Should Radios Be Required At Non-Towered Airports?

Should Radio calls be required at uncontrolled airports?

  • Yes - Via Regulation

  • Its a great idea, Yes but we do not need more regulations

  • No Radios for me

Results are only viewable after voting.
So, tack on more requirements?

Who is going to be the radio compliance hall monitor? Can I fly if I have a radio but don’t use it? Or am I in trouble if I have one, but on the wrong frequency?
 
bflynn said:
So, tack on more requirements?

Who is going to be the radio compliance hall monitor? Can I fly if I have a radio but don’t use it? Or am I in trouble if I have one, but on the wrong frequency?
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Yes.

Me.

No.

Yes.
 
Cool you’re going to be busy.

I was thinking the govt could hire some people to match a radar picture up with transmissions at each airport and monitor which radar return isn’t transmitting. Of course, that alone does no good because ADSB isn’t required so they can’t actually identify who it is. So let’s build a high platform at each airport, a tower if you will, for them to sit in with binoculars so they can identify the non complying aircraft and fine the owner.

of course, in the name of safety, we could just let those guys also transmit and warn the pilots about other aircraft near them. Just because it’s a pilot controlled airport doesn’t mean it must be chaos.

I mean, come on, it’s for the children.
 
There are so few NORDO aircraft that the benefit of not having a rule, knowing that rules always sweep a broad brush that destroys somebody’s perfectly reasonable activity, outweighs the negligible value added by a rule.

The most prominent benefit of America is that we approach regulation in this way, and for those of us who came from where it isn’t so, we’d just as soon that if you see it otherwise you go where we came from. I’d suggest anywhere in Europe, where you can suffer in over regulated, anal retentive aviation hell with others of your mindset. Start with learning how a mandatory Flugleiter and fire service makes you safe and content.
 
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I ran this past a friend, he said - 'Sounds just like the newbies, wanting to force yet more regulation on us because he'd like nothing better than to never look out the window'.
(I suppose there are harsh judgments possible from both sides, just like every issue that crops up.)
 
Seat belts are mandatory because someone said they had to be. I use them because I agree that they save lives. I don't like mandates but I believe radios should be used. But if they are going to be mandatory then someone needs to set up a training program as I'm getting tired of all the answers I hear when some requests, "traffic in the area please advise!" :eek:
 
Stewartb said:
My planes have radios but I don't use them half the time. Aircraft radios remind me of television news. The illusion of useful information.
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Same here. Oftentimes I'll monitor CTAF when I'm in the vicinity of the airport but probably only transmit 50% of the time or less. I like your description.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I ran this past a friend, he said - 'Sounds just like the newbies, wanting to force yet more regulation on us because he'd like nothing better than to never look out the window'.
(I suppose there are harsh judgments possible from both sides, just like every issue that crops up.)
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"NORDO aircraft are a menace because they distract me from my iPad" :D
 
radios like any other piece of equipment can be useful. in a busy airspace or when coming and going from an airport could possibly turn sour quickly without announcing ones intentions they should be used

as others have said regulations are not the answer, common sense and good airmen ship should used
 
How many people died last year because of nordo aircraft?

how many people died last year because of not having 5 point safety harnesses?

Work the right problem.
 
Required - no. If equipped, then used properly, please. Brief, I mean brief, position calls. Where I fly there are three or four airports in easy range that share CTAF frequencies. On a nice, sunny Saturday, CTAF is a garbled mess of long winded position calls (podunk traffic, cessna 123SP 15.2 miles to the southwest we are going to cross midfield at 3000', fly 1.3 miles to the west, then do a teardrop entry for the left downwind runway 33 podunk), people saying hi to that tail number they met at that fly-in last year ( hey, bob is that you up in 123SP? Haven't seen you in a while since we met at that pancake breakfast at podunk last year... How's the wife and kids?), and primary students making a mess of things (Um.... cessna 123SP is 10 miles to the east.... no west of podunk.... wait... podunk traffic, cessna 123SP is 10... no 9 miles to the east.. yes east inbound for landing... full stop landing.... full stop taxi back landing............................ [mic still keyed].............. oh, podunk)..

Anyway. I have taken to tuning most of it out and using the good ol' method of looking outside and then supplementing by using ADS-B IN to avoid mid-airs these days.
 
To the "just get a handheld, they're cheap" crowd, try using one in an older aircraft that doesn't have a shielded ignition.

If you want to share the sky with only radio equipped airplanes, stick to towered fields.
 
mondtster said:
Same here. Oftentimes I'll monitor CTAF when I'm in the vicinity of the airport but probably only transmit 50% of the time or less. I like your description.
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That doesn’t help someone who is getting ready to takeoff while you are landing. You may well hear “56G departing runway 23” just as you are on short final because neither of you said anything prior to that point. If the departing aircraft omits that departing call because he is also “listening to the CTAF for traffic”, then neither of your radios were useful at all.

Just make the required short calls, it is not that hard to help safety.

I have omitted making a few calls here and there going into a busy pancake fly-in because the frequency was completely overrun, but I had another pilot and we were constantly scanning 360 degrees and calling out traffic left and right to sequence into the pattern. At that time an extra call would have just stepped on other transmissions and confused even more people.
 
Dana said:
To the "just get a handheld, they're cheap" crowd, try using one in an older aircraft that doesn't have a shielded ignition.

If you want to share the sky with only radio equipped airplanes, stick to towered fields.
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I fly from a private grass field with everything from antique Cubs, Stearmans, Chipmunks and Tiger Moths, and evening a replica 1912 aircraft. All have and use handheld radios. There are still times they go NORDO, but everyone uses them successfully on the busy days.

So what aircraft are you implying can’t successfully use a handheld? Granted, you may not get perfect transmission to a Delta 15 miles away, but enough to let someone know you are turning base for runway 09.
 
Stewartb said:
My planes have radios but I don't use them half the time. Aircraft radios remind me of television news. The illusion of useful information.
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If you don’t know how to use them then probably for the best.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
That doesn’t help someone who is getting ready to takeoff while you are landing. You may well hear “56G departing runway 23” just as you are on short final because neither of you said anything prior to that point. If the departing aircraft omits that departing call because he is also “listening to the CTAF for traffic”, then neither of your radios were useful at all.
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you may well have exactly the same thing happen when you’re making proper radio calls.

mandating radios won’t fix the real problem.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
So what aircraft are you implying can’t successfully use a handheld? Granted, you may not get perfect transmission to a Delta 15 miles away, but enough to let someone know you are turning base for runway 09.
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Two I've owned, a 1941 T-Craft, so much ignition noise I couldn't hear anything else, and an experimental where while I could hear, it was often unintelligible. The latter I was able to fix by replacing the entire ignition system, which cost considerably more than the radio, not including labor since I did it myself.

Don't get me wrong, I think a radio is a good idea, I have one and I use it, but requiring one is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I'd bet the vast majority of runway incursions and near misses at uncontrolled airports involve aircraft that do have radios.
 
Keep your eyes out for traffic...be prepared to go around...it's all part of the joy of aviation. If you frequently attend fly-ins , you know the drill.
 
Warmi said:
If you don’t know how to use them then probably for the best.
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If I’m a remote area and have clear visibility for miles and nobody else is out there? I don’t need to yap on the radio. On the other hand, if I’m passing through an area that I know other traffic uses? I’ll make a position report to let others know I’m there.

I know how to use a radio. Better yet, I know WHEN to use a radio.

Did your sarcasm make you feel smart? Epic fail.
 
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