B A R R Y wrote:
I've been told that
making an initial distress call on the same frequency I'm already
using for FF is not only acceptable, but a good idea.



Yep, turns out that most ATC freqs are as good or better than
121.5. I heard the cub go down in Lake Michigan last weekend.
His mayday was on Gary Tower and Gary was on the phone with
Chicago and they were vectoring a Gary departure over towards
the last spot they had him on radar. Better yet if they
already are watching you. I lost contact with PXT one day
while getting flight following (just got too far away and
couldn't hear them anymore, so I just set 1200 and broadcast
I was leaving in the blind.

By the time I got to my destination there were aircraft calling
on the CTAF there relaying inquiries from Approach as to whether
I'd made it there.

On the other hand, there was a case in CT (if I recall right)
where a pilot was on an IFR plan, was switched to CTAF and
told the controller that he'd probably be back after a missed.
The controller never received the cancellation and forgot
about the guy. Unfortunately, he crashed on approach and
nobody noticed until the next morning.

VFR plans are a nice backup, but I'd like to be dealing with
someone immediately.