From the tone of the post, I'd guess he was going NORDO because he didn't give a rat's ***, and one of the other pilots presumed something was broken and told him about it.
No, a radio is not required by regulation. Neither is looking both ways when you cross the street.
From the tone of
your post, I'd guess you equate NORDO with not giving a rat's ***. It's unfair, and I can prove it...
Would you feel safe crossing the street using only a radio? It might be useful to have radio comms with motorists passing by, but I'd bet you would not step off the curb until you make visual contact.
Dealing with airport traffic is a lot more complicated than crossing the street, so a heads-up from unseen traffic is a lot more useful in that situation, but it still comes down to looking, in directions relevant to your position and intended path. And of course, if the radio work is inaccurate or nonsensical, comms become a liability, not an asset.
There's a reason the FAA allows NORDOs- they know that a radio is
secondary in maintaining separation under VFR. Nice to have one (assuming it's being used properly), but not even half as useful as looking around, and thinking about what you see (or don't see).
Not accusing the OP of anything, but I see and hear a lot of radio-dependent pattern flying and just plain crappy radio work, and it worries me, so I like to bring it up from time to time. I have had three of what I would call actual close calls (as in "oh sh*t!") in my years of flying, and each time it was in the pattern or on the ground at
tower-controlled airports. That's part 2 of my little mantra: even with controller oversight, under VFR your scan is what really counts, in the end.
Meanwhile, I have flown NORDO and with NORDOs many times without mishap, and not due to dumb luck... everybody was looking, and thinking.
I will use a radio when I have one, in the usual way, but I keep all transmissions short and sweet, speak up when I should (even if it's not at the "normal" time or place), keep quiet when I should (even if it means not calling a pattern leg) and definitely verify everything I hear visually, whenever possible. I stopped asking "anyone base or final?" prior to taking the active, and "ATITAPA" when approaching the pattern, a long time ago. The reason is that dependence on such transmissions eventually led me to some unpleasant surprises. Say them if you must, but looking is good enough, and more reliable.
