LH2
Practise pans cover a multitude of sins.
It is a great eye opener for a student to talk to 121.5 and discover how helpful and resourceful they are. Everyone I seen did it really enjoyed it and said that if in trouble, they would contact them ASAP. Some people I have talked to thought they would get into some kind of trouble if they did. Its all just an educational issue.
I wonder how many pilots would have not got into trouble if they did use 121.5 or used it a bit earlier. Thats from personal experience, as I used them when I had about 70 hours and got lost. Ended up over USAF base upper heyford. it was active back then!!!
There is a part of the PPL called 'lost procedure'. When pilots stop getting lost/infringing controlled airspace and worse then we probably will not need to teach it.
No-one is being self righteous. I and am sure others know how worrying it can be for someone to find themselves in trouble. And when dealing with that trouble you can make mistakes as the workload increases. That can be the terrible first link in a chain that can lead to a more serious situation.
At the teaching stage a student should experience everything possible at their disposal to help in an unforseen situation.
Thats not being righteous, its just caring about their welfare.
I advise you to read the CAA's on track document. Also the CAA Occurance/incident data reports and the odd gasil and aaib report.
I am surprised you don't teach it. It takes a couple of minutes and gives a great insight fot the student.
Last edited by jamestkirk; 24th August 2008 at 16:05.