Bob, Thanks for the plug! Pity there are no royalties! The article, by
the way is in the Flight Safety section on the club website.
Whilst I see where you are coming from, I personally don't feel any need
to actually talk to de Kooy in those circumstances. Simply listening in
on frequency does it for me. If things do go pear shaped you are all set
to send out your SOS, and it is unlikely they are going to get twitchy
about 8.33 mhz in such circumstances. I take a similar approach to
flying close to controlled sirspace in UK. For instance going round
London I prefer not to talk to Farnborough, who are usually grossly
overworked and really struggle to give any reliable service. Instead I
listen in and dial up the appropriate listening squawk. The
multiplication of listening squawks suggests that large ATC units would
prefer not to be actually talking to the average GA plane!
Regards, David Joyce, GXSDJ
On 2016-07-30 09:10, Bob Hitchcock wrote:
>
> De Kooy
> ............Why, do you require to talk to them when flying direct
> then?........
> :;:
> Hi Marcel
>
> For me having the ability to talk to De Kooy is an important
>
> It all about the risk balance, which is personal to each pilot. And the legal
requirements.
>
> The journey for me is 160 nautical miles over water. My current radio is low
power by today's standards and ready for upgrade. Experience of flying this
direct
track previously tells me I go out of radio contact with stations for twenty
minutes due to radio transmission height/range/power/weather.
>
> (1) I would like to have the option, to be able to talk directly to the
> nearest
rescue station if I were in difficulty. The De Kooy military station had a
high quality powerful radio that is a reliable contact.
> (2) De Kooy also had good radar coverage to identify me should I have a
> distress
situation.
> (3) Finally the weather often changes dramatically as you approach the Dutch
coast. It was good to have De Kooy as the diversion option. It had plenty of kit
to get you down.
>
> When I get the subsidised 8:33 upgrade will I gain extra power as well as the
ability to contact all ATSU again, including De Kooy.
>
> Of course it's all a matter of opinion. Different pilots would reach different
conclusions. Read the David Joyce (Mono XS) article on ditching in the sea.
Really good read on minimising risk and maximising chances of survival.
>
> Regards
>
> Bob Hitchcock
>
> Europa XS Mono
>
Links:
------
[1] http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Europa-List
[2] http://forums.matronics.com
[3] http://wiki.matronics.com
[4] http://www.matronics.com/contribution
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