I've been wanting to post this little story to get some opinions.

About a month ago, not having flown for a while, i did a checkout on the 152 which involved a steep turn, a stall as well as a forced landing back at the airport. I then proceeded to fly a few circuits on my own, after the second one i started noticing that i had not heard any one else in the pattern for quite a while and I grew suspicious. Called the intercom to get a radio check yet no one answered, then i turned off the radios, recycled the master, checked the plugs, the mic button, all to no avail. I decided to call it a day and make this one my final circuit. I kept an extra lookout. On a long final I sideslipped to get rid of some altitude when another 152 appeared right there in front of me, no less than 5 seconds away from me, i immediately yanked my trusty airplane to the right and overshot.

Once I landed I walked up to the other plane and introduced myself to the instructor. I asked him if he hadn't heard me on the radio and he said he did and that he had been wondering why i hadnt answered his calls, he checks my plane and it turns out the volume was all the way down. I had checked everything except that. My check-out instructor had turned it down because of too much chatter on the checkout, didnt tell me about it and appearently forgot to turn it back up.

Now who's mostly at fault here? Is it my instructor who didnt tell me about it ? Is it the other instructor because he ignored my position calls in the circuit altho they came in right after his and he wasnt able to contact me, so why didnt he figure what was wrong and got out of there? Or is it me cuz I didnt find out that it was the volume knob?

It was your fault. If you don't get a response from the very first call you make, pull the squelch button. That will tell you right away if your radio is on and volume up.
Having said that, I would give the instructor a kick in the butt also; you hadn't flown in a while and you don't need that crap. Could have been a really stupid, tragic accident.
$0.02

You didn't declare an emergency or pan pan it. If you had, I would have given you right of way, assuming you made a call on the radio "sh8t i can't hear anything, I'm comming back" I would give you right of way.

I'd blame the other guy in that instance if you made it seem enough of an "emergency."

I would blame your guy for turning off the volume because of "chatter." welcome to aviation, you get chatter, and it's there for a reason.

I would blame you for not doing a "run-up checklist", radio checks are on ours.

Why be so quick to worry about whose fault it was? Take it as an error and learn from it. Geesh, I work with some real head cases who run around all day long worrying about whose fault it was, better write them up, stick a letter in their file....etc etc GET OVER IT, cause everyday something dumb happens and you just gotta move on.

Ugh...rant over.

Donald you're correct, we shouldn't worry about it to much, and we should just learn from it and move on..

But it's always nice to know if you were in the right, for future instances...

PS. Everything I said above in my last post was of my own opinion and would not stand up in any court or tribunal and the final word and opinion would be that of the NTSB had the incident been an accident.

Great lesson! Keep making your calls, even though no one is responding, because other traffic might be able to hear you.

Also, good job looking for traffic.

I'll bet you will never forget to check the volume knob again. Great!

You were PIC, so it is your fault that you didn't turn up the volume. No biggy. Live and learn.

-istp

Since I feel I should be constructive as well as critical....

Why

On a long final I sideslipped to get rid of some altitude

??

Okay, the radio appears to have failed (we have since learned otherwise). First off the basic comm failure exercise seems to have been ignored since you don't mention squawking 7600. But why would you decide to do a "long final" while NORDO? That seems (to the armchair qb in me) to be asking for someone on a more normal circuit pattern to cut in front of you. And you mentioned the sideslip indicating you were also higher than normal, which means maybe you were letting the radio problem affect your flying. In an abnormal situation it's easy to let the little things distract you from the important things. Just something to keep in mind next time you encounter a, hopefully minor, problem.

And good job in the end for taking the evasive action and talking with others to learn from the experience.

Dont sweat it man. That happens to everyone , even at the highes levels of this industry.

alrighty Ill cool off , just wanted to get some second opinions on it.

I did benefit from this discussion, as was my intention.

1. I added radio check to the run-up section of my checklist, thanks cyyz

2. I now know that I can pull the squelch button in order to check the radios, thanks fotoflyer

However, I dont see a point in squawking 7600 even if im certain my radios failed if Im flying in the circuit pattern of an uncontrolled aerodrome in uncontrolled airspace.

And Donald, i didnt extend my base too much, only a tiny bit and the excess altitude was minimal, he couldn't have cut in front of me.

Blame for this one mostly goes on you. (Don't take it personally, everyone here has done something worthy of blame at some time or another). The fact that you got within 5 seconds of the other a/c without spotting it means that your lookout was not up to par.
The guy in front of you bears no blame. He was lower and by law had right of way. Also, you can't expect him to worry about traffic behind him because he can't see it.
Your instructor is not to blame. If there is alot of radio chatter, and you're not in controlled airspace, then turning down the radio is the right thing to do. One less thing to distract the student and yourself. Remember, you're VFR and your eyeballs have to bear the brunt of the work for traffic avoidance.