Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:hHVge.1396$Ld4.1339@trndny04...

Jay Honeck wrote:

I hadn't heard this -- was their radio inop?

I heard that on NPR yesterday, but I just saw a post tonight in which
someone said they called the fighters after they were intercepted.

Thier radio was NOT inop. They played the tapes on NBC news last night.

I didn't hear the tapes, but I read the CNN interview with the interceptor pilot
who said that they did communicate on 121.5.

speculation
We all know what the radios tend to be like in 40 year old C150s in the rental
fleet. Could be the radios were good enough to talk to an interceptor that's
dropping flares in front of you, but bad enough to discourage you from trying to
get enroute VFR advisories.
/speculation