Sat Phones

[407 Driver]

YA Buster, what kind of a cheap operator DO YOU work for?

 

we have Sat phones, DVD players, Laptops, Microwaves, portable tanning beds, VCR's, a plasma TV in the rear of the 212, miniBar, BBQ, ....

 

Doesn't your company install all of this in your 206?

[heliho]

Don't forget the hottub back at base with the fully stocked bar and of course the annual company golf membership!

[Batfink]

Mags

 

One of the last things that I would be leaving behind is that Sat phone. Saved my *** in a really bad spot one day WAAAAY up North.

[407 too]

there are two systems that i am aware of, global star and iridium, we use a globalstar portable, so i can't comment on the iridium units (they may be the same)

 

ours is maintained in the OFF position until needed, the battery in this condition will last weeks without being recharged, and will provide numerous calls (unless you are talking to your other, of course )

 

you can still cut your call short by using the cell phone excuses " i'm loosing you, i'm going under the bridge" :shock: :up: :up:

[407 too]

Mag, quite true, the only foolproof system i know of is gravity, anytime humans get involved things are not foolproof :hide:

[407 too]

also Mag, as far as size is concerned, thay are a lot smaller than the old james bond style suitcase with built-in dish

[Buster Burns]

Quite right boys, it dosen't seem like too much of a financial burden to buy some sat phones. As for the company I work for, never you mind, it dosen't matter. The pelican cases I've seen my customers using for both Iridium and Global Star are 8" by 4" so space is not an issue unless you're in a R22. Like some of the others have said, the batteries will last quite a long time if you only turn it on when needed. Yes, there are alot of guys who could screw up a free lunch, but that cannot be helped. It seems like most companies out there think sat phones are an asset for their crews to have and that is good to hear. Hopefully this will help to make some changes with the companies that don't.

[cap]

Maggie ----Sat phones are very small now and come in sizes about twice the size of a cell phone. I first was supplied one by Manitoba Conservation in '97 during the big flood. I was told at that time, that if I dropped it out of the a/c, that I was to jump out after it because the cost was $5000. If you now do a good search you cn find them for a little under $1000 and I strongly suspect that outfits like Great Slave order so many at once that they get them cheaper than that even. I'm waiting until they hit $500-$600 and then my cell phone is history.

 

As far as the new "toys" designed to make life easier that you folks are talking about, I'm like Blackmac........the more the merrier. I have a caveat on that though. They are not "the be all and end all" in some cases and can prove to be used improperly, IN MY OPINION.

 

I landed in the Arctic Islands in '98 to replace a pilot on one of the Islands. He had dropped off scientists on another large island a long distance away that morning. He took me to an office to show me the large wall map of the island and we were accompanied by our Company's Aviation Safety Officer who had rode north with me. The pilot advised that the positions of the personnel he put out were all programmed into the GPS. I acknowledged that and asked him to show me the various locations he had dropped them at on the wall map. He laughed and said again that it was all programmed into the GPS. I insisted and again asked him to show me exactly where they were on the map.........AND he didn't have a clue. I asked him where he stored his 4:1's and 8:1's and he said they were in the back of the a/c someplace, but he wasn't sure exactly where because he'd never used them yet, even to get up to the Islands......GPS all the way. I looked at the Safety Officer and he rolled his eyes and when we went outside he said sarcastically, "Welcome to the new-age way of navigation Cap". I've seen that same thing occur since then and that may be the "new-age" way of doing things, but my map and finger are not run by batteries or electricity and seldom go "U/S" like GPS have been known to do. So I operate in that enviroment with maps, the "Navigating By The Sun's True Bearing" book, ADF if I have one AND the GPS. I also took note, that while up there that summer, I had to go in search of two other a/c whose pilots had their GPS's "go south" on them and got their ***** lost and/or ran out of fuel looking for the way home. There's an old axiom in aviation "if you don't keep using it, then you're going to loose it", so there are some skills that I refuse to delegate totally to a GPS even 40 miles outside Calgary.

[Blackmac]

Cap, I agree totally with your comments except for the fact of picking on the toys that people can use.

 

All the gizmoe's in aircraft are wonderfull and should be used to there fullest extent to make life more comfortable.

 

JUST REMEMBER, SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.

 

It doesn't matter how many gizmo's you have, you better know how to use them and if they are subject to failure, you better know how to get your *** out of trouble or you are a statistic.

 

IMHO, bin there.

[NG Limited]

####,

There is a company (can't remember the name at the moment) that has STC's for various aircraft to mount the Globalstar satphone on the instrument panel. I am quite sure you can use the satphone while it is mounted in the aircraft as well as out.

I remember one RCMP pilot out here that was quite happy to have the hard wired satphone in their Astar. Until I asked "But what if the aircraft is on fire?"

I guess it would have to be a quick call!

 

Cheers!