Numptie Pilot

[FSXPilot]

Ok fess up which numptie was squawking 7500 and caused two typhoons to go supersonic over the Midlands?

[ShyTorque]

The one flying something that looked like a red and white drumstick making a funny whistling noise...

You sure about the actual squawk, btw?

[MightyGem]

You sure about the actual squawk, btw?
According to the BBC:
BBC News - Typhoon sonic boom behind mysterious bang reports - MoD (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17697328)

[rickrawson87]

IMO pilot should have the bill come through his door for all the hassle being caused

[SASless]

The Typhoon pilots should do a Whip Round to give the guy a Tenner for getting them some Jolly Time!:ok:

[Lord Spandex Masher]

Isn't it numpty and not numptie?

Just asking.

[davidjohnson6]

Sure you've never made a mistake while flying ? Then you get to put the bill through the letterbox of the helicopter pilot's home - but only if you've really never made a mistake in the past.

[Heliport]

Sure you've never made a mistake while flying ?

He (and we) can be very sure he hasn't.
He posted this in the Professional Pilot Training forum in January:
I'm Rick and i've just very recently got bitten by the bug! to cut a long story short my family have never really been interested in aviation and neither have I. I started dating a girl and her family are aviation mad. Her dad has a ppl and told me he'd take me up. That was 4 months ago and i think he now regrets it as i bug him to take me up now every spare second haha! The thrill of flying is nothing i've ever felt before and I started studying for my own ppl already! i've been very confused about what i want to do with my life and since that first flight i now know exactly what i want to do.
My family aren't exactly the richest and I don't really have the greatest job so it will take me a long time to save up the required funds for the professional licenses. How old is too old to start in this business? if i save like made i will have enough to qualify me at roughly the age of 35. would i be past it at this age?

H.

[mhale71]

Great article, my favorite bit: Richard Coglan, who was in Bath at the time of the incident, said: We saw the Eurofighter [Typhoon] circle the helicopter at very slow speed using full thrust just to stay up.

Didnt read much after that... for those that did.. were there many "I thought i was gonna die" s?..

[Max Shutterspeed]

Didnt read much after that... for those that did.. were there many "I thought i was gonna die" s?..

Lots of those. Rather disappointed that the Typhoon pilot didn't narrowly miss a school or save a hospital. Bet the Robinson pilot's cell phone is switched off this morning....

[Sir Niall Dementia]

Max;

Don't think it was a Robbo, a whistling drum stick is a Gazelle.

SND

[Max Shutterspeed]

Quite right, well pointed out. Need to pay more attention over here!

[Davey Emcee]

Chicken leg, not drum stick, in my day.

[SilsoeSid]

..and now we here of Gatwick being disrupted due to a stray hot air balloon.

Ever get the feeling someone is testing the system? :suspect:

[212man]

We saw the Eurofighter [Typhoon] circle the helicopter at very slow speed using full thrust just to stay up.

That seems like a perfectly reasonable description from a member of the lay-public. Modern FBW fighters can fly at seemingly impossible alpha values, at low speeds unheard of by earlier generation fast jets (Typhoon is around 110 kts,) and it would have been making a hell of a racket using a lot of power! If you want to see a really extreme example of that watch an F-22 at an airshow (albeit some of the thrust is being used as lift, but only some)

[mhale71]

I think there is a bit of humor in that he was in the bath when it happened... as if we care.. its borderline TMI...

"Well I was having trouble poopin', but then this loud bang.."

[TRC]

I think there is a bit of humor in that he was in the bath when it happened

No mate, he wasn't in the bath, he was in Bath (http://visitbath.co.uk/).

[mhale71]

Wow, this looks bad for me, I concede that point.. clearly not a local.. will read more carefully next time.. :oh::oh::ugh:

[DBChopper]

I'm confused...

So there was a bloke eating chicken drumsticks in the bath when he made a mistake and something went boom? Is there a helicopter involved? :O

[oldjetbox]

DBC. It's very simple .... the guy in the bath was eating the drumstick while it was still attached to the chicken, causing the chicken to squawk so much, it caused a typhoon. OK?

[ShyTorque]

Something squawked something when it shouldn't, must have been a pesky parrot. A red and white one.

[Harry Copter]

The press are so one sided...

Where is the statement from some passing school, who said "it was so loud and cool, I nearly **** myself"

They should be lucky to experience the power of a sonic boom, and it was good press coverage to let people know we still have some aircraft left.

What I'd like to know is how much trouble the helicopter pilot got into?
If it was just a slap on the wrist's, as I expect, I might see if I can arrange a typhoon fly buy, to my local church fate in the summer.

:ok:

H

[TRC]

... if I can arrange a typhoon fly buy, to my local church fate in the summer

It would be a sad fate for your church if it's a supersonic fly-by.

It'd be more than just the glass that gets stained.

[206 jock]

From another place:

...I believe there was some malfunction on the transponder that started the alert. I am not sure why the alert continued.
Although I am getting info second hand, and have not spoken to the pilot directly, he is a very experienced and competent heli pilot, who has been shook up by two typhoons circling him in a vertical attitude. With the turbulence created by them nearly downing him & his passengers.

I believe he has received several apologies today.


So perhaps not quite so 'numpty' after all.

[EESDL]

what a pavlova !

[Brilliant Stuff]

Not taking anything away from the pilot, I could easily have done the same mistake myself, but I assume he wasn't talking to ATC or else they would have asked him if he was alright before launching the Typhoons?

[firebird_uk]

The 2012 Shoreham Airshow only has a couple of fast jets scheduled to appear. But I now have a cunning plan to get a couple of Typhoons added to the list.....

[SilsoeSid]

From another place:

Quote:
...I believe there was some malfunction on the transponder that started the alert. I am not sure why the alert continued.

What are the chances that the transponder malfunctions to the code required to launch the QRF aircraft? :suspect:

Around 1:4096 :ok:

[1helicopterppl]

It was definitely a Gazelle returning home from Aintree, he was working Staverton at the time who requested he check his squawk & then asked him to turn his transponder off........job done.

[412guy]

Not buying all this good pilot BS,

That particular squawk exists for a reason. Why would you set it, or why would the IFF malfunction and emit that squawk without being set?

I don't but this freak IFF accident BS. Someone was a numpty.....

[oldbeefer]

412 Guy - it's not impossible for a transponder to transmit a wrong code. It's happened to me several times over the years.

[SilsoeSid]

412 Guy - it's not impossible for a transponder to transmit a wrong code. It's happened to me several times over the years.

Maybe beefs, just maybe, but for it to 'wrongly' put out 75 :suspect::suspect::suspect::suspect:


I'd have to side with 412guy;
Not buying all this good pilot BS,

That particular squawk exists for a reason. Why would you set it, or why would the IFF malfunction and emit that squawk without being set?

I don't but this freak IFF accident BS. Someone was a numpty.....

...or someone thinking, I wonder what would happen, especially with all this Olympic malarky going on, if I was to ........... :eek:

[500e]

For example: when changing from 0500 to 7000 (VFR code): you might turn the first knob to a 7 (thus 7500), and at this time the second knob still is set to 5. This would momentarily have the transponder replying the hijack code (7500), which might lead to a lot more attention than desired. I would recommend to set the transponder in 'standby mode' before changing the codes. It will cause a temporarily loss of target info on the radar screen, but it's safer than having bells going off in ATC centers and F16s scramble for you because you accidentally had 7500 displayed on the radar screen.
Someone else's suggestion.
Where in the stack was the transponder? was it easily readable a quick look down under pressure a 5 could be seen as 0.
Or it could have been Sid's last thought :E
All ready got the coat on

[Agaricus bisporus]

It seems most likely he carelessly fumbled selecting 7000, failed to check it and then wasn't talking to anyone (with radar perhaps) on the radio...silly boy.

I assume it was before the crabs made their heroic save-the-nation dash that London Centre were calling him vainly on Guard but naturally he wasn't listening to that either, they somehow knew his registration at that point (I was over France and could only hear the London side of the conversation) and were in contact with another aircraft that could see him but was not close enough to confirm his reg.

What a storm in a teacup, panic reacting as though a poxy little Gazelle near Ha'penny Green could be a threat to national security. We really have lost the plot, haven't we, crapping ourselves like a neurotic geriatric spotting a harmless hoodie at the other end of the park.?
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[SilsoeSid]

For example: when changing from 0500 to 7000 (VFR code): you might turn the first knob to a 7 (thus 7500), and at this time the second knob still is set to 5. This would momentarily have the transponder replying the hijack code (7500), which might lead to a lot more attention than desired. I would recommend to set the transponder in 'standby mode' before changing the codes. It will cause a temporarily loss of target info on the radar screen, but it's safer than having bells going off in ATC centers and F16s scramble for you because you accidentally had 7500 displayed on the radar screen.

Mmm, nice one 500e, a direct quote from Aircraft Transponder Codes, Ident, 1200, 7000, Squawk VFR, Emergency Code 7700, Hijack 7500, Comm Failure 7600 (http://www.experimentalaircraft.info/homebuilt-aircraft/avionics-transponder-3.php)

What you fail to notice is that a civi Gazelle squawking 0500 is in itself quite revealing!!
------------------
UK AIP
ENR 1.6 — ATS SURVEILLANCE SERVICES AND PROCEDURES
ENR 1.6.1 — ATS SURVEILLANCE SERVICES
http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-C595F6CC53AD9DB801808994A1189B6C/7FE5QZZF3FXUS/EN/AIP/ENR/EG_ENR_1_6_en_2012-04-05.pdf

UK SSR Code Assignment Plan

*0050 - NATO - CAOC 9 Exercises (activated by NOTAM)

Note 2. The codes or series annotated * are used for conspicuity, co-ordination or special purposes and, unless procedures have been agreed with UK CAA Directorate of Airspace Policy, the Mode A code and associated Mode C data must be considered unvalidated and unverified.
--------------

So you might say 0500 isn't the best example. Would you rather;
1500 or 2500 or 3500 or 4500 or 5500 or 6500

Notice anything all those codes have in common? :eek:

[SilsoeSid]

a quick look down under pressure a 5 could be seen as 0.

I wonder what pressure this could have been?

[gsa]

This is interesting BBC News - Sonic boom helicopter passengers 'lucky to be alive' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-17713833) It doesn't read my mate took me on a jolly to the races in his permit Gazelle or have the rules relaxed.

[412guy]

I try and look at the facts....

Fact 1. A squawk that should not have been emitted, was emmitted.

Fact 2. A lot of expense and effort followed.

The wrong squawk was caused by one of the following:

1. Incorrect setting.

2. Transponder fault causing it to emit [benefit of the doubt, Beefer], with incorrect setting causing nationwide panic.

So the pilot was guilty of one of the following:

1. Not knowing the basic rules of the air.

2. Not concentrating on what he was doing.

3. Making an honest [though costly] mistake.

If it's the latter, I have no problem with his actions.....god knows Ive made mistakes myself.

However, if you make a mistake - you fess up and help ensure nobody else makes the same mistake. What you can't do is blame the kit for accidentally emitting a code that should never have been set.

Someone needs to zip up a man suit and take it on the chin.

[Tocsin]

This is interesting BBC News - Sonic boom helicopter passengers 'lucky to be alive' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-17713833) It doesn't read my mate took me on a jolly to the races in his permit Gazelle or have the rules relaxed.

Even more interesting - I dimly remember that ex-mil Gazelles were not to be flown with passengers (only crew, e.g. engineers). When did that change?

[206 jock]

Rules changed in 2010

See:CAA announces changes to the regulation of ex-military aircraft - News - Shephard (http://www.shephardmedia.com/news/rotorhub/caa-announces-changes-to-the-regulation-of-ex-military-aircraft/6957/)

However, the BBC piece does read like it wasn't quite a jolly with a mate.....

[TipCap]

I am sure in my days of aviation we were always told to put our transponders to "standby" before changing SSR codes. That way you wouldn't go through one of the emergency codes

[helicopter-redeye]

Was it transmitting 7500 throughout the flight or just on transponder recycle? (i.e. for a few seconds)

Many of the modern transponders have a VFR button which dials 7000 without further intervention.

If throughout the flight, there are a few high value targets in the area (GCHQ/ couple of reactors/ the odd military base/ HMRC in Telford near Hap'Green airport ... actually that was probably it, a percieved threat to the nations tax collectors caused the QRF scramble)

h-r

[ShyTorque]

actually that was probably it, a percieved threat to the nations tax collectors caused the QRF scramble)

HR, amusing as that might be, in fact not all the "passengers" who might make a pilot "squawk the squawk" want to bring down the whole of the western civilisation by flying headlong into a tower block for a world media spectacular, as per another 9/11.

Some of them might just hold a personal grudge, either at an organisation or even one individual, or want to arrive at one small but specific target by air. History has proved this to be the case, both in the fixed wing and helicopter environments. This is what I tried to put across on the other thread on this subject, but I gave up after I was branded as someone paranoid about terrorism, which I most definitely am not. But I am aware that there might be other potential security threats to myself, my aircraft and passengers. :ok:

For example, one of my initial instructors (during my fixed wing training in the early 1970s) told a very graphic account of a "pleasure flight" booked by a man for his two young sons, in a Cessna 172. Once airborne, the man suddenly became very aggressive and tried to wrest control from my instructor. Turned out he had actually booked the flight so he could deliberately nose dive all of them into the ground. This was to kill them all, to permanently deprive his recently estranged wife of her sons.

After a struggle, the man was laid unconscious by the cockpit fire extinguisher being applied sharply to his left temple. The aircraft was landed safely, but obviously in traumatic circumstances.

[goldeneaglepilot]

Mental note: if I ever go back to do some instructing, treat stroppy/difficult/thick student to subtle application of fire extinguisher