"You keep using that word. I do not think that it means what you think it means."
- Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
The Binghamton Incident
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| Warrior 481's panel photographed 28 December 2022. |
The first sign of trouble occurred while departing Greater Binghamton / Edwin Link Field in 2023. With com2 (a vintage KX-170B) tuned to Binghamton Tower and Departure dialed in on com1 (Garmin GNS 430W), I swapped the transmitting radio from Tower to Departure with the audio panel when prompted.
"Cherokee Four Eight One, are you broadcasting on Departure and Tower simultaneously?" asked the radar controller. By design, the audio panel only allows transmission on a single radio at a time and mine was set to the radio using Departure. Nevertheless, I twisted the knob on com2 to an arbitrary frequency other than Binghamton Tower before responding. "Not intentionally." It was not standard phraseology, but there is no standard phraseology for an impossible act.
"Oh, that's better," responded Departure.
Weird.
Unfortunately, I was distracted by other flight issues shortly after that exchange and completely forgot about the incident. Time went by.
In 2025, I was overflying Elmira / Corning Regional Airport and speaking with Approach on com1 while monitoring the emergency frequency (121.5 MHz, also known as Guard) on com2 per my standard practice.
"Cherokee Four Eight One, I am also hearing you on Guard every time you transmit." Again, another comment suggesting transmission on two frequencies at once. It was just as impossible as before, but hearing this a second time focused my attention on the issue.
I wrote to PS Engineering, the manufacturer of my now fifteen year old audio panel, to ask if there was any known failure mode that might cause both radios to transmit at once. My question was answered directly by the head of the company and his response definitely had a tone. "That is utterly impossible."
Yet I had two examples of air traffic control claiming exactly that. A quick test with a handheld radio verified the ATC observations. Any transmission made on com1 was also broadcast on whatever frequency com2 was set to.
Inconceivable!
A Brisk 11 °F
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 05 Dec 2025 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - GVQ (Batavia, NY) - DSV (Dansville, NY) - SDC | 1.8 | 3094.1 |
It was my first winter flight of the 2025-2026 season; 11 °F under a clear blue sky with just enough snow piled against the bifold hangar door that it needed to be shoveled away. The first large snowbanks of the season were taking shape along taxiway edges.
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| Brisk! |
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| Downtown Rochester, NY from 3,500 feet. |
With definitive proof of anomalous radio behavior, Jake proposed a gratis troubleshooting session with my radios and audio panel. I made the thirty minute flight from Sodus to the Genesee County Airport in crisply frigid air as the Warrior's heater endeavored to melt the sole of my right shoe. Unfettered sunlight poured down from above, reflecting from a landscape blanched by newly fallen powder.
I set up my computer in an airport conference room and worked while Jake examined the Warrior's avionics. He reappeared only thirty minutes later with a hangdog expression to explain that when he installed the autopilot in 2021, he miswired the audio panel such that clicking the push to talk button keyed both radios.
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| Panel photo taken 18 June 2021 showing the audio panel (top of center radio stack), com1 (GNS 430W directly below the audio panel), and com2 (KX-170B right of com1 under the "Warrior" placard). |
I was shocked that I had flown the airplane over four years in that condition with only two comments from ATC. At a minimum, I was surprised that I did not constantly receive "you're on Guard, dude" commentary from other pilots every time I transmitted to Approach or Center on com1 while monitoring the emergency frequency on com2.
We would have caught the problem sooner had my com2 been a more modern radio with a "transmit" indicator that illuminates when the radio is broadcasting. My ancient KX-170B has no such amenity, presenting an impassive face while blathering away on whatever frequency it is set to.
As always, Jake made it right before I left Batavia that day.
A Chance Encounter
With the impossible transmission made properly impossible again, I departed Batavia and flew to Dansville for a quick bite to eat, then navigated the hills to the east on a roundabout route to Sodus.
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| Approaching Canandaigua Lake from the south. |
I landed at Sodus behind a member flying the club's Bold Warrior. With a ramp covered in black ice, I struggled to coax the Warrior slightly uphill into the safety of the hangar, even while shod with YakTrax. When finished, I noticed the Bold Warrior taxiing from the fuel pump to a hangar and hurried over -- as much as possible without wiping out on the ice -- to help push the plane into its hangar.
Brendan and I had never met before, but I learned that he was an air traffic controller at Syracuse.
"Oh!" I said. "Are you the Syracuse controller who always asks what we're up to when we fly places with multiple airplanes?"
He laughed and explained that most of the ATC team in Syracuse knew our tail numbers and recognized that we frequently did group fly-outs. I used to suspect we had a reputation, now I am certain of it. When I told him my tail number, he said, "Oh, I have definitely talked to you before." I praised him and his colleagues for their continued excellent service during the recent government shutdown.
Next, he described where he flew that day and asked about where I went. I explained the double transmission issue that I went to Batavia to resolve, describing how surprised I was that it took four years to realize that I had a problem. "That happens more often than you'd think," he responded. "I usually tell pilots when it's happening, but some other controllers don't."
It would seem that the impossible is more possible than I thought.
