309 wrote:
Just wait until the civil aviation authority reuqires you to trade your
VolksLogger for an 88 parameter Digital Flight Data Recorder (a.k.a.
"black box," in airline parlance), which will require everything short
of a rectal probe. They HAVE contributed to aircraft safety, albeit
for the NEXT generation of pilots and aircraft. Understanding what
happened (and studying how to prevent it) is important to helping our
sports survive. A shame our data loggers aren't being force fed to the
power aviation fleet.

You're making a little joke? At best, the information to be extracted
is rather minimal. Usually, there's nothing there at all, as the little
backup battery held in place by a simple spring clip is jarred out of
place and the data in RAM goes away in seconds. Hardly a substitute for
a black box.

-Dave



FWIW, I have an ELT in my humble glider: I want to be found. I treat
it like the spare tire for my crew vehicle (and my trailer), I think of
them as talismans (or as part of homemage to Murphy): I'd rather have
it and not need it than need it and not have it. Being raised to be an
Eagle Scout ("Be Prepared") might have something to do with it too. I
did get the economy Ameri-King ELT, that works with Duracell "D" cells.

I would love for EPIRB's to come down in price, so that I'll have a
belt AND suspenders!

Yes, I have analogies that are more crude, but I shall refrain.

-Pete