Steve Fossett -- Why We Always File a Flight Plan

When I was a young lad, the local library had a subscription to Flying magazine. I would check out all the back issues I could, and pour over the columns that spoke of a joy of flight that I could only dream of experiencing. My penultimate favorite (Len Morgan's Vectors column was always my fav) was probably I Learned About Flying From That, a place for ordinary pilots to share hanger tales of knowledge gained through experience. Always educational, often thought provoking or humorous depending on the level of danger ultimately involved, they gave me a laundry list of things to NEVER try once I get my pilot's license.

The disappearance of Steve Fossett provides another example of that. Now don't get me wrong, my prayer is that the search teams will find Mr. Fossett alive and well, probably holed up in a cave, and asking what took them so long. Crashing in the mountains is an awfully anti-climatic way to go when you've successfully circumnavigated the globe in a balloon.

However, if there's a lesson to be learned here for other pilots, it's to ALWAYS, ALWAYS file a flight plan. Yes, I realize that it's often common practice to not file when you're flying out of remote airstrips. But seriously, consider for a moment the massive grid that's being searched right now. A flight plan would have helped narrow that area down a lot. If nothing else, it helps searchers locate the wreckage sooner than four months after the crash.

This incident also demonstrates that an ELT is no absolute substitute for a good flight plan. A subsequent report mentioned that Fossett's plane did have an ELT equipped, but no signal has been received. I hope they find him safely. But for everyone else, this ought to serve as an excellent reminder of why taking the time to file can be worth it.

My brother Ahab's favorite phrase for personal defense applies here too: "It's better to have it and never need it, than to need it and not have it."