This past weekend on our way to Wichita with flight following, we were picking up a high-pitched whine in our headsets. It was something we have never heard before. I turned down the radios and things to see if that was where it was coming from. (It wasn't the radio's) Anyway, 20 minutes of flying go by and it comes to mind that the radio had been quiet. We've experienced this before with flight following but I glanced down at the radio only to notice that the volume knob was turned down! Ooops... so I turned it back up and just as I did I heard a blind call for 523 Romeo Victor. I replied and it was a United flight with a new frequency for me. I tuned to the new frequency and checked in.
No biggie but 2 minutes later a familiar voice come on asking me why we went NORDO! It was Nathan Larson who is a supervisor at the KC ARTCC and a fellow RV-9A flyer. He just happened to be supervising the sector I was flying through. The controller who was trying to raise me grabbed him to let him know some goofball flying an experimental went NORDO on him. Of course as soon as Nathan saw the tail numbers he knew it was me. He actually called my cell phone to see if I would answer. (I didn't) He asked why we went NORDO, to which I explained an unusual sound, and where we were headed. After landing in Wichita, I called him on the phone just to make sure I wasn't in hot water or had caused any trouble. (I wasn't/I hadn't) They had only been trying to reach us for a couple of minutes.
So lesson learned! Don't forget to turn up the radio's after you've turned them down!
No biggie but 2 minutes later a familiar voice come on asking me why we went NORDO! It was Nathan Larson who is a supervisor at the KC ARTCC and a fellow RV-9A flyer. He just happened to be supervising the sector I was flying through. The controller who was trying to raise me grabbed him to let him know some goofball flying an experimental went NORDO on him. Of course as soon as Nathan saw the tail numbers he knew it was me. He actually called my cell phone to see if I would answer. (I didn't) He asked why we went NORDO, to which I explained an unusual sound, and where we were headed. After landing in Wichita, I called him on the phone just to make sure I wasn't in hot water or had caused any trouble. (I wasn't/I hadn't) They had only been trying to reach us for a couple of minutes.
So lesson learned! Don't forget to turn up the radio's after you've turned them down!