My strong suggestion about making a MAYDAY call on area frequency was in response to Draggertail's post about the frequency management practices of the PPLs and RAAus pilots who fly into 'private' strips in Australia
It had nothing to do with international adventures to Outer Mongolia or beyond.
Of course you've a good chance of contacting someone on 121.5. I learnt last year's Melbourne Cup results on 121.5, while over the Simpson Desert. But the person who broadcast that result couldn't have arranged assistance for me any quicker than Centre or the aircraft I could hear communicating with Centre on the area frequency. And as I said, a 406 GPS ELT or PLB will make noise on 121.5 and provide accurate position information to professional responders, very quickly.
But, as usual, that's not the point.
When it comes to arguing for the banning of 'ordinary' broadcasts from VFR aircraft on area frequency, the number of those broadcasts will put at risk communications between air traffic control and aircraft under air traffic control.
(In the bizzarro world of aviation in Australia, nobody seems to be interested in facts, like how many movements there actually are, each day, of VHF carrying aircraft to and from strips that are not marked on aeronautical charts, or how often ATC instructions are over-transmitted without anyone knowing. Nup: Just assert that there are thousands of these places and 500 lives are at risk in a 30,000' death plunge, and let the cognitive bias of the punters do the rest. And you d*ckheads wonder why CASA gets away with imposing ever-increasing amounts of regulation on aviation.)
When it comes to arguing that it's OK for VFR aircraft to make requests to ATC for RIS or flight following, the number of those requests won't put at risk communications between air traffic control and aircraft under air traffic control. (At least in this case there are facts to show whether or not that's true.)
When it comes to arguing against using area frequency for MAYDAY calls, the risk is that Centre may not hear them at all. (Perhaps the person in distress could disguise the call as an ordinary taxi call, to increase the probabilities of being heard?) We could be in Outer Mongolia.
The point is that you change the circumstantial assumptions when the implications become inconvenient for your lost cause.
Last edited by Creampuff; 1st Nov 2014 at 11:57.