I will leave the Russian Roulette debate now as it has been done to death, other than to say that based on your principles there would be no SE flight, other than a few trivial routes.
In the year 2011, all you really need is the latest generation iPhone or iPad. For 400 currency units, it gives you sufficient attitude information (via solid state gyros),
I don't think these are self erecting i.e. if you fly in a 30 degree coordinated turn for a bit, the "gyro" will indicate a level roll attitude.
That is the fundamental issue which all solid state gyros have; one has to introduce GPS or airdata, to "fix them up" when straight and level flight is indicated externally.
What app do you use? We have both types of Church of Jobs media players / pigeon english messengers (an Iphone4 and an Ipad2) kicking around the house.
The Garmin 496 "instrument panel" with its fake gyros actually works properly and does so in a long term sense - so long as you avoid getting into a serious unusual attitude. It works by crunching the GPS trajectory data.
you can call almost every air traffic controller by phone, just make sure that you have the relevant numbers stored in your phone).
Here in the UK, there is rarely any GSM connectivity above 1000-2000ft. I do have a satellite phone though
They are £300 on Ebay now... but the controllers are not on the phone (on public numbers). Only their assistants are. It ought to work in an emergency, but a handheld radio is a whole lot easier. There is no way to hear a mobile phone in a typical piston cockpit. I guess one could construct a headset adapter for an Iphone, or use a bluetooth connection with the Bose A20 or Zulu headsets.
And the battery lasts longer than the fuel in your tank.
Not in my TB20, if the Ipad is on max brightness, which it needs to be to be anywhere near bright daylight readable. About 5hrs. I am getting a power unit sorted though.