Why 2 Comm Radios?

[Bevan]

You will also find that the SL30 & King radios have a bit more performance than the Garmin. I can always receive a faraway ATIS sooner on my SL30 than I can the Garmin. QUOTE]

For those newer guys that may not know, the SL30 was originally made by Apollo (and maybe UPS before that?) that was later bought out by Garmin. Garmin dropped most of the product but kept the SL30 and SL40 which are now sold under the Garmin label. I'm pretty sure they are the same guts inside other than possible minor revisions. Someone may correct me if I'm wrong. Great radios in my opinion.

Merry Christmas!

Bevan

 

[Captain Avgas]

Heck my students hardly get to use any lights (theirs or the airports) "10 take off and landings at night". It's never a big deal. They LOVE landing in a black hole. I wish I could see there faces, but its too dark! Then we discuss the importance to taking care of their landing lights.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Are you suggesting that you take your students on cross country navexs at night and require them to land at unlit runways. I very much doubt that they'd enjoy landing in a "black hole" (no surrounding grounds lights). In fact I'd be surprised that they could even find the airstrip with no runway lights turned on.

Landing on a remote airstrip without runway lights is a manouevre of absolute last resort (exhausted fuel) and obviously EXTREMELY dangerous. If you pulled it off you'd want to immediately buy a lottery ticket....and a second comm.

Regards Bob Barrow

 

[apkp777]

In my defense. Yes, I teach no light landings. I admit there is still enough light to see the runway so maybe a "black hole" might be an overstatement. Students feel that it is a black hole. I can actually see fairly well. Southeastern Wisconsin is pretty populated, so this would not be the "blackest of nights" nor at a "remote airstrip". Clearly I wouldn't put my student nor myself at any risk.

The lesson is important for giving them a respect for their landing light and the confidence that with engine failure they don't have to pancake the plane. Lots of night accidents occur when the plane is stalled at tree top level because people are afraid to descend into the "black hole". It also helps them to rely on peripheral vision for night landing. Usually we only do 1 of these in their "10 take off and landings". I sort of have a pattern I follow, which includes 5 or 6 normal landings, then I try to get them disoriented by having them do left or right descending 270's away from the airport to land on a different runway, then emergency approaches, 2 with no landing lights 1 with no runway light.

Back to the subject of "why 2 comm radios".

 

[Mel]

This reminds me of when we used to land at Aero Country before they had lights. We knew where the runway was in relation to the lights on the hangars. We just slid down final to touchdown and if the roll out was smooth, we knew we missed the runway.

 

[Captain Avgas]

Back to the subject of "why 2 comm radios".

Well I fly IFR with a Garmin 430 which seems to be a popular choice for obvious reasons. But it does not give you listening capacity on the standby frequency. Therefore when you fly IFR into an uncontrolled airstrip you cannot listen to ATC and the local frequency at the same time. That is a logistical problem and it obviously raises questions of safety. My solution is to have a second radio.

Of course with listening capacity on the standby frequency (such as with an SL30 or 40) it may obviate the need for a second comm in such circumstances but then I like to have a second comm so that I can be sure of being able to turn on PAL lights at night if necessary.

One could take a portable comm as a back-up for the PAL activation but I'd rather put the money into a second panel comm for all around better utilisation.

All jokes aside....not being able to switch on PAL lights at the end of a long flight to a remote location on a dark night can be a very demanding situation regardless of whether it's IFR or VFR flight.

My thoughts are that a single comm (with listening on the standby frequency) is probably OK for day flight but for serious night flight two transmitting comms are mandatory. At least if the primary nav/comm fails you can contact ATC on the second radio and get vectors if you're within radar coverage.

Consider also that if you lose your one and only comm on a flight to a PAL activated airstrip you cannot contact ATC to arrange for some-one on the ground to manually activate the lights.

But in the end it's an individual choice that will be influenced by the type of flying being undertaken and the distance the pilot likes to live from the edge.

Cheers Bob Barrow

 

[MauiLvrs]

...Pierre mentions they have limited range, which is true, but they are strong enough...

Not sure about that...
Ours puts out 5 watts and has an external antenna ... so does our 300XL...

 

[Brantel]

Not sure about that...
Ours puts out 5 watts and has an external antenna ... so does our 300XL...

Is that Peak power or Average? Most handhelds are spec'd at Peak power and allot of panel mounts are spec'd at Average.

There can be a big difference....

 

[Mel]

Brian is correct!

Most handhelds are rated at "peak" power.
If you have a handheld that puts out 5 watts "average" power, the battery will be very short lived.

 

[MauiLvrs]

...Landing on a remote airstrip without runway lights is a manouevre of absolute last resort (exhausted fuel) and obviously EXTREMELY dangerous....

But one that would be good to practice with an instructor before you have to do it on your own...

We both came through the experience and better off for it...