From the wife's perspective:
Every time my husband goes up, he calls me to tell me where he is going and
how long he thinks he will be out.  Upon landing, he calls to tell me he has
arrived safely.  It is not a control issue or anything else.  The ONLY
thing it is would be courtesy.  He has gone up and he has come home.  

How many times have you all had friends who have died in a plane crash and
you were surprised to find they were even flying at the time?  Pat and I had
a friend die last year in the plane crash into the house in Reno (many of
you heard of this).  I had seen the instructor that morning on his way out
with the owner/student pilot of the Bonanza.  When his car was still at the
airport hours later and the FAA called to say they had the student pilot and
his instructor, a black man named Chris, known to be on the plane, we knew
it was him.  Unfortunately, his family was not always aware of his flights,
as they were numerous.  Even more unfortunate, no one on our airport had a
way of contacting any family member at all.  It took an internet search to
locate his son, a well known basketball player.  A call to him asking if he
was the son of Chris was a painful exercise.  More painful was telling him
over the phone that his father was believed to be deceased.  Don't let this
happen to you and your loved ones.  Let someone, a hangar pal, the fuel pit,
or someone know you are out and about, where you are going and when you
expect to return.  I agree with Bryan.  It makes it a lot quicker to locate
you if the necessity arises.

Susan Brunner