Really lost...now what.

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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Everything Offends Me
Imagine, if you will, that you have no GPS, but any sectional you want on board. You also have ADF and VOR.

You fall asleep, and a few hours later awake to find you have no idea where you are. It's night time and your altimeter reads 10,000ft, but you're not sure how accurate it is since it has been so long since you got an altimeter setting.

How do you find yourself?
 
Tune a VOR? Shotgun the sectional until you receive one and then look at radial and DME.

121.5 and see what center answers? Get a squawk code and let them tell you where you are.

Look for city lights and head that way. Then look for a beacon and land. Ask FBO where you are.
 
I'll be dead. While I have 7 hours of fuel in the plane, I have to burn them a tank at a time for balancing and fuel drain. After a "few hours" that tank will be long past empty, and I'll be burned to a crisp.
 
Just use your phone. Jeez it ain't like it was 20 years ago when flying was hard.:lol:
 
Captain said:
Tune a VOR? Shotgun the sectional until you receive one and then look at radial and DME.

121.5 and see what center answers? Get a squawk code and let them tell you where you are.

Look for city lights and head that way. Then look for a beacon and land. Ask FBO where you are.
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Agreed. Plus if your autopilot has kept you on a constant heading, you can dead reckon your position enough to narrow down which VORs to check first. Or if you don't have an autopilot to maintain heading, you've probably been doing a random walk and staying closer to your initial position, except for wind drift.

Also, listen for AM radio stations on your ADF. Or if you have cell phone reception, call 911. If you have a data connection, see if there are any news reports of a drifting plane busting someone's airspace.
 
Drop down low and read the names on the water towers....:redface:
 
N801BH said:
Drop down low and read the names on the water towers....:redface:
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It'll be:
"JESUS SAVES"
or
"SENIORS 2016"

(With due regard to Fletcher Anderson, I think)
 
wrbix said:
.....I guess so.....and he wrote the book?
Kayaking in an airplane ends badly.
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Bad part is it was a CAP plane..... so the taxpayers lost $140,000 since the estate did NOT pay for the loss during his stupidity moment...:mad2::mad2::mad2:..
 
Let's use Nick's 'problem', I've fallen asleep for a few hours, call it 3-4. So I could be in a 1,130,973 sq mile area. (150kts at 4 hours = 600nm radius) Which VOR or ADF am I tuning into? Shouldn't take me too long to go through the 200 VOR frequencies to try and get a match.

The only 'real' answer is call 121.5 and ask where you are. Of course, that's assuming that you are within reach of someone on 121.5 If the flight started on the east or west coast and you went east of west respectively, you might not be heard. Same goes for the middle of nowhere Canada, or Mexico, or...

Which VOR's are you tuning into again?
 
N801BH said:
Drop down low and read the names on the water towers....:redface:
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Hey it happens! I was a brand new PP flying from NJ to Alabama. Over north Georgia I got off course and couldn't find the airport I'd plan to refuel at. Flew down on a small town and nothing on the water tower! Crap! Had a wife and 6 month old onboard so I wasted no time calling on 121.5, someone answered, told them general area I was in. Told me to fly to Toccoa VOR (Foothills now) and I'd see Toccoa airport. Thanked them when I saw the airport, landed, and refueled. Whew! :D
 
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I'd probably just find the nearest rural airport and land NORDO, assuming I didn't have a cell phone to google-map myself, lol. I'm sure you could use some ded-reckoning to identify where you might be based off of last known checkpoint and heading/speed, but I think that would barely get you close enough to try and pick out a VOR frequency that would be within range. I've never used ADF, so I'll count that as a non-option.
 
FlySince9 said:
LOL... I like this one! :D
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My first student got lost on the return leg flying from Greenville MS to Golden Triangle airport MS, after flying the reverse course with no problems. He saw an airport and had enough sense to land. One hangar, nothing else, and nobody around. Fortunately there was a phone booth (remember those?), so he calls the operator and asked her where he was! He was in Canton MS, way off course. He hadn't reset his DG every so often and kept flying the same heading. Finally he calls home airport to the relief of his CFI (me) and I said we were on the way as it would be getting dark soon.

What was bad was we both were controllers at Columbus AFB and he caught hell for awhile from the other controllers for getting lost. At least he had common sense to land when he saw an airport, so he did good in my book and learned a good lesson about resetting the DG.
 
Surely you'd have enough idea of general location to tune center frequencies and ask for a location via radar. Squawk - ident - done.
 
If you're out around someplace like Crownpoint, first look towards the sun and get an idea which way you are headed. Then use your familiarity of the general area to point your nose at the direction that should probably be closest to some form of civilization --- then land at (whatever comes first):
--- the first airport (and hope that a sign or FBO exists to provide information)
--- the first road or path near to some sign of civilization, including lone TeePees or Wigwams. And hope you aren't already on fumes
 
I did my solo XC from Napa to Fresno and back. It was hard to get very lost, you could see Mount Diablo the whole way.

But I get it, in the Midwest everything looks the same in some areas.
 
oldShar said:
If you're out around someplace like Crownpoint, first look towards the sun and get an idea which way you are headed. Then use your familiarity of the general area to point your nose at the direction that should probably be closest to some form of civilization --- then land at (whatever comes first):
--- the first airport (and hope that a sign or FBO exists to provide information)
--- the first road or path near to some sign of civilization, including lone TeePees or Wigwams. And hope you aren't already on fumes
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Have you seen any of the arrows on the ground that used to be part of the lighted airway system between Gallup and Albuquerque? There is one old arrow about a mile off the approach end of 24 at Gallup, just about 100 -200 feet south of the interstate. It is very hard to see, but once you find it then it really stands out.
 
Someone on here used to have a sig that said something like "Would the unidentified airport under the circling 152, please identify yourself".
 
SkyHog said:
Imagine, if you will, that you have no GPS, but any sectional you want on board. You also have ADF and VOR.

You fall asleep, and a few hours later awake to find you have no idea where you are. It's night time and your altimeter reads 10,000ft, but you're not sure how accurate it is since it has been so long since you got an altimeter setting.

How do you find yourself?
Click to expand...

121.5 seriously.. this is what I'd be doing. That should get you to at least figure out sectional at you should be looking. After that, VOR.
 
Get lost that bad in most of Canada and you'd never be seen again. Lots of airplanes out there we've never found.
 
Be sure to use a "buddy's" N number to remain anomymous when calling 121.5:lol:

If you weren't too massively off course, and knew the ATC sector frequency, you could ask for flight following and play REAL close attention to where they identify you without anyone being the wiser.:rofl:
 
Interesting ideas. I have another idea: tune in 122.8 and see what airports people are calling. If you don't hear anything, tune in 121.9, since that is a very common ground frequency, and see what people say, if anything.

Getting "unlost" does not sound fun.
 
Fly until you see a Best Buy, land there, buy an tablet, load it up with your flying program of choice, dont forget to download all the charts, then take off and presto, you are now not lost.
 
SkyHog said:
Imagine, if you will, that you have no GPS, but any sectional you want on board. You also have ADF and VOR.

You fall asleep, and a few hours later awake to find you have no idea where you are. It's night time and your altimeter reads 10,000ft, but you're not sure how accurate it is since it has been so long since you got an altimeter setting.

How do you find yourself?
Click to expand...

Deep introspection.
 
In my case, getting lost like that would be a flowchart process.

1. Are you over land?

Y. Whew.

N. Go to 2.

2. Can you see land?

Y. Whew. Go there.

N. Go to 3.

3. Is your magnetic compass working?

Y. Whew. Fly East.

N. Go to 4.

4. Can you see birds?

Y. Whew, follow them.

N. Go to 5.

5. Do you know what time of day it is?

Y. Whew. Assuming it's afternoon, if you're facing the sun, turn around. Otherwise, keep going.

N. Hope you figure it out before you run out of fuel.
 
Try 121.8, 121.9, 121.7 and see if any of them turn on airport lights with 5 clicks. If lights come on fly to it and land.

Ask for assistance on 121.5. Tell whoever answers you dont know where you are but you must be fairly near them and could they give you the freq for center. Center should be able to find you by giving you a squawk code.

Or just fly until morning if you have the fuel and land at an airport that looks right for the situation (not very big, but big enough to have fuel).
 
Check the magnetic compass and fly due north. When the compass spins around, you are in the middle of nowhere Canada, and out of fuel, but at least you know where you are.
 
Cirrus-pull chute. Defend your actions to POA crowd on smart phone while drifting down. Debate ethics of logging glider time while under chute.

All others-tune VORs, look for city lights, compare time from where you last knew where you were, etc.
 
coloradobluesky said:
Try 121.8, 121.9, 121.7 and see if any of them turn on airport lights with 5 clicks. If lights come on fly to it and land.

Ask for assistance on 121.5. Tell whoever answers you dont know where you are but you must be fairly near them and could they give you the freq for center. Center should be able to find you by giving you a squawk code.

Or just fly until morning if you have the fuel and land at an airport that looks right for the situation (not very big, but big enough to have fuel).
Click to expand...

I think you mean 122.8, etc.

121.8 is a ground frequency.
 
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