I'm surprised that an aircraft worth billions of dollars doesn't have a satellite phone as part of a survival kit. Seems like that would be a more secure and reliable form of communication and would be able to pinpoint his location using GPS.

If only the military had the technology to conduct communications over things way, way, way up in the sky that you can always see. We could call them "satellite radios."

"UPDATE: Commenter Earl Hoffert, Esq., says that he lived in the NQRZ, and that the entire quiet zone isn't completely silent, until you get closer to the observatory and Sugar Grove."

Sounds preposterous. The pilot story, that is. I can't see how the pilot didn't say at least "ejecting" over his radio before actually doing so. His radio in th F15 cares not a whit about any regs on the ground in the NQRZ. I also can't see how a military pilot is out on any kind of mission w/o a personal locator…

*blink blink* My hometown (Waynesboro, VA) is IN the quiet zone. I didn't know that.

While that area is in the mountains, it's not far from Staunton, where I can assure you cell service is just fine, and there's plenty of wifi. Not everything in the "quiet zone" box is all that quiet. There's a core area - I think in West Virginia, which has tighter restrictions.

Areas of the Blue Ridge Parkway -…

I live in Staunton and I assure you we have cell service and internet. Several years ago I helped in a search and rescue for two kids missing from a camp site near Deerfield. While hiking in the woods and mountains I used my cellphone to frequently check in with the sheriff's department. No drop outs, no problems.

You can even use a CB radio in the area without getting a knock on the door from the Men in Black. Not that I, uh, ever owned a CB radio. Or two.

Having lived in that area, the truly radio-free zones are within a much, much narrower radius of the two sites — maybe 10 or 20 miles out. You can get radio, cell and television signals pretty much everywhere else. But the part of the GW National Forest where the plane landed? Good luck getting cell coverage, for…

It's weird every time it happens I'm like where the hell am I now?! You can also click the little downfacing arrow next to the main blog and it'll give you all of the subdomains.

I just face-palmed when that was typed. Also, I think the circumstances huphuphup is referring to have more to do with ditching in hostile territory, in which case they are trained to destroy or hide any evidence of their passing. Except the radio, which could save their life, and the survival kit they take with them.

Exactly, this is utterly ridiculous. Anyone who has driven down I-81 knows this is ridiculous. The area covers half of Charlottesville, and all of Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Lexington. Surprising all those college students (JMU, UVA, W&L, VMI) would forego modern electronics... Are those kids examples of "Kooky…

Great article. BTW is there a list of all the various subblogs? I feel like every time I click a link it's a new blog.

I have lived in Virginia for 20 years and never knew this was a thing. Pretty cool, except for in a case like this. One question what does the square on the map represent? Clearly that whole area cannot be the NQRZ, I have used a cellphone in both Harrisburg and Staunton.

"There's strict limits"

Maybe they should contact Malaysia Airlines for assistance?

Don't forget your sentrum silver chaser.

How about those of us who watched the original series, first run?

Dude I'm old enough to have seen every single Trek movie in the theatre on their first runs. Religiously.

The cop was later asked to write an essay on exemplary policing for the Washington Post.