121.5 UK pilot crass comment

[JOSHUA]

Yesterday as I monitored 121.5 as we entered the London FIR, I heard a student pilot who was genuinely unsure of their position, being talked down and steered toward their nearest airfield. The weather in the area was VFR but likely marginal in places due to haze and showers, it was therefore very reassuring to hear such professionalism and a calm voice from the Controller who was guiding said pilot to safety.
What got my goat was the crass comment from an English voice wishing the lost pilot "good luck" in the most inappropriate patronising tone - completely inapproiate when said pilot may well have been on the verge of drifting into IMC and the subsequent loss control.
Can't we all just be professional and resist using 121.5 unless it's imperative that we do so?

[Planet Basher]

Agreed, nothing like some pompous, patronising drivel to further load up a stressed situation.

Many years ago I had a bit of "Navigational Difficulties" and Heathrow Director got me back on the right track in a calm and helpful manner.

[Corrosion]

Long time ago, early 90's, i was working for GA training company as a fitter. One of my duties was perform some company internal flights like ferry aircrafts to another airfield for bigger maint etc etc. (not payed for that, but got free hours)
On that time owner was expanding his fleet and i was assigned to collect one C172 from another nearby airfield. (it came from USA in container and assembled on another company)
As said, i was young and fresh pilot. On that flight i loose COM, can TX but not receive.
Remember what was told during training, and finally did my smooth join to home airfield quite busy circuit. After landing, and during circuit TWR guides me with signal lights.

Everything went ok and after landing guy from ATC came to me and said: well done boy, everything went like book says. And that ATC guy was known to be very strict, not nasty, but very strict.

I felt very good after that, not because success but knowing there is professional people behind microphone.

[Trim Stab]

Originally Posted by JOSHUA

Yesterday as I monitored 121.5 as we entered the London FIR, I heard a student pilot who was genuinely unsure of their position, being talked down and steered toward their nearest airfield. The weather in the area was VFR but likely marginal in places due to haze and showers, it was therefore very reassuring to hear such professionalism and a calm voice from the Controller who was guiding said pilot to safety.
What got my goat was the crass comment from an English voice wishing the lost pilot "good luck" in the most inappropriate patronising tone - completely inapproiate when said pilot may well have been on the verge of drifting into IMC and the subsequent loss control.
Can't we all just be professional and resist using 121.5 unless it's imperative that we do so?

Reminds me of the time I was solo flying a light twin across the Sahara - an exercise that takes a reasonable amount of planning because of overflight permits, distances between airfields and alternates, airfield opening hours, the limited range of light twins and (above all) their disproportionate range sensitivity to unexpectedly higher headwinds. As it happens, headwinds were 10-15 percent higher than forecast, so I realised I would not make Plan A. I reverted therefore to Plan B - which had also been calculated carefully. When the controller asked the reason for diversion I somewhat naively replied that I did not have enough fuel to make the original destination due to headwinds.

At this point some smug **** in an air-conditioned airliner cruising at FL350 butted in and made a sneering comment along the lines that my ops department would have a lot to say to me when I landed..

[Cows getting bigger]

I was at Dubai International the other week in a light piston twin. All the biggies were departing from a set of intersections some 1500ft down the runway (12R) and the rest of us had to go with the taxi pattern. When my turn finally came, ATC (who are brilliant at DXB) gave me an enter-backtrack. Cue snide comment from an Emirates 777/380 - "Is there a performance issue?". Quick as a flash, the controller came back with a "Some people should remember where they came from. Never heard of wake turbulence, Emirates 123?"

A beautiful moment.

[John_Reid]

Originally Posted by Cows getting bigger

I was at Dubai International the other week in a light piston twin. All the biggies were departing from a set of intersections some 1500ft down the runway (12R) and the rest of us had to go with the taxi pattern. When my turn finally came, ATC (who are brilliant at DXB) gave me an enter-backtrack. Cue snide comment from an Emirates 777/380 - "Is there a performance issue?". Quick as a flash, the controller came back with a "Some people should remember where they came from. Never heard of wake turbulence, Emirates 123?"

A beautiful moment.

Excellent.

It wasn't "THE" emirates 123 was it?

As they say, the 3 most useless things to an aviator:
Runway behind
Fuel in bowser
Altitude above



Totally agree about the abuse of the emergency frequency being very unprofessional.

[Sciolistes]

Australian or British accent perchance? The two most arrogant nationalities in the business.

[White Knight]

Originally Posted by Cows getting Bigger

Cue snide comment from an Emirates 777/380 - "Is there a performance issue?

Rather than being snide maybe it was a little attempt at humour!

Originally Posted by Sciolistes

British accent perchance

Try not to tar us all with the same brush

[RHS]

Originally Posted by Sciolistes

Australian or British accent perchance? The two most arrogant nationalities in the business.

Suppose it's better than fart noises and discussing football scores though?