Quote:
Originally Posted by dingy737 View Post
Since this unfortunate incident, it occurred to me that if required to ditch in the open ocean I should easily be able to contact nearby ships, since then I decided to test the standard HF maritime emergency frequencies and have made continuous attempts to contact ocean going vessels as I fly directly over them in the Atlantic. I have tried several HF frequencies regarded as maritime emergency frequencies over the last 2 weeks without success. It would appear there is no set frequency that is "religiously" monitored as 121.5 on aircraft. Maybe this is something that needs some extra thought as a commercial airliner in distress should quickly and easily be able to communicate with ocean going vessels. it would be a shame to ditch alongside a vessel at night and watch it continue to steam off into the distance. 2182 kHz, 4125 kHz, 8291khz, 16590khz, 12290khz. Any advice?
Red Plum
Most merchant ships ceased to carry radio officers and now have automated communications including email etc. HF is seldom used nowadays.
You would be much more likely to contact ships using the VHF frequency of 156.800 which is commonly known as Channel 16. This is not carried in any commercial aircraft I have flown but is fitted to some Naval helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft.
Nice thinking but Red Plum is correct. As a former Nimrod crew member, I'd say you would also need the name of the vessel to address it. Anyone listening to Marine Channel 16 would be unlikely to respond to a call of a general nature without being addressed. Hopefully a Mayday would elicit a response, although again, without Channel 16 availability, you'll never know.
We used Channel 16 regularly on SAROPS, and always (in my experience) to good effect. With three low level passes of a vessel allowed us by international law, we had a fighting chance of seeing the vessel's name. We could then make the final pass across the bows to grab the attention of whoever was on the bridge as we called the vessel!
In Civvy Street, "Tool this is hawk" is only likely to yield a WTF, a shrug and possibly a chortle.