View Full Version : Clowns on 121.500
Satoshi Nakamoto
20th Aug 2019, 21:26
The clowns/comedians on 121.500 seem to be breeding. It is getting worse and worse!
Why is it that an aircraft in distress can be very easily located with a short pan pan pan call with triangulation, why cannot the same technology be used to locate people abusing 121.500? Time to start fining airlines for crew who are found to be abusing guard.
chevvron
21st Aug 2019, 12:57
Not really an ATC issue; would be better off in 'Rumours and News' section, but the subject has been aired several times in this forum.
In answer to your question about auto trianglation, in the UK this only covers UK airspace and the offenders are usually over the ocean and hence out of range which of course, doesn't pardon them for getting shirty when someone has the audacity to call PAN or even MAYDAY.
Jim59
21st Aug 2019, 19:56
the offenders are usually over the ocean and hence out of range
If that were to be true there wouldn't be a problem...
chevvron
22nd Aug 2019, 07:36
If that were to be true there wouldn't be a problem...
I meant out of range of the auto triangulation, not reception.
Bright-Ling
23rd Aug 2019, 11:09
Do ATC units in the UK (be that AC/TC/Local Radar units/towers) monitor 121.5 ?
do you have to?
chevvron
23rd Aug 2019, 14:39
Do ATC units in the UK (be that AC/TC/Local Radar units/towers) monitor 121.5 ?
do you have to?
Not to my knowledge; it's the province of D & D (Distress and Diversion cell at the ATCCs) which is why I said it's not really an ATC issue.
ShyTorque
24th Aug 2019, 01:59
The clowns/comedians on 121.500 seem to be breeding. It is getting worse and worse!
In-breeding, more like. They obviously think other pilots hearing them are thinking how "cool" they are.
Truth is, other pilots hearing them are thinking what a d***-head they are.
pilotnik
26th Aug 2019, 04:21
In the place I work, each sector in the room has to listen to 21.5. As soon as I hear "franco" or any other creation of a brilliant mind I need to turn it down to be able to hear transmission on regular channel.
kontrolor
26th Aug 2019, 21:40
whoever is playing that franco bull**** should be located and bombed.
Tu.114
27th Aug 2019, 08:00
I presume that there is at least one person sharing the cockpit of those prĄcks. Are the other cockpit crew not telling them off for such an infantile behaviour? It has been said that "the actions you walk by are the standard you accept"...
Do those clowns also call 911 in their spare time to tell the operators "meow" or other stuff that is fun to no-one but those simple minds themselves?
Grr...
wagga
27th Aug 2019, 18:35
Very annoying indeed. We can often see who's initiated the transmission, quite frankly they almost all belong to the same airline. Problem is the so called "radio direction finder" we are using is not so accurate (although in reality it works quite well) to be considered as undeniable evidence. A couple of days ago the circus started over the Netherlands/Germany, I called on 121.5 one of the offenders (the one nearest to my transmitter) who, like a child, pretended he wasn't there...
I think I will be reporting them officially in the future, let's see if we get to something...
I think I will be reporting them officially in the future, let's see if we get to something...Well, if you (and colleagues) are not going to chase them, who will ? And not everybody has the equipment (https://www.eurocontrol.int/sites/default/files/2019-06/rdf-muac-factsheet-05092017.pdf) to track them down...
chevvron
27th Aug 2019, 20:09
Well, if you (and colleagues) are not going to chase them, who will ? And not everybody has the equipment (https://www.eurocontrol.int/sites/default/files/2019-06/rdf-muac-factsheet-05092017.pdf) to track them down...
Wow that's progress. Inventing something which was in use in the UK for over 50 years and which most civil airfields have got rid of (don't know about the RAF).
wagga
27th Aug 2019, 21:52
Well, if you (and colleagues) are not going to chase them, who will ?
I am no "policeman of the air" that's NOT my job.
wagga
27th Aug 2019, 21:53
Wow that's progress. Inventing something which was in use in the UK for over 50 years and which most civil airfields have got rid of (don't know about the RAF).
And what has this to do with the topic?
Tu.114
28th Aug 2019, 05:21
Calling out the clown by his callsign might easily be the best method to shut him up and possibly, hopefully, get rid of such ill manners over time... This has nothing to do with policing, as there is no reporting to authorities involved, just with maintaining good discipline on the radio.
Now I do realize that ATC has other, more urgent tasks to perform than this, but if the general workload allows it, a well placed adress or two in times of low traffic would certainly do much good.
fab777
28th Aug 2019, 08:21
they almost all belong to the same airline..
which is?
Name and shame, if you do not want to report officially.
BTW, colleagues from my airline got intercepted a few monthes ago after loss of com, ATC calls on 121.5 not received because volume turned down due to clowns. I would have been pissed...
Without the means to officially deal with the issue would it not be an idea to just ignore them? In my opinion they are only attention seeking and the more “you are on guard” etc replies they get the better it makes them feel. Similar to facebook likes, twitter retweets etc. By not giving any reaction to their childish behaviour it will soon take the ‘fun’ out of it.
chevvron
28th Aug 2019, 10:25
Calling out the clown by his callsign might easily be the best method to shut him up and possibly, hopefully, get rid of such ill manners over time... This has nothing to do with policing, as there is no reporting to authorities involved, just with maintaining good discipline on the radio.
Now I do realize that ATC has other, more urgent tasks to perform than this, but if the general workload allows it, a well placed adress or two in times of low traffic would certainly do much good.
ATC in the UK does not (normally) monitor 121.5 in fact few, if any, civil units even have it on their comms panel; there are 2 dedicated RAF units for this purpose with receivers spaced all over the UK and the ability to select the particular transmitter closest to the aircraft which is transmitting.
wagga
28th Aug 2019, 18:09
Name and shame, if you do not want to report officially.
It would be unfair to the Airline which has certainly nothing to do with it (besides employing a bunch of immature clowns who, I suppose, are looking for each other in the air in such a way).
I shall report it next time, workload permitting. Let's see what happens next.
I actually hope this thread might be more useful, letting them know that it's easy to track them down if somebody (much higher than me) one days decides to put an end to this.
Certainly shouting at them, calling them names on the same frequency only increases the noise (and their entertainment).
TheiC
28th Aug 2019, 21:31
They’re not clowns.
Regrettably, they are our ‘fellow professionals’.
...and if that isn’t a measure of how appallingly standards have slipped, then I cannot think what might be.