Pilots who don't listen out.
Thread Starter
Pilots who don't listen out.
How do controllers and assistants feel about this ? I don't work in ATC but I am in an airside role and heavily involved with aircraft turnarounds. Increasingly I am noticing ATC making repeated calls to a flight that's approaching its push/start time, the flight crew aren't listening or just don't hear and they end up missing their slot or find out that their flight plan has expired! I have often had to call the flight crew over the ground headset and advise them that ATC is trying to raise them and they sound so surprised to hear that. I think I'd find that at least tiresome and at most irritating if I was in ATC, especially if the flight crew had previously established contact and then 'gone silent'.
Thankyou.
Thankyou.
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Doesn’t bother me. If I’ve tried a couple of times, and they’re not listening… well, I’ve tried. If operators are unwilling to manage their flight plans properly (i.e. delay them in good time when it’s apparent they’re not going to make the EOBT or CTOT) then I’m not going to lose any sleep over self-inflicted issues.
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What rodan said. Those who do a DCL clearance are the hardest to contact, as they seem to believe that it's set in stone. Those who are taxying who don't listen are a bug bear as well as those at the holding point and not listening. Unbelievable.
I'm well out of ops now but back in my day it was no big deal. If I was initiating the call to an aircraft on stand, it was probably to ask/tell them about something that might be advantageous and if they don't answer, they miss out. If it was bad news, there'll be plenty of time to tell them later. But I also look at it from the pilots' perspective - there can be a lot going on as the flight preps for departure and I quite understand that turning the radio down if you're not expecting a call might seem like a good idea. Then again, how do pilots/drivers feel when they call ATC and don't get a reply immediately - there were plenty of times that I prioritised something else over answering an RTF call straight away? But I'm with terrain safe on the taxying thing, once an aircraft is 'active', I would expect a listening watch from an aircraft at all times.
I'm well out of ops now but back in my day it was no big deal. If I was initiating the call to an aircraft on stand, it was probably to ask/tell them about something that might be advantageous and if they don't answer, they miss out. If it was bad news, there'll be plenty of time to tell them later. But I also look at it from the pilots' perspective - there can be a lot going on as the flight preps for departure and I quite understand that turning the radio down if you're not expecting a call might seem like a good idea. Then again, how do pilots/drivers feel when they call ATC and don't get a reply immediately - there were plenty of times that I prioritised something else over answering an RTF call straight away? But I'm with terrain safe on the taxying thing, once an aircraft is 'active', I would expect a listening watch from an aircraft at all times.
I don’t think that you realise what an unarmed paper hangar job being a pilot is what with reading and answering to a checklist, monitoring the actions, communicating with the pax, cabin crew, ground engineer, listening out on company as well as ATC and having yet another call sign ..gone are the days of an engineer to assist, the chief steward standing behind and the call sign Speedbird one…
give them a break
give them a break
From the moment I shut down to the moment I request start, the headset isn’t even on. Whats more, for a lot of the turnaround I’m not even in the flight deck. Any slot changes get ACARS to the aircraft anyway and we actually know before ATC try to call us with the update.Sure it’s really nice when ATC try to call us but as mentioned, they just try once or twice and then move on, I wasn’t aware anyone was getting wound up by it.
Originally Posted by parishiltons
Yeah but these days in some places adhering to your TSAT, EOBT or moving in time to make your CTOT is important. If a flight looks like missing one of those then at least ATC tried to give them a prompt before the noncompliance penalty kicks in.
Avoid imitations
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Even worse are pilots who call an ATC unit asking for a service in Class G airspace and get a reply but obviously have turned down the receive volume, so they don’t hear it. ATC keep trying to get them to pass their message. Then, when ATC have given up, they repeat the call and it begins all over again. 
