I should like to point out that it's not the act of not doing a practise PAN that I'm against (although as pointed out it's always useful to try something before you have to use it in anger) it's the notion that the 2 posters in question seem to suggest that they've never had it even explained to them. I should also point out as an ex D&D controller who has spoken on the phone (post-incident)both to students who'd done practises with us before using us for real and to students who'd only be talked through it on the ground, the evidence seems to suggest that to practise first with an instructor is best practise. A number of the people who call do so as a last resort, some have been in tears and have got to the stage where they even need to be talked through how to fly the ac. There are a number of tales that would require a mighty large sandbag to be pulled up, but suffice to say that practise makes perfect.
And LH2 sorry, but D&D was originally given DF on VHF by the CAA as a means of reducing CAS infringements - the idea being that GA would have someone to turn to to help them out. This is also the reason why Farnborough have introduced London LARS - to ensure that a LARS is available around the TMA to try to reduce CAS infringements. You'd be surprised the number of times that GA and CAT mix
