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 Steve Fossett Missing In Nevada! |
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 Sep 4 2007, 02:00 PM
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Newbie
Group: Members
Posts: 2
Joined: 30-August 07
Member No.: 6,963
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QUOTE(acronut25 @ Sep 4 2007, 01:55 PM)  Shouldn't we all wait to assign the idiocy label until we have the facts? He hasn't even been found yet, let's have some respect. Seems one thing I've learned during this tragic flying season is that the first news reports are hardly ever correct in their details. Well said. Let's hope for the best. Ed
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Sep 4 2007, 03:05 PM
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Member
Group: Members
Posts: 12
Joined: 7-March 07
Member No.: 639
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QUOTE(Outward @ Sep 4 2007, 11:35 AM) The idiocy of this whole thing and what bothers me is, he didn't bother to file a flight plan. You appear to be laboring under a common misconception about flight plans. The purpose of filing a flight plan is to generate an appropriate search-and-rescue response in the event the aircraft goes missing. Leaving that job to a faceless Lockheed-Martin employee is one way to (hopefully) accomplish this, but the same goal can be accomplished far more reliably via other methods. If one of those other methods is used, press reports will still contain the obligatory "no flight plan was filed" line, but it really doesn't mean much. Personally, I notify friends and family members of my departure time, intended route, etc. In the event something goes drastically wrong, they'll not only miss me sooner, they'll be much more aggressive in mounting the search effort than the bureaucracy would be. I started using this method exclusively after I once failed to close a flight plan while inbound to a remote Arizona airstrip. When I remembered and called FSS several hours later, I found that search-and-rescue efforts had never been inititated. I've seen no information yet to indicate that the present search-and-rescue effort was not initiated in a timely fashion, so it's a little early to conclude that the lack of a filed flight plan has any relevance whatsoever.
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Sep 4 2007, 03:28 PM
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Advanced Member
Group: Members
Posts: 239
Joined: 23-April 07
From: LaGrange, Georgia
Member No.: 1,545
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QUOTE(acronut25 @ Sep 4 2007, 02:55 PM) Shouldn't we all wait to assign the idiocy label until we have the facts? He hasn't even been found yet, let's have some respect. Seems one thing I've learned during this tragic flying season is that the first news reports are hardly ever correct in their details. QUOTE(Denny Cunningham @ Sep 4 2007, 04:05 PM) You appear to be laboring under a common misconception about flight plans. The purpose of filing a flight plan is to generate an appropriate search-and-rescue response in the event the aircraft goes missing. Leaving that job to a faceless Lockheed-Martin employee is one way to (hopefully) accomplish this, but the same goal can be accomplished far more reliably via other methods. If one of those other methods is used, press reports will still contain the obligatory "no flight plan was filed" line, but it really doesn't mean much.
Personally, I notify friends and family members of my departure time, intended route, etc. In the event something goes drastically wrong, they'll not only miss me sooner, they'll be much more aggressive in mounting the search effort than the bureaucracy would be. I started using this method exclusively after I once failed to close a flight plan while inbound to a remote Arizona airstrip. When I remembered and called FSS several hours later, I found that search-and-rescue efforts had never been inititated.
I've seen no information yet to indicate that the present search-and-rescue effort was not initiated in a timely fashion, so it's a little early to conclude that the lack of a filed flight plan has any relevance whatsoever. Both good points, and I was most likely a little hasty in my choice of words. I made the post in a 'knee-jerk' reaction after reading the news story. It is true that media has a deserved reputation of getting facts wrong sometimes and that could be the case in this incident. I've just seen too many things happen on the ground and in the air, and I get bothered sometimes when something happens that shouldn't or it's more difficult than it should be, especially when it involves loss of life. While not filling a flight plan does appear to leave someone's possible location or destinatin unknown, there are other methods as pointed out. And as for "I once failed to close a flight plan while inbound to a remote Arizona airstrip. When I remembered and called FSS several hours later, I found that search-and-rescue efforts had never been inititated.", that is a little irritating in itself. Someone dropped the ball on that one. I am in the CAP myself and I know that when the call goes out, ground teams assemble in a relatively short amount of time, ready to do a grid by grid search. So, I guess I feel someone ought to know in some kind of way when a plane is headed somewhere just in case. Hopefully, things will turn out okay, and I really hope they do. One thing about this site, a few words improperly or hastily spoken will generate attention and correction. But, that's one of the positive things about this site.
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Jimmy Robinson
Always looking for the next shot
Chief Photographer
Outwardbound Photography
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