Over the summer, I happened to be on Oahu the weekend they held their annual Makapu’u Air Games fly-in.  This year it was being held at Kahana Bay.  While I was in the launch queue a tandem pilot was getting ready while another pilot was going through his gear off to the very narrow side.  The tandem pilot brought his wing up and away he went with what looked to be a snag in his lines.

Makapu'u Aire Games, photo by Rich Leggett

That was the second radio incident of the day; the first came after hiking up to launch (most of the sites in Hawaii require a hike up).  After getting most of my gear out of my harness I discovered that my radio antenna had somehow fallen out of my bag in transit.  (Note to self: don’t remove antenna from radio when traveling.)

It was a new site to me and I did not want to fly with out being in radio contact with local pilots so I chose to hike back down in hopes of being able to borrow an antenna.  As it turned out, another pilot’s bad luck was my good luck.  Several pilots had gone XC earlier.  One misjudged his landing and wound up fully – with two radios, a GPS, and a cell phone - dunked in some brackish water.  I went off to retrieve them and was able to borrow an antenna from one of the submerged radios.

A couple of weeks ago I was on top of Ed Levin helping a pilot get one of his observed flights.  I had also gone up with my friend Stephen and a couple of other pilots who needed to be sponsored or observed.  Everyone got away nicely except the last observed pilot and me.  There were a couple of blown launches – the last of which took the observed pilot a little ways down the hill (without injury).  From below it probably looked like trouble.

Normally this situation is not a problem because I would get on the radio and let folks in the LZ know that everything was cool and we were going back up to launch.  The problem was that I had my radio but no antenna since I had not replaced the one lost on my trip to Hawaii.  And my observee did not have a radio.  What ensued was an unnecessarily hurried trip up to make sure we were OK – something that would have been easily avoidable if only we have a way to communicate with the folks in the LZ.

There are many more stories that could be told but this last situation brings home the point I want to make: always carry a working radio.  Probably more pilots than not fly without radios on the coast.  More and more are flying without radios at Ed Levin.

Most of the time you can get away with it.  Although we do not always think of them as such, radios are safety devices that we should always carry – just like our reserve – whether we think we need it or not.  You never know when you are going to need to communicate with a downed pilot, let someone else know you are all right after an incident, or call for a retrieve.

I was taught to always fly with my radio by my instructor (Wally) and many other pilots more experienced than me who have been kind enough to mentor me over the years.  Checking it has become part of my pre-flight routine.  I have never actually needed my radio until I got caught without it.  Whether I have it on or choose to leave it off I will never again fly without my radio.

“I can’t live without my radio.”  - LL Cool J

“I won't fly without my radio.” - Rich Leggett