Tom Martin
Well Known Member
My wife, Diane, and I returned home from our second annual cross country flight. Last year we went all the way to the west coast, this year the east coast was our destination. Along the way we had plans to stay with friends at various locations. Stops were made at Montreal, CYJN, Quebec City, CYQB, Moncton NB, CYQM, and Bagotville CYBG. The weather down was not great but we had spectacular skies for our return trip. Bagotville, located at the head of the Saguenay River is now on the top of my list for the prettiest place to fly an airplane in North America. The river is technically a fjord and is deep and wide enough for ocean going vessels. This is a highly recommended place to take your spouse.
The safety aspect of this trip was that it was my first cross country flight with my SPOT. http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx This gps tracking device, in my opinion, makes the failure prone ELTs obsolete. If I operate the tool properly it sends a email message at the beginning and end of each flight to up to ten different addresses. Also there is a tracking feature that places a little mark, every ten minutes on a Google map. A new feature is the ability for people to follow your progress from a web link. The system worked very well. So well that we were met at the airport by one of our hosts as they had been following our trip and could estimate how far out we were. There is also a 911 feature that is supposed to alert the system if you have a serious problem. Unlike the ELTs this is not automatically activated and I guess that would be the only negative to the system. However rescue teams would know your track and have a very good idea, within ten minutes, of where to look. If Steve Fossett had used one of these units he would likely have been found very quickly.
I paid $160 bucks for mine, now you can get one free at AirVenture. Why does this thing always happen to me? The annual fees are about $160 which is about the best money I spend on aviation last year.
http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx
A picture of the Saguenay River
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The safety aspect of this trip was that it was my first cross country flight with my SPOT. http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx This gps tracking device, in my opinion, makes the failure prone ELTs obsolete. If I operate the tool properly it sends a email message at the beginning and end of each flight to up to ten different addresses. Also there is a tracking feature that places a little mark, every ten minutes on a Google map. A new feature is the ability for people to follow your progress from a web link. The system worked very well. So well that we were met at the airport by one of our hosts as they had been following our trip and could estimate how far out we were. There is also a 911 feature that is supposed to alert the system if you have a serious problem. Unlike the ELTs this is not automatically activated and I guess that would be the only negative to the system. However rescue teams would know your track and have a very good idea, within ten minutes, of where to look. If Steve Fossett had used one of these units he would likely have been found very quickly.
I paid $160 bucks for mine, now you can get one free at AirVenture. Why does this thing always happen to me? The annual fees are about $160 which is about the best money I spend on aviation last year.
http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx
A picture of the Saguenay River
