Firstly sorry that my original post about radio has led this sad event down the incorrect path...that's not what I intended and I am sorry if the comments on here have upset any family and friends of the people we have lost......as a voice of "Scottish Information" I respect every person that aviates around Scotland so your loss is indeed felt as hard by myself also.
GASAX
I don't know what the plan was that these guys had. But there is no way they could raise Scottish unless they were at at least 5000ft in that area. Anything less and it is pretty spotty. And that is the case all the way until you get pretty near the coast on the other side. There are areas where it works at something around the height of the tops plus 1000 and there are areas it doesn't.
GASAX....You often make some very negative and false claims on this forum about Scottish Info....having been doing the job for the past 16 years I know every place that I will expect to lose contact with aircraft I am talking to....coverage is pretty good above 3000ft in most place's but bear in mind VHF is indeed line of sight so yes we can not expect total coverage from my 3 aerial site's that I am able to use.
MADJOCK....many thanks for your kind comments,
always appreciate comments coming from a Commercial pilot that has a huge amount of experience flying both singles and twins around the inhospitable terrain of Scotland.
As for D&D...firstly coverage on 121.5 is not too great over Scotland below 5000ft....DF bearings can be obtained by various means...sometimes this may entail phoning certain airfield or Coastguard units to gather the info.....that said by the end of 2012 the Scottish D&D cell will be moving south to Swanwick so will have all the nice gear they have down there.
Once again I am sorry if this thread has started to drift from the original post but to be honest for me it has been interesting to hear the comments aired so far.