Complaint on AVCOM re Microlight Radio Use

[DieselFan]

I love the Gorilla status btw :D :D :D :D :D

Don't know which is better your silver back and big nostrils or my blue ass - Where's ol Gert with a monkey in a trike pic .

[Chaz]

Heya Folks !!

May put my foot in it again but here goes anyway How often do blik and microlights have there instrumentation checked. How many blik or microlighters check Q & H before lift off. How many blik or microlighters know the difference between a Nautical mile and a Kilometer and lastly once Airborne how many microlighters orientate themselves to wether they are EAST SOUTH WEST OR NORTH when giving readings. Reason for all these questions is that IT EVENTUALLY ties in with your radio procedures. E.G. This is CNE currently at a height of 6500 ft 3 Nautical miles East of Springs Airfield in the GF area.

Now paint the scenario and please im not targeting microlighters here as im one myself but lifting off with the incorrect Q&H setting is going to result in the incorrect altitude First Mistake. Those without GPS and who rely on those shitty compasses once out of the GF are going to be slightly if not alltogther off course (Sure maps are available too) Ive heard people giving there call sign and saying flying in a Easterly direction because they are East of the Airfield and flying towards it. Simply although East of the Airfield they are flying in a Westerly direction.

I know we are not dealing with pin point accuracy here but i do believe all of the aforemetioned should maybe be addressed more seriously and could eliminate a lot of frustration and accusations especially strong worded ones of following and F#%*ing people up. JINNE.

Maybe the "OU Manne" can help the "rookies" with orientation once airborne. A Nautical mile for those who dont know is 1.2miles.

Your's in Flying
CHAZ :D :D :D

[Oddball]

I posted this on AVCOM:

"Very glad to see that many 'conventional' pilots speak up in favour of us Microlighters. I fly both PPL and MPL types and agree with the general trend stated here; the culprits will most likely have been monkeys whether they flew PPL, MPL or HPL types- its the person type rather than the aircraft type.

Coming from a PPL background I have noticed that small slow aircraft pilots tend not to talk very often; perhaps because they tend to fly 'about the patch' or because they do not cover much ground... "Aircraft X at position Y" ... 5 mins later.... "aircraft X at position Y+1km". I think that the latter is big part of the reason and this is something that we as microlighters need to highlight in our community (radio calls should be timed every few minutes rather than be triggered by a new position, which may take many more minutes). As has been pointed out closing speeds of faster aircraft can put the microlighter (and the other aircraft) in dangerous proximity in that silence between calls - which is why (as has also been mentioned) microlight trikes like to fly as low as possible in an effort to be below the fast traffic.

Coming back to my original point though; PPL types also do not talk every 2 minutes to report and they cover ground a lot quicker.

I think that the point is that, in high traffic areas, you simply have to be very awake- unless you have real time constant positioning and tracking systems on all aircraft this will always be a problem."

I think that it is true that slow aircraft need to provide position reports triggered by time lapse rather than by landmark; I try to do this and it has saved me once or twice. As for those guys, of whatever make, that "will listen for others" ....

Oddball