Reliable method for air/ground communications?

"JDK" wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyone have a suggestion for a reliable method for air/ground
communications in-flight?

I'd like to give a heads-up to family on the ground when I'm near (say
within 15 minutes) to landing, and am not sure how I would do that mid-
flight.

With AviDyne's MultiLink products you can send email/text messages from the
MFD.

So, are you looking for _reliable_, or for _cheap_?

gatt wrote:
"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
. ..
Without getting into a discussion of just which cell phones cannot
be used in flight, the easy answer is to buy a couple of Family
Radio Service handhelds. Cell phones licensed under Part 22 of the
FCC regulations cannot be used in flight...do you know the regs
under which your phone is licensed?

Nope, but if I'm the PIC I'm making the call (literally.) Unless
making a 15-second cell-phone call fifteen minutes out from the
destination airfield is going to somehow prevent me from getting
there, I'm not going to worry about it.

I can just see it happening, though... CAVU, destination in site,
speed-dial the number to notify and BOOM! Lost, out of fuel, out of
control. Fireball in the sky from the fuel tanks randomly exploding
like that Pinto in Top Secret. Probably happens all the time in LA. :
-c

The FCC regulations banninng cell phones in aircraft have nothing to do with
causing aircraft to crash. If they did they would be FAA regulations. They
are about disrupting the cell phone system.

On May 24, 3:51 pm, JDK wrote:
Anyone have a suggestion for a reliable method for air/ground
communications in-flight?

I'd like to give a heads-up to family on the ground when I'm near (say
within 15 minutes) to landing, and am not sure how I would do that mid-
flight.

Probably a cheap (or used) handheld VHF?

"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...

The FCC regulations banninng cell phones in aircraft have nothing to do
with causing aircraft to crash. If they did they would be FAA regulations.
They are about disrupting the cell phone system.

FCC vs. FAA. I used to trip up on them all the time when I was an FM radio
program director and also a student pilot. ...I'd walk up to a DJ and say

"You need to fill out your FAA logs..."
"What?"

....if somebody told me one that cell phone issue was FCC regulation, it's
perfectly possible that I ranted about the FAA.

-c