Newsgroups: rec.aviation.student
Subject: Re: Handheld: necessity? was: And so it begins
From: jbolinger@lintek.com (J L Bolinger)
Organization: AeroFlex Lintek
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In article <6uh16e$qdu$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, jgalban@hotmail.com says...
>

> 1. On a long X-C (yes, I was truly crossing the country) the wet compass
>seal broke. Most of the fluid leaked out, rendering it useless. I continued
>by using the DG and GPS for heading info.  Later on, the vacuum pump failed.
>Adios to the DG and Attitude indicator.  The GPS groundtrack was my only
>heading reference left.  Given the terrain I was flying over (mostly
>mountains, few easily discernable landmarks), this came in very handy.
>
>  2. Took off from a very busy class D after having been jump started
>(mechanic had left the master on).  The airport was busy enough that the
>tower was refusing inbound aircraft, and sending some T&G traffic out of the
>class D to wait.  1 min. after takeoff, the alternator went offline.  Since
>the battery had not yet recharged, everything on the panel was dead.  I was
>able to pull the handheld out, call the tower, get sequenced back into the
>pattern (with several traffic advisories) and land.
>

Sounds to me like you should save your pennys and buy a new mechanic instead
of a handheld!


>   I'd strongly recommend getting both.  The day will come when you'll be glad
>you did.
>
>

There are some that have GPS and Comm in the same box.

I like the idea posted by others here about being able to communicate with
passing aircraft when forced down.  In the typical senario, I believe, when
you are overdue at your destination the search and rescue system will be
activated.  They will start searching along the route given in your flight
plan (you did file, didn't you?).  Seems to me it would be very convenient 
to be able to talk to them when they fly over.  If you are down somewhere
and can hear a plane fly over chances are they will hear your handheld.


Jim

