New Mexico is pretty sparsely populated and I DO carry my phone. Coverage
is pretty spotty, however, unless you're near a major highway...

"Ramy" wrote in message
...
On Thursday, April 4, 2013 8:31:33 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Different strokes, I suppose.



I always enjoyed sitting on the farmer's porch enjoying local conversation

and some of his beer. Later, when my impromptu crew would arrive, I'd
share

my homebrew with the farmer.



I haven't landed out in a long time. Maybe I should plan to...





"Tony" wrote in message

...

On Thursday, April 4, 2013 10:15:33 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:

I flew XC for years before getting a cell phone. When I landed out, I
just

knocked on the farmer's door and asked to use the phone. Never had a

problem and the farmer and family usually enjoyed looking at the glider.
I

now have a cell phone but it stays turned off unless I want to make a

call. Oh, and it's only a phone - it doesn't do all those other

distracting things that today's youngsters seem to need to stay alive.

There's an entire episode of the TV show, Southpark, which is devoted to

Facebook. I thought it gave an apt description of Facebook addicts.
"Ramy"

wrote in message

... So Bob,
I

must ask, do you fly XC without cell phone? If so, whatever will be
your

good reasons to never carry a cell phone, I wouldn't blame anyone who

will leave you to hitchhike back from a landout in the middle of

nowhere... Some technologies, like cell phone and spot are a must in

anyone's landout kit. Flying cross country without them is foolish.


Ramy



My new smartphone does provide some good post landout entertainment. For

example last weekend my crew saw the picture of the glider in the field on

Facebook before they left the field to come get me, and by the time they
got

there I had had about a 20 comment exchange with various glider pilots

around the country debating the merits of why i landed out and how good or

bad the field I chose was.

All good points, and I had my share of the same experiences and adventures
as you folks described, but the main point is that having technology like
cell phone and spot provides you *additional* options that you don't
otherwise have, and chances are that in some situations you or your crew
would wish you had...
I also been at the airport when someone did not return, but unfortunately he
did not carry spot, and although he also apparently died on impact, it took
3 days to find him, during which a TFR was set over the area and we spent 3
days looking for him.
My cell phone worked well in almost every landout I had, even in remote
areas, and significantly simplified my retrievals.

Ramy