No, I didn’t believe it either, but equally if I was doing an ATC presentation which is supposed to be serious I would not come out with something stupid like that! It just makes one look like one has no clue what one is talking about.
Presumably the military has procedures for this, which would allow for a gradual escalation, and one of the factors would be where you are heading. A 100kt target over Kent, non-radio, heading north, is irrelevant (one of many). A 250kt target, non-radio, would be highly suspicious regardless of the squawk and if it was maneuvering and heading towards London, I would expect it to be shot down (if they can get to it quick enough…) otherwise air defence is completely worthless. In between the two, you will get different procedures…
What would be the rationale for “shooting down” someone with a 7600 squawk, but not someone who was just silent?
Even the UK authorities can’t be that dumb.
Quote In fact, these are all no cases of radio “failure”, but rather loss of communication.
So I stand by my statement that a dual radio failure (unless the entire electrical system failed) is a very improbable event.
I recently experienced a problem with the audio panel not seating properly in the rack connector. All com were out and only pushing on the unit would return it. Two radios is redundancy but can’t the audio panel be a single point of failure?
If you are nervous about this ‘hole’ …
Now that I know it’s normal, and the controllers are aware of it, I’ll be a bit more relaxed about it 
Thanks for that. What’s the minimum alt for continuous radio coverage around there? I liked Cordoba and will be going back.
Not 100% sure. I’ve been up to about 15k in that area and IIRC even on that flight the Valencia controller said she’d probably lose me soon and try to contact Seville in about 20-30 miles. Normally fly a/c w/o O2, so in the 8-10k region. There it’s exactly what you experienced. Does depend a bit on the wx, but by and large there is a stretch of about 20-30 mins (at around 120 – 140kts) where nobody hears you. If you are nervous about this ‘hole’, suggest you obtain the high alt frequencies for the area so you can talk to CAT above you for a relay.
I once tried to contact Albacete, didn’t get a reply. Guess they were closed / off duty (it’s one of these mil fields with limited civ ops hours). There are a few areas around southern Spain where due to terrain you are in and out of radio contact quite a lot. The most annoying is the western VFR approach to Malaga, where LEMG can only hear you once you are almost over the field. One gets used to it….
Other than that, second Cordoba. Nice place and some great restaurants (and of course some amazing architecture)!
Ah well, standard event for the area then. Surprised ATC didn’t mention it to you. I’ve flown that route quite a bit, and 10k simply isn’t high enough there.
Thanks for that. What’s the minimum alt for continuous radio coverage around there? I liked Cordoba and will be going back.
Yes, it was. Valencia didn’t respond on any frequency (I continually cycled through them for the period) until I reached ASTRO, which is about 45nm from Valencia.
Ah well, standard event for the area then. Surprised ATC didn’t mention it to you. I’ve flown that route quite a bit, and 10k simply isn’t high enough there. If you really need to speak with someone, then try a relay through an airliner (plenty around on that route) on 121.5 or one of the high-alt frequencies if you have them.
In fact, these are all no cases of radio “failure”, but rather loss of communication.
So I stand by my statement that a dual radio failure (unless the entire electrical system failed) is a very improbable event.
Wouldn’t that be almost a reason to squawk 7600 for radio failure?
Well, it would certainly attract attention. But, as Peter said, not necessarily in a pleasant way And, at that stage, I had no reason to think that I had any problem with my radios.
Was that in the ‘Yeste corridor’?
Yes, it was. Valencia didn’t respond on any frequency (I continually cycled through them for the period) until I reached ASTRO, which is about 45nm from Valencia.
