Originally Posted by wombat13
Is there an argument for a student flying solo to demand a little more clearance from ATC in the event of radio failure???
Hence the reference to the practice in Volume One, The Air Pilots Manual - Flying Training.
Really what I am asking is what has posessed them to put it in there. I don't think that just because I have never heard of it (nor anyone else who has responded), it is totally without foundation.
I've never come across either whilst flying or from an ATC point of view, and still maintain it's a) not necessary and; b) a pointless exercise which would, if anything, confuse the person on the ground who actually sees the squawk. Something to remember:
If the radio stops working - the aircraft isn't going to stop flying!
R/T failure is not an emergency - it's just an annoyance that has to be overcome. In the student scenario that student isn't going to be IFR/IMC. There should be nothing to preclude them from returning to their own airfield. If it's in Class 'D' then they're instructors should have briefed them on the based A/C non-R/T procedures (they do exist) before they let them out of the zone. If the airfield is in Class 'G', whether ATC or A/G, then likewise they should have been briefed beforehand - if they haven't they're not being taught properly - which is a bigger problem.
Losing a radio, in the majority of PPL circumstances, just means going back to basics.