides all noise abatements rules. What's ahead of me
and around the airport that could be used as a (safe but less
convenient) landing spot should the fan stop? Flat farmland? I'd
probably fly the regular pattern unless I had reason to think something
was amiss. Rocky pointy things all around, and this is a first flight
after maintanance? I'd cheat noise abatement... I might even ignore it
totally.

2)I departed in the direction the last aircraft used, which
seemed a reasonable direction in the variable wind. As I
turned final I saw an aircraft rising into the air at the
opposite end of the runway. Initially I thought it was
moving away from me, but then realized it was coming towards
me. It's moving to my left, his right, and will be well to
one side of the runway and above my altitude if I continue
my descent to land.

I'd probably cheat to the right to let him pass to my left, continuing
my approach to land, being especially vigilant for another takeoff and
for other traffic that might be landing. One airplane going the wrong
way does not change the pattern at an uncontrolled airport - he might
have just been near his departure end and didn't want to taxi. Some
pilots are like that, and if the wind is not clearly favoring either
runway (you said it was 90 degree crosswind), you are NORDO and he
didn't see you take off, it's not unreasonable either. (It can be
argued that it is unreasonable for him to not see you in the pattern,
but that's another argument and not relevant, since it is incumbant upon
you to watch out for the dummies

Even if you had a radio, he might not be using one.

At uncontrolled airports, OSP is far more important than RSP.

Jose
*Optical separation procedures, Radio separation protocol.
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.