Busy Frequency MUAC

[LJGrus]

Hi, looking for a Thomson Pilot who remarked that the frequency was very busy on a sector in Maastricht this afternoon. Just curious!

[ZOOKER]

Wx notwithstanding, that would be a failure of ATFM or a shortage of staff then.

[andrijander]

Or just another day at the office? Busiest day at MUAC was at just over 5000 flights in one day. Most of last month we're already at well over 4000 any given day (we have our record this year at 4989...for now).

Happy landings!

[LJGrus]

Well, it was busy, but more complicated, and the frequency was pretty much unworkable with a lot of background noise and immense amount of readbacks. No WX. Strange things was it was a pilot that felt uncomfortable enough to comment on the situation, not the controller. Never had that before!

[Radar]

I worked the north east corner yesterday (MIC / LBE) and it was busy. Partly due to wx avoidance but not helped by R/T indiscipline. On numerous occasions initial calls were made over already running transmissions. This happened regularly in the space of an hour.On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with a busy frequency, the controller involved should have the big picture and prioritize the communication flow accordingly, ignoring the less pressing exchanges as required. The real butt-clencher is a blocked frequency.

As far as numbers go, we are now handling around 4800 flights a day, as if the downturn never happened.

Edited to say: Zooker, no failures of ATFM or staff shortage involved. All required sectors open and operational. Just busy. It's what we're paid for.

[irishpilot1990]

I was also on one of the frequencies and it was very busy.

Anyone else notice lots of callsign clashes in the last few weeks too, really does not help as pilots either answer back calls not for them,or wait, usually results in a mess and doubt!

[Tchocky]

Anyone else notice lots of callsign clashes in the last few weeks too, really does not help as pilots either answer back calls not for them,or wait, usually results in a mess and doubt!

Yesterday I had RYR9068 and RYR6098 in the sector.

[172_driver]

Question from a pilot regularly flying in busy airspace, not Europe but in SoCal. In case of an emergency on the frequency that requires close attention, would you send the distress traffic to another frequency (e.g. 121,5) or tell all other traffic to change? Assuming for instance smoke in cockpit (ref. UPS 6) the distress traffic may not be able to make any radio selections at all. Is there any back-up plans for these kinds of situations? Thanks :)

[Lon More]

Yesterday I had RYR9068 and RYR6098 in the sector.
2 Ryanairs being two too many

172_driver UK legislation is this Transmissions from aircraft in distress have priority over all other transmissions. On
hearing a distress call, all stations must maintain radio silence on that frequency
unless the distress is cancelled or the distress traffic is terminated; all distress traffic
has been transferred to other frequencies; the station controlling communications
gives permission; it has itself to render assistance. Any station which has knowledge
of distress traffic, and which cannot itself assist the station in distress, shall
nevertheless continue listening to such traffic until it is evident that assistance is
being provided. Stations should take care not to interfere with the transmission of
urgency calls.
which is OK until things get busy. - You wouldn't want to be in busy airspace for long with no R/T contact. If there's a secondary freq on the chart or plate, try that on the Nr.2 box or go back to the last freq. worked and request an alternative frequency