121.5 the new football hotline?
Join Date: Oct 2010
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Have done the same on a calm evening on center and got a lovely compact resume of a qualifying match for the WC. We even get scores on acars from the lovely people at dispatch center. On 121.5? Really? On this day and age...? Such a shame.
It really puts off those of us who monitor it as a common practice.
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funny to say 'eatmyshorts' appears to be the only one who speaks everyday business in real life flying while all others seem to rise emotions from a purely theoretical point of view how written rules and procedures should be followed in a clinical sterile way instead of any actual work experience.
some few chats are fully ok and normal and he is correct that should a significant message come in at 121.5 any football talk will stop immediately and anybody will switch to listen or help when able.
it does not reduce any safety but helps to make a working day more nicely .
some few chats are fully ok and normal and he is correct that should a significant message come in at 121.5 any football talk will stop immediately and anybody will switch to listen or help when able.
it does not reduce any safety but helps to make a working day more nicely .
Join Date: Mar 2012
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The amount of useless talking on 121.5 is just plain ridiculous and makes me wonder what is the concept of aviation in some people's mind nowadays if they do think using an emergency comm for this kind of BS is acceptable. If You are flying short/medium haul You can wait till you land switch on your 3G and get all the results you need, amazing right ? If You are on long haul and are really eager to know what happened then ACARS/HF will be the deal and nobody will be pissed off. The 123.45 freq is an operational information frequency and should be used this way, not for chit chatting on how's life how's the roster as you can use your mobile/whatsapp/skype/whatever for that while sipping a beer and talking to your mate. If You are really bored during your flight, I am 100% sure there is something much more productive that you can do in a flight deck rather than whispering Franco on 121.5.
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If you bother to read the whole thread carefully you will see what at former controller thinks.
"Having been a controller in 'distress and diversion' where we often had extremely weak signals such as from emergency beacons from an aircraft floating in the Atlantic being reported to us - while some
burbled away blocking out the weak signal that they could not hear; I can assure you that everybody does NOT shut up. The frequency is there for emergency use PERIOD. There are other common frequencies where animal impressions may be welcomed by the 'professional pilots' without hazarding emergencies you cannot Bear"
I once read of a PPL being stuck above cloud in Norfolk who was being given help on 121.5 and every time he spoke some moron who was a so called professional pilot kept telling him he was on guard making his task and that of those trying to help him get back safely below cloud much harder.
Making your day a little bit more enjoyable could cost some one their life.
If you are professional pilot then try acting like one.
"Having been a controller in 'distress and diversion' where we often had extremely weak signals such as from emergency beacons from an aircraft floating in the Atlantic being reported to us - while some
burbled away blocking out the weak signal that they could not hear; I can assure you that everybody does NOT shut up. The frequency is there for emergency use PERIOD. There are other common frequencies where animal impressions may be welcomed by the 'professional pilots' without hazarding emergencies you cannot Bear"I once read of a PPL being stuck above cloud in Norfolk who was being given help on 121.5 and every time he spoke some moron who was a so called professional pilot kept telling him he was on guard making his task and that of those trying to help him get back safely below cloud much harder.
Making your day a little bit more enjoyable could cost some one their life.
If you are professional pilot then try acting like one.
If you bother to read the whole thread carefully you will see what at former controller thinks.
"Having been a controller in 'distress and diversion' where we often had extremely weak signals such as from emergency beacons from an aircraft floating in the Atlantic being reported to us - while some burbled away blocking out the weak signal that they could not hear; I can assure you that everybody does NOT shut up. The frequency is there for emergency use PERIOD. There are other common frequencies where animal impressions may be welcomed by the 'professional pilots' without hazarding emergencies you cannot Bear"
I once read of a PPL being stuck above cloud in Norfolk who was being given help on 121.5 and every time he spoke some moron who was a so called professional pilot kept telling him he was on guard making his task and that of those trying to help him get back safely below cloud much harder.
Making your day a little bit more enjoyable could cost some one their life.
If you are professional pilot then try acting like one.
"Having been a controller in 'distress and diversion' where we often had extremely weak signals such as from emergency beacons from an aircraft floating in the Atlantic being reported to us - while some
burbled away blocking out the weak signal that they could not hear; I can assure you that everybody does NOT shut up. The frequency is there for emergency use PERIOD. There are other common frequencies where animal impressions may be welcomed by the 'professional pilots' without hazarding emergencies you cannot Bear"I once read of a PPL being stuck above cloud in Norfolk who was being given help on 121.5 and every time he spoke some moron who was a so called professional pilot kept telling him he was on guard making his task and that of those trying to help him get back safely below cloud much harder.
Making your day a little bit more enjoyable could cost some one their life.
If you are professional pilot then try acting like one.
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What we need is triangulation with subsequent FDR analysis for mic keying, and prosecutions. Technically perfectly feasible but yet another practical step the regulators won’t take because it would mean actually doing something.
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Early 2000’s I was flying a low level sortie in the Lake District when it went spectacularly wrong very quickly,... I put out a mayday on London mil (not heard but no surprise as coverage was weak when low level) and the nav transmitted on guard (243 and 121.5) in the subsequent enquiry it was found that at that precise moment someone was making farmyard noises which prevented our transmission being heard on 121.5, all I can say is thankfully the military guys don’t act like children and block emergency frequencies.
We are supposed to be professionals, act like it before it costs someone’s life.
as an aside we both got out and were unharmed.
We are supposed to be professionals, act like it before it costs someone’s life.
as an aside we both got out and were unharmed.
Join Date: Oct 2010
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i agree with you that strictly following the rules there should be zero non relevant communications on this frequency , as well as on any other atc frequency except 123.45.
i just told you that work in a cockpit is not perfectly sterile and humans are doing this work.
not a single time in my career i experienced a scenario somebody has real troubles and asks for help on 121.5 and somebody else spams and blocks the frequency in this moment . any controller in radio contact would in such a scenario tell such a dumbass to shut up immediately or face serious consequences.
when there is no emergency a quick talk about results is ok and accepted , any other opinion is really debating a pure theoretical worst case scenario by impressions from scanning live atc thru internet.
i just told you that work in a cockpit is not perfectly sterile and humans are doing this work.
not a single time in my career i experienced a scenario somebody has real troubles and asks for help on 121.5 and somebody else spams and blocks the frequency in this moment . any controller in radio contact would in such a scenario tell such a dumbass to shut up immediately or face serious consequences.
when there is no emergency a quick talk about results is ok and accepted , any other opinion is really debating a pure theoretical worst case scenario by impressions from scanning live atc thru internet.
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well, in an open forum he may or may not be a former atc guy , we simply do not know .
the same applies to people who claim to speak from actual experience .
in any way no need to argue , in real world this theme is a non issue and pilots and atc appreciate it , only here most of you see it dramatic .
best regards
the same applies to people who claim to speak from actual experience .
in any way no need to argue , in real world this theme is a non issue and pilots and atc appreciate it , only here most of you see it dramatic .
best regards
Avoid imitations
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when there is no emergency a quick talk about results is ok and accepted , any other opinion is really debating a pure theoretical worst case scenario by impressions from scanning live atc thru internet.
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Behaviour like this will lead to 121.5 being tuned quiet and increase loss of coms and as already stated you may not hear the real emergency because the signal is weak.
As already mentioned if you are that irresponsible at least direct interested parties to come up on 123.45, that way the time of distraction and probability of damage done is lower.
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It is not. In my outfit we have recently had a com loss for several minutes. The crew interviewed declared that they had turned down the COM 2 volume because of the amount of garbage they had to listen to. They did actually miss several comms on COM1 as they were briefing and unfamiliar with the callsign they were using that day (wet lease ops). Bottom point is : people make mistakes, we all do, the 121.5 is the last safety net before You need to have a private airshow from a Typhoon or whatever fighter is used in Your backyard.
Avoid imitations
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Just like ACARS message, each VHF transmission could be preceeded by identifier tone. While there is no need for it to be identified immediately, it should all be recorded and pulled out in case of abuse.
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Unprofessional - no question
Furthermore, some of us quite enjoy not knowing the scores until the final whistle blows when we finally get to watch the game back in the hotel or at home... I remember the good old days of going out to play a game on a Saturday afternoon and avoiding the pub, or at least avoiding a pub with a teleprinter and keeping the radio off in the carso that we wouldn`t know the scores until we saw them on Match of the Day in the evening. The guys calling the scores on 121.5 are, in my humble opinion even worse than the pricks that would run to the payphone ear the carpark to call their wives to get the scores and shout t hem out to everybody, fully in the knowledge that 50% of the people listening were trying not to know.
Maddening
Furthermore, some of us quite enjoy not knowing the scores until the final whistle blows when we finally get to watch the game back in the hotel or at home... I remember the good old days of going out to play a game on a Saturday afternoon and avoiding the pub, or at least avoiding a pub with a teleprinter and keeping the radio off in the carso that we wouldn`t know the scores until we saw them on Match of the Day in the evening. The guys calling the scores on 121.5 are, in my humble opinion even worse than the pricks that would run to the payphone ear the carpark to call their wives to get the scores and shout t hem out to everybody, fully in the knowledge that 50% of the people listening were trying not to know.
Maddening
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True story. For the skippers who don’t know you can listen to many radio stations with ADF. Any combination of numbers multiple of 9 will probably catch a radio channel. For Example in Hong Kong airspace 864 or 1044 are famous music stations. Just add or substract 9 eg 873 or 1035 and you will get another station. Keep going until you get what you are looking for. Not flying in Europe, but for sure you can find one sport channel. 
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This right here so much. Too much annoying chit-chat from 121.5 will lead to volumes being turned down and forgotten, making the risk of loss of communications greater. Not to mention emergency messages.