On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 16:01:55 -0400, Andrew Gideon
wrote in :

The Garmin audio panel in our planes has a nifty feature. If the panel is
powered down, the pilot's headset is connected to COM1. Thus,
communication survives the failure of the audio panel.

It would be interesting to know how VHF communications were affected
in Mr. Rhine's mishap.