COA11

[captain_flynn]

Hi guys,

A friend of mine gave me a call today as he was looking on his SBS and wondered what 7700 was used for. I told him it was for an emergency and he explained how Continental Flight 11 was squawking 7700 and appeared to turn south around Birmingham. I live in Milton Keynes and could see the B777 myself which appeared to be diverting to London. The aircrafts original routing was Paris Charles de Gaulle to Houston Texas.

Does anyone have any info on what was wrong?

Heres a screenshot my friend took using his SBS..

http://www.aviationpics.fpic.co.uk/p45978085.html

Thanks in advance

Ashley

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

Was only on the ground for an hour at LGW, so likely to be a medical or passenger issue I'd guess, rather than a major tech problem.

[Finbarr]

What is an SBS?

[ATC Watcher]

I am speechless when I look at this ! It even gives the name of the bank to which the aircraft belongs to ! next it will be the crew names and telephone numbers !
Combine this with a VHF ICOM and we call all work from home !

Wonderful times ! :\

[applevid]

you guys in england have some neat stuff...while i agree with you that 7700 is an emergency...I have no clue how you got that neat radar picture...and it even indicates that Wells Fargo Bank is the owner...wow...Wells Fargo is my bank and I hate Continental Airlines...so I will have to reexamine my banking needs.

hope you find out what went wrong.

[BillS]

http://www.kinetic-avionics.co.uk/sbs-1.php
& http://www.atcbox.com/modules.php?name=html-sbs1

[Finbarr]

Good grief - we'll have the reggie spotters controlling us next! The last line makes interesting reading:
THE CONTENTS AND SUGGESTED USES OF THE SBS-1 HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED BY THE UK CAA AT THIS TIME

[BillS]

particularly the last 3 words - "... AT THIS TIME"

it seems CAA & NATS have already purchased some:
http://www.kinetic-avionics.co.uk/pdf/todayspilotOct.pdf

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Yes, it's rather a fun toy... but not like the real thing. It's possible to interrogate various on-line databases so that the aircraft owner (not necessarily the operator) is displayed together with reggie, etc. Neat - I think I'm still at work sometimes!

[PaperTiger]

I am speechless when I look at this ! It even gives the name of the bank to which the aircraft belongs to !Need to get out more I think. The registration details of aircraft are in the public domain in many countries, including both the UK and the US.

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=74007&cmndfind.x=14&cmndfind.y=10

Why do you feel this to be inappropriate ?

[Gonzo]

I'd suggest that the 'members of the CAA and NATS mentioned in the .pdf file are spotters who use this to spot, as some of my colleagues do.

[EGBE0523]

** Co - Continental **
0011/19oct
P Cdg/out 112p L00.17 )
P Cdg/off 137p )
P Lgw/on 144p )
P Lgw/in 149p L00.19 )
P Lgw/out 303p L00.03 )
P Lgw/off 325p )
P Iah/eta 711p L02.41 )*
D Fcf/dvrt Lgw Enrt Cdg-iah A/dvrt Med Emergency

[ATC Watcher]

Paper Tiger :
Why do you feel this to be inappropriate ?
You misunderstood my remark > I am truly amazed that's all.
I knew about the Kinetic toy ( displayed in Maastricht ATC exhibition for some years now) but did not realize you could actually see that much details.

By " googling" a bit you can nowadays find some amazing stuff. Just type ' ACARS spotting " and you' ll be amazed .
as one of the ads says :
ACARS is one of the latest hobbies used by Aviation enthusiasts worldwide. Using a computer and an Air band receiver or scanner, enthusiasts are able to decode uplink and downlink messages from aircraft.

The Confidentiality clause we had to sign to get an R/T license seems a bit old fashioned in the face of today's technology doesn't it ?

[PaperTiger]

The Confidentiality clause we had to sign to get an R/T license seems a bit old fashioned in the face of today's technology doesn't it ?Much of the old licensing red tape has simply been overtaken by technology. After all, in theory, one ought to need an R/T rating to use a cell phone :ooh: .

While transmissions are made in the clear in the air there is no practical way to prevent eavesdropping. You'd need a burst transmitter and frequency dancing, but I'm sure some geeks will eventually find a way to decode that too.

So just don't say (or type) anything you might have cause to regret :=
:8