UAE Sector Frequencies

[Thridle Op Des]

Could someone from UAE centre please help me. I came in from PURDA inbound to BUBIN last night and was unable to contact Bahrain on any HF or VHF frequencies. Not having a hand over frequency I then tried to call UAE centre. The Jeppesen en-route charts we use are particularly hopeless on UAE (and Muscat) FIRs; we are presented with a box containing 5 frequencies and no indication at all as to which to use. All I could do was dial through them to see who I could hear. The first I got was 132.15 which we usually use out of Tehran FIR, a quick call finally got me the right frequency.

As we descended over Al Ain, I heard a poor Indian Airlines pilot get a rollocking from some one in UAE center for entering the FIR on the wrong frequency, probably for the same reason.

Guys, if for some reason we don't get a handover from the previous sector, and this happens a lot entering Muscat from Mumbai Ocean, we don't always have a clue which frequency to establish first contact, please bear with us and just let us know who to call, we all hate to be in anyone's FIR without the proper contract.

Could someone give me a list of entry waypoints with their sector frequencies, I will knock up my own little aide memoire so at least one of us can come up and talk to the right person.

PS - does anyone have the history as to why Bahrain has responsibility for that huge FIR sector in the Empty Quarter?

Regards

TOD

[BlueSkye]

Inbound from BAH HF (i.e. Empty Quarter) - 128,25 Mhz.

Inbound from Tehran via Orsar - 132,15 Mhz.

Inbound from Tehran via Darax - 124,85 Mhz.

Inbound from Muscat via Musap/Pasov/Tapra - 124,85 Mhz.

As we descended over Al Ain, I heard a poor Indian Airlines pilot get a rollocking from some one in UAE center for entering the FIR on the wrong frequency, probably for the same reason

But whyyyyyyyy?

[AirNoServicesAustralia]

Just a little addition to Blue Skyes post, if you are inbound through DARAX and not landing Northern Emirates ie. DXB, SHJ, RAK, FUJ. and you are FL270 or above then you call UAE Nth on 132.15

All other transfers will be VHF to VHF and from and to the more reliable units in the Gulf so you just switch to whatever you are switched to.

Your point on the box of frequencies in the Jepp Charts is a well known problem and it does annoy the controllers when they are busy as much if notmore than it annoys the pilots but how we go about getting the problem solved is another matter.

[Fox3snapshot]

Remember, the JEPS are not an authority, in fact big picture stuff, they have no credibility whatsoever!

Especially if you are trying to bail yourself out of an incident! It is a private company offering their best service to the aviation community they can but read the fine print... "They accept no responsibility for inaccuracies or territorial discrepancies" Basically what they are saying is you'll be careful now!

Best get your company to get the local AIP's and everything that goes with it....

Except Bahrain as they change the lat longs of the way points but not the names.....apparently!!

[Thridle Op Des]

Thanks to all the old hands for your responses, very informative, my AutoCAD is booted up and a FIR chart is in the process of production, however that's 1 EK pilot and only another 1823 to go

I used to trudge up and down between EGLL-EIDW 5 times a day with bmi and we kind of got the hang of the frequencies after a few months, but we always had positive handover, here it's a different proposition. F3SS, the Jepps form part of our operations manuals and I believe (though frequently wrong) that after the Cali Colombia AA crash, Jeppesen were held to a legal liability as part of the information provider. Jepp will obviously have a problem with naming a certain Gulf in the ME as there are two vociferous opinions as to what it should be called, but they do have a certified product, which we do agree is particularly bad in bits, however its the only reference we have in the flight deck. I can see the reply I would get from Fleet if I suggested that we carry the AIP's of all the countries between OMDB and EGPF! We just got rid of our Runway Performance charts and installed two laptops in lieu as a weight saving exercise! The problem is always who to call when the previous HF contact hasn't pitched up.

We are possibly going to LIDO charts, I'm hoping that the En-Routes will be more informative.

Since I'm at it, does anybody have a 'fag packet' sketch of the internal UAE sector boundries to complete my picture?

Thanks to Vercingetorix for the history on the BAH FIR.

Hoping one day to come and visit UAE or DXB ATC and see how the other half live, (when we're allowed to).

Regards

TOD

[danceswithsheep]

TOD,
As a back up, listen in to 132.12 or 125.05 (Bahrain East and West) if no joy on HF. Try to call and just explain you are on the south routes and checking Purda etc. Sometimes we can hear and sometimes not, but with improvements to freqs, chances are closer to UAE you are the more chance we will.
Sheep

[Thridle Op Des]

Hi Sheep,

Thanks for that, amazingly Jepp listed those two freqs (they appear to be a new addition to the chart) and I did try them in desperation, heard nothing and then gave up, finally contacting UAE on 132.15.

TOD