Lost Comm route?

And fly a VFR altitude...

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:42:06 -0400, Roy Smith wrote:

In article ,
Jose wrote:

1. File Airways/VORs (within 40/25 mile service radius). Upon
departure, request & get Direct my destination that's 200 miles away.
I lose radios. What route do I fly?

Let me modify the question a bit. You have a VOR/DME airplane. No GPS.
You file airways (they have zigzags and some hills) and get cleared as
filed. You take off, and lose comm and nav. You're in the soup.

What do you fly? (You do have an NDB that works)

It sounds like you no longer have the means to navigate any of the routes
(cleared, expected, filed) described in 91.185. And don't have a handheld
GPS. And you don't have a handheld comm radio. And you don't have a cell
phone. Therefore, you fall back on on 91.3.

Your first goal is to avoid hitting any terrain. If you're not sure you're
above all terrain, climb. How high? High enough to ensure terrain
clearance. Nothing else matters until you've got that covered.

While you're climbing, write down the time. You're going to need that
compute your DR plot.

Next, where are you going to go? Hopefully, you've got some idea where VFR
weather can be found. Fly in that direction. If there's a good high-power
NDB station you can use, navigate to that. If not, then an AM radio
station will work fine (if it turns out to be Country & Western, turn the
volume down low enough that you can't hear it). If not, just fly a
heading. Keep flying until you can see the ground. Find an airport.
Land. Done.

wrote:
And fly a VFR altitude...

Why would you do that?


On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:42:06 -0400, Roy Smith wrote:

In article ,
Jose wrote:

1. File Airways/VORs (within 40/25 mile service radius). Upon
departure, request & get Direct my destination that's 200 miles away.
I lose radios. What route do I fly?
Let me modify the question a bit. You have a VOR/DME airplane. No GPS.
You file airways (they have zigzags and some hills) and get cleared as
filed. You take off, and lose comm and nav. You're in the soup.

What do you fly? (You do have an NDB that works)
It sounds like you no longer have the means to navigate any of the routes
(cleared, expected, filed) described in 91.185. And don't have a handheld
GPS. And you don't have a handheld comm radio. And you don't have a cell
phone. Therefore, you fall back on on 91.3.

Your first goal is to avoid hitting any terrain. If you're not sure you're
above all terrain, climb. How high? High enough to ensure terrain
clearance. Nothing else matters until you've got that covered.

While you're climbing, write down the time. You're going to need that
compute your DR plot.

Next, where are you going to go? Hopefully, you've got some idea where VFR
weather can be found. Fly in that direction. If there's a good high-power
NDB station you can use, navigate to that. If not, then an AM radio
station will work fine (if it turns out to be Country & Western, turn the
volume down low enough that you can't hear it). If not, just fly a
heading. Keep flying until you can see the ground. Find an airport.
Land. Done.

wrote:
And fly a VFR altitude...

Dave Butler wrote:
Why would you do that?

If you believe your xponder is still active, so ATC can track your position
and altitude, staying at an IFR altitude probably makes sense.

On the other hand, if you've had a total electrical failure and you don't
think you're transponding any more, going to a VFR altitude might give you
a better chance of not hitting any other airplanes. The theory is that in
IMC, everybody else will be at an IFR altitude. If you're the only one at
a VFR altitude, you can't hit any of them.

At least that's the theory, The answer to whether you decide to go with
that theory can only be found in 91.3.