Mostly, those are either ultralights or old private planes that don't have electrical systems, such as a Piper J3 Cub. Even some of the old planes and ultralights carry handheld radios. There are quite a few radioless planes out there, but they're not allowed to fly in controlled airspace. While I don't have any numbers, I'd guess we're talking about a few thousand planes, a few percent of the general aviation fleet.
I'm pretty sure the Cessna involved in this incident had a radio (virtually all Cessna 150s and 152s were delivered with at least one). It's possible it had failed. Many of the Cessnas were delivered with ARC radios which were really better suited as boat anchors (trust me, I've owned a couple of them). They're heavy and unreliable.
Current Events » in reply to Aren't there still a lot of General Aviation Aircraft flying without any radio?
Yes
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- The mightiest nation the world has ever seen lives in abject fear.
- That was a stupid post
- Not sure what your point is.
- A small airplane off course costs the economy $50 million