ATC IssuesA place where pilots may enter the 'lions den' that is Air Traffic Control in complete safety and find out the answers to all those obscure topics which you always wanted to know the answer to but were afraid to ask.
hi ladies and gents, my first post so bear with me.
i often listen to atc mainly luton and cranfield and regularly hear the term QSY en route. what exactly does this mean? is it the same as "free call en route"
it is used extensively by our military colleagues here in NI .
but this makes it neither current nor correct. It is this old-fogeyish adherence to out-of-date, therefore incorrect procedures, that causes confusion for newcomers to aviating.
old-fogeyish adherence to out-of-date, therefore incorrect procedures, that causes confusion for newcomers to aviating.
Although dating from the London Radiotelegraph Convention of 1912 I believe they are still in ICAO DOC 8400 Abbreviations and Codes, last updated in August 2010.
No need for those comments, chaps. I quite understand that Eastern was just reporting it - while I was deploring it! As I said, newcomers to aviation, apart from being confused, must think that some of us are real old duffers incapable of keeping up-to-date - just as we viewed those who went on perpetuating "Queenie Nan How" for years after the change of phonetic alphabet! Don't think Doc 8400 recognises QSY, does it?
QSY is SOP at the Silverstone heliport during the British F1 Grand Prix.The frequencies are pre-briefed to pilots before the event and the use of a single instruction to "QSY" minimises RT.
I was taught at school QSY was dead only to find i tbeing used during the Silverstone GP I therefore assumed it's still being used hence I have been using it ever since. Rightly or Wrongly.
Does wikipedia say what the SY stands for? I am told it's thanks to the folk across the pond See Ya.
It's use is verboten 'cos the CAA (when they feel like it) try to comply with ICAO regs, although it often takes a diktat from JAA/EASA to kick start it. This is why we recently changed to hector pastilles from the 'nothing wrong except it's not ICAO' millibars, and why we have to use either 4 or 6 digits (not 5) when giving frequency changes. After all, why say something as quick and easy as 'QSY' when you can require everyone to say something longer? What next I wonder, 'the sea level pressure setting is XXXX hector pascols' instead of 'the QNH is...'?
