The morons on 121.5. Authorities please act!

[MFALK]

I do not consider myself a prude or uptight but the appalling behaviour by some cretins on 121.5 over Europe a few days ago enrages me. These are supposed to be professionals entrusted with the live of hundreds of souls and yet, act as if they are utter morons.

So a poor chap mistakenly calls Company on 121.5 and instead of politely telling him to switch freqs., an idiot goes "Go ahead.." so the original caller thinks he is speaking to Company and goes on with his requirements ... Apparently overjoyed with their prank, the morons start a chorus of "You're on 121.5 mate..." in a variety of accents obviously pleased with their sorry selves...

At some point, a few even interjected by a humming rendition of Piero Umiliani's Mah Na Mah Na which caused even more "humorous" outbursts, catcalls etc... WTF?

What mental age would one have one to be to find this funny!?

Some things to ponder...

• Can the Authorities please set up a triangulation system (shouldn't be too difficult) to nail these idiots and make sure they have to go through a phsych evaluation. Please don't tell us it is being implemented and just let the fools fall in the trap first!
  
• Do you understand that by your actions some flight crew have to turn 121.5 down to avoid the distraction, loosing one of the last defenses in a LOC event which could lead to an interception or worse?
  
• Think what the Authorities and your employer would think if within a few minutes of acting like a moron you happen to experience some sort of technical event which requires the CVR to be read, what would that transcript make you look like and would you be likely to be retained by your employer?

[fireflybob]

I totally agree!

To some extent this reflects the culture we live in these days - discipline seems to be a thing of the past.

[FlyANA]

Well, the CVR can only be inspected by the AAIB, so I'm presuming you'd be in worse trouble in that instance.

But I've dealt with a large amount of PLOCs due to people turning down 121.5 due to distraction (usually from ELTs though!), then missing freq changes and then the jets get sent up.

It's the small holes in the cheese....

[Chesty Morgan]

Where is he.....................where is he................................where is he.................................where is he ...YOU'RE ON GUARD...........there he is.

[RightHandMan]

In this case I think you're getting worked up over a relatively rare event. It's not exactly a display of the highest levels of professionalism, but if your F/O has to listen to this type of irrational ranting about the "unprofessionalism" of a bit of light humor, he's probably more inclined to turn down his intercom before box 2.

On the other hand on a nice day in the UK and 121.5 becomes unbearable as every PPL in the country seems to be doing a practice PAN or attaining a location fixes. It's great that they practice with a real controller but maybe assign a freq specially for it, 125.55 for example.

[Unbusy]

Some are so fast to reply that they must fly with Guard selected as active.
Has the idiot that makes animal noises been identified yet? All the way from FAO to the UK, so not ground based, as i think some transmissions are.
It is mostly just a reflection of their boredom due to the repetitive nature of the job imo.
Still, at least occasionally it gets them away from the iphone.

[captplaystation]

MFALK,

Top post & I wholeheartedly agree. I have to admit to wasting air time several times these past few years admonishing the Pr1cks who find it so funny to say "go-ahead". This & the "teenage humour" displayed by certain little lads is pretty puerile & a very poor reflection on the (lack of) maturity by certain crew members.

[Right Way Up]

Makes you wonder where the Captains are when they do it....

.....or maybe it is THE Captains....even worse thought.

[fireflybob]

I suppose EASA would be more interested that they've got English Language Proficiency at Level 6 rather than taking any action about this issue.....

[Jwscud]

London D&D have been known to triangulate and call by name some of the worse offenders in UK airspace.

I recall they had a go at a Lufthansa crew who were complaining anonymously about a practice pan.

[RAT 5]

In this case I think you're getting worked up over a relatively rare event. It's not exactly a display of the highest levels of professionalism,

Perhaps, but.....if they display this level of infancy in this scenario what low level of professionalism might they apply in a more serious event? What can be said about the PA blocking the primary ATC frequency is that ATC usually are the first to respond and slap on the first is usually enough. Glad my wife is not on duty at the time. Ouch!

[Yaw String]

Try listening to the babble over South East Asia...At least I can't understand a syllable of what is being said..but,fair smattering of animal noises too...Demonstrates worrying lack of imagination...as to how it affects the monitoring of 121.5......
However....I do miss that music channel that used to pervade most Bangkok overflight frequencies...Gone bust,I guess!

[RightHandMan]

Perhaps, but.....if they display this level of infancy in this scenario what low level of professionalism might they apply in a more serious event?

I'm sure they up their game when more serious events come along. I would argue that it's the strung out, by the book types, that are more likely to struggle with the serious events. If you can't keep your emotions under check at some morons acting up on the radio, I suspect there's a good chance you struggle to keep calm during a serious event as well.

[320DRIVER]

So RightHandMan, let me get this right, your inference is that if someone doesn't play along with this infantile banter, then one will not be able to handle a real emergency?

[Huck]

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.....

[Tu.114]

The most disturbing thing I heard once was an apparently genuine emergency communication on this frequency between a ship on the North Sea and an approaching helicopter that was stepped on by some numbnuts every few seconds with "you´re on GUAAA--AAAA-RD!".

Why it is not possible to just ignore the inadvertent calls on 121,5 and let the initiator notice on his own that the lack of a response is due to his frequency selector is rather beyond me. Ignoring things that are not meant for one is a long-lost art, it seems...

[de facto]

Last week in Spanish FIR was the latest.
Spankings are missing for sure.

[jack schidt]

Practice Pan X 3 make me furious to be honest. Chose another parallel frequency for these calls. While trying to hear my LHR approach calls on a very busy/already congested frequency, to be punctuated with a(nother) pointless 121.5 call is a flight safety issue. As a global operator, Europe has become the worst 121.5 congested frequency of pointless calls. The U.K. Needs to realise that it appears to have the worst record of all for 121.5 "blocks" of the main frequency.

[Bernoulli]

Unfortunately this idiocy is not confined to Europe. Somewhere over the middle bit of America yesterday one of the twelve year olds belched loud and long on guard. Attempts to persuade those of us who take a dim view of this behaviour to 'lighten up' display a complete lack of understanding about aviation. Ask anyone who's had to make a call for real if they find the 'fun' on 121.5 amusing. P***ing around on guard is not the best way to have a laugh and people who think it is need to grow up.

So there.

(After a long silence there was a single word response to the plonker above from an American voice...."idiot")

[giggitygiggity]

Is listening to 121.5 whilst on approach in the London TMA really the best use of your radios. I would have thought it would be a distraction (like you said) that actually erodes the safety rather than increasing it in the unlikely event you cock the frequencies up. Concentrating on one box alone is hard enough down there.