Air to air on a closed frequency
The other week I was flying across a miliray aerodrome. They were closed, and I had already asertained that they would be from my previous radio unit. I still made a single radio call in an attempt to raise them - "Cottesmore Radar, good afternoon this is G-XXXX". No reply, as expected.
Now I was left with the interesting problem of who to talk to. There was no other active airport nearby that was awfully bothered about me hanging around over Rutland Water. So I stayed on the Cottesmore frequency.
After a couple of minutes "Cottesmore Radar, this is G-ABCD". Then 20 sec later "Cottesmore Radar, this is G-ABCD". Followed 30 sec later by "Cottesmore Radar, this is G-ABCD". So I decided to talk to him "G-ABCD, this is G-XXXX, I believe Cottesmore Radar is closed. I am a C172, overhead rutland water at 5000ft on Q1020, please advice your position" and sure enough I got back "G-ABCD is a <something>, 2 miles south of Rutland Water at 3000ft on Q1020". That was all.
Then another aircraft called up "Cottesmore Radar, this is G-DCBA" so I didn't let him call three times, I called him straight back with the same message as G-ABCD had got from me. He came back with a shaky 'rodger' and I guessed he was a student as he came back a minute or so later with a standard CAP413 position call, with all the err's and umm's in it.
It was all quite splendid, we were all aware of each others position so safety was increased. As I left the frequency I just called 'All stations, G-XXXX changing to Leicester ... "
So this got me thinking - did I break any rules working the frequency? Would you do the same? Would the transmissions have been recorded at Cottesmore? Should I go and hide in a cave now?
I guess the biggest risk would have been 'what if the donkey stops' then I'd have to messed around re-tuning another frequency for the mayday. I did have 121.5 on the standby of the second radio, so this would have taken only a few seconds. In hindsight, had I have also been at 3000ft, my course may have converged with G-ABCD, increasing chances of a mid-air.