PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Do any of you have a horn on a Light Aircraft?
Old 13th Jan 2019, 17:20
  #20 (permalink)  
Big Pistons Forever
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Canada
Age: 63
Posts: 5,171
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When I was working in aerial forest fire suppression operations I started out as a bird dog pilot ( ie basically like a forward air controller). The airplane had a siren so that you could warn the fire fighters on the ground a tanker drop was imminent. It also had a loud speaker system so you could pass instructions to people on the ground. Needless to say it was very loud to ensure it could be heard over the noise of the engines and at a distance..

I used both on the ground once when we were in the thick of a big fire action. I had dropped in to a nearby small field to get gas leaving the tankers circling over the fire. When it was time to leave, the taxiway to the runway was blocked by some guy in a C 172 head down, going through the 100 item flight school check list, so I gave a blast of the siren and yelled at him on the loud speaker to get out of the way.

The look on the poor guys face was rather priceless but the desired result was achieved. There have been several other instances in other aircraft when I wished I had the same ability to reach out and touch some moron doing something silly on the ground......
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