The morons on 121.5. Authorities please act!
 

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?

I totally agree!

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

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....

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.....

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.

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!

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!

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.

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?

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

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...

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

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.

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")

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.

Get a life!

Better focus on the real dangers in aviation; 1) pay to fly muppets in the cockpit in combination with 2) fatigue!

My educated guess is that once you start focusing on those two issues (i.e. less fatigue and more professionalism in the cockpit) that the number of those 121.5 annoyances will sharply reduce!

Moaning that "the authorities must do something" and set up some kind of triangulation system is a classical case of fighting the symptoms and not the causes. :ugh:

I guess you can then moan about an "all intrusive and totalitarian micromanaging nanny state" in your next topic? :ok:

Hire Delta Airlines to enforce Guard discipline! That's why they are sometimes referred to as the Guard Nazis in the US.

I agree that sometimes 121.5 has a little bit of exaggerated chatter, but let's focus on more important issues in this profession.

Aviate, navigate, communicate. In that order, please. As previously mentioned, fatigue and wannabe exploitation are some of a few more important issues. (Im)Proper R/T procedures have been usually been exaggerated (numerous threads comparing British and US).

Undisciplined use of any aeronautical mobile frequency is not a trivial matter - especially an international emergency frequency such as 121.500 MHz.

I believe this is called a Professional Pilots Rumour Network?

Whether you like it or not, it's perfectly correct use of 121.5 in UK airspace.
If something like this really does make you furious, I suggest you take advice from a aviation medical practitioner, because it sounds like you aren't coping too well with what is a fairly normal situation.

Alternatively, simply deselect the frequency at critical times and switch it back on a few seconds later when other people have finished talking.

To ERR is human! Keeping 121.5 on means that if you dial in a wrong frequency when changed to (eg) Tower (by mistake) then there is a safety net available by having 121.5 on UNLESS it's being blocked by idiots (generally). A call to, or from said tower on 121.5 (for landing clearance) could prevent an accident/incident occurring. Stating anything BUT 121.5 should be left for unusual or emergency situations is pure lack or experience/understanding or professionalism.

With the advent of very accurate time sources multilateration techniques are feasible to give a good location on a transmission even with hobbyist equipment:

Multilateration (MLAT)

Multilateration (MLAT) ? FlightAware

I'm guessing VHF multilateration with an analog signal might be harder but the principle is the same.

Also, one of the great proposals years ago was for ATC voice comms to go digital as many other busy forms of communication have done. There would be a tag on each transmission to identify the sender as with many APCO P25 digital police systems. Maybe some of the younger folks here will live to see this happen.

I agree and, as you know, it has happened where even a minor incident or failure makes the entire two hour CVR recording fair game for review. Even if you're in the union, you'll have a lot of explaining to do if the tape shows that you weren't doing your job airborne.

Cathay and FedEx MEM crews in Asia often take similar leadership positions in R/T enforcement in Asia from what I've seen. ;)

To some degree it is indeed generational. But I've been listening to the whiners say things like 'until they pay me more and give me a week off for my birthday, I'm not going to do my job well' for decades now.

I agree, the childish, moronic messing around on 121.5 needs to be clamped down upon. I do wonder how one of the frat boys in the front approaches the subject with the other pilot; "Hey, do you know what will make our job better? Let's belch and play Family Guy clips on Guard!"
"Sure, that sounds like a great idea."
"Oh, was that call for us? I was too busy being a prat on Guard to listen to your instruction."

As for a separate frequency for learner pilots to do their practice Pans on, that is a good idea in my opinion. I have no idea what spare frequencies there are across the UK that could provide a universal frequency. But I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to set up.

It's not so much the difficulty; It's the cost! The Auto Triangulation system in the UK has existed for many years on 121.5 and 243.0. Another Military UHF frequency was set up some time later to accommodate Practice Pans etc.

The UK Distress And Diversion Cells ( Military ) need the practice also, to maintain their own proficiency. They aid many GA pilots unsure of their position often in marginal VMC or worsening conditions and prevent them becoming major emergencies.

If the Airlines need another frequency to be covered; then, the industry will have to pay for it to be added to the system and pay for it to be maintained.

Why isn't 123.45 used for practice pans etc?

Why do practice Pans need to be done at all? Do it in the classroom or while you're sitting on the throne.

My own experience says that most "blocking" of 121.5 actually comes from airline co-pilots inadvertently transmitting on the frequency when trying to contact handling agents and having failed to select and check their switches. Recently, in a two hour flight I heard three examples of this (I routinely listen to 121.5 on my secondary radio when it's not being used for obtaining ATIS etc, even though my present operation is not mandated to do so).

Seriously? :confused:

Can anybody tell me the regulation that made the Antipodean Pilots the worlds 'Guard Police'. I have heard a real emergency (smoke in the cockpit) being stepped on by 'you're on guard mate' and even the guard police then being told they are on guard.

The one time in 35 years I have used 121.5 after a loss of comms during descent (power failure at the ATCC) the 'Guard Police' kindly told me I was on the wrong frequency. I personally find the 'Guard Police' more intrusive than the odd animal noise, and also a misuse of the frequency.

Morons who transmit animal noises on The Aircraft Emergency Frequency know exactly what frequency they are transmitting on they do not need to be told "Mate you're on guard".

I totally agree.

And I agree with Jack aswell, when you are approaching an airport in the UK and you listen all this planes got lost and asking for a practise pan to hide it and get a fix to come back home.

Lack of discipline in the air these days.

Livin the Dream part II covers it!


At the 3:12 mark. http://youtu.be/YoZE0nE60sk

I usually don't care if some want to pollute the frequency.
But I do care during night flights when one of us have a bit of controlled rest and turn up box 2 just in case the other one falls asleep.
That's usually when some think it's okay at night to start chatting. And this doesn't always happen in dodgy countries, it's happening more and more in Germany for example

The regularity and specific locations involved in some of this - the "deux bierres" over eastern central France and the kiddies "cow-can" over western Germany, for example, make me thing it is ground stations perpetrating some of these things. I know an individual whom I had a lot of respect for until I heard he was often making the exact comments in Chesty Morgan's post. Shame.

More evidence that it is not the gentleman's profession it once was. Inevitably with increasing numbers comes riff raff.

But it's ok when the world cup is on and people want to know the football scores!

in Ireland we do practice pans without pushing the ptt button, you just have to demonstrate that you're doing it as part of your PFL, but you don't transmit. I'm surprised that this isn't a practice across the EU