Grounded for not talking

[455 Bravo Uniform]

One of my students was on a cross country when his radio failed just before departure from a towered airport. I gave him the tower phone number, but when he called for take off clearance, it was denied. The tower operator said the cell phone was not legal for maintaining two-way radio communication inside the Class D.

We had to use another airplane to get him home.

Is it possible the controller was wrong, or just unwilling or unable to accommodate?

Someone NORDO called a tower in a Class D (with a 20 mile TSRA) with a mobile phone. They were asked if they would accept light gun signals from ATC. They taxied and took off accordingly. CFI onboard.

So somebody was wrong or did something wrong, or it was allowed however discretionary.

 

[MBDiagMan]

I haven’t read the whole thread, so this may have already been mentioned:

There is an inline PTT switch that you can buy from your favorite pilot supply. You simply plug it in when you plug in your headset. The button then velcros in place in a handy location. The PTT switch simply connects two conductors of one of the phone Jack wires. The in-line switch connects those same conductors to key the mic. The in-line switch is cheap and wouldn’t take up much space in your flight bag. For a rental or club plane pilot, I think it would be an excellent item to have on hand. It would have enabled your flight that day.

I learned ages ago that ANY vehicle that is operated by multiple persons, only very rarely does one of those people take responsibility to properly maintain it. That switch should have been discovered, and may very well have been, before you tried to use it. If so, the person that knew about the problem didn’t bother to notify anyone. This is typical multi operator behavior.

 

[Plano Pilot]

I learned ages ago that ANY vehicle that is operated by multiple persons, only very rarely does one of those people take responsibility to properly maintain it. That switch should have been discovered, and may very well have been, before you tried to use it. If so, the person that knew about the problem didn’t bother to notify anyone. This is typical multi operator behavior.

Or the pilot reported it, and nothing was done. Back in the 80's I instructed at a community college club, I once grounded a C152 because it would not make power and when I pulled the engine through it had one dead cylinder. Next day I noticed it was back active. I asked the club mechanic about it, and no one told him. We go out and he pulls the engine through and sure enough it has one dead cylinder. Mechanic was NOT HAPPY! Come to find out the owner of the C152 told the scheduler that there was nothing wrong and to put it back on flight statis. Plane left the club very shortly after.