Monday October 2nd on UA3, the beginning of our Honey moon. Lots of weather at ORD (it rained ALOT later that day), both us and UA1 were filled to the rim with fuel and pax, so we were pretty much the only heavies around at the time who needed lots of runway. We needed spacing between 2 crossing runways and the tower/ground was extremely busy.
After waiting at the end of the runway for around 45 minutes, they changed runways and we needed to taxi to the other end of the same runway. UA1 started to worry about the gas, so while taxiing he bugged the tower for the about 10th time: "eeeehhh Tower, United 1 here, we're getting close to needing more gas now, when do you estimate we will be able to go?" Tower replied immediately: "Tuesday"
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Quote:
Originally Posted by seakobi
I really enjoy Channel 9 - it's humorous but also very educating. One pilot I had recently chose different 'goodbye' slogans (from different languages) when he was moving from one frequency to another!
I've noticed that I don't always know what they are talking about when listening - ie: vectoring the final, 'snowbird xxx', 'jetski', etc.
I found a great site (http://www.flightaware.com) that has some very cool stuff but the entire process really interests me. No - I'm not in the market for a career change, just would like to know a bit more.
Also - is the flight simulator anything worth exploring? I'd love to be in the cockpit jumpseat one day to just watch how the entire process happens.
Thanks!
Welcome to FlyerTalk!
Don't worry, if you hang around here much, you'll start picking up on a lot of the jargon, without even realizing it. As for career changes... hey, who hasn't thought it would be cool to fly a plane?
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Today's Gem
Thu 1/18 DEN-BOS
UAxxxx: Minnie Center, UAxxxx, flight level 350.
Center: UAxxxx, Minneapolis Center, roger. Say wind?
UAxxxx: Wind 250 at 186, UAxxxx.
Center: Roger, you don't see that too often. It's pretty remarkable!
Unkown a/c: Not if you're going the other way!
Our wheels-up to wheels-down time DEN-BOS was 2:45! They barely squeezed in the movie.
UAxxxx: Minnie Center, UAxxxx, flight level 350.
Center: UAxxxx, Minneapolis Center, roger. Say wind?
UAxxxx: Wind 250 at 186, UAxxxx.
Center: Roger, you don't see that too often. It's pretty remarkable!
Unkown a/c: Not if you're going the other way!
Our wheels-up to wheels-down time DEN-BOS was 2:45! They barely squeezed in the movie.
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NRT - SFO a few years ago was so fast, the flight info display said we hit 710 -- MPH, not KPH. Fastest I've gone that I'm aware of. Short flight.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LarryJ
This may be true in some countries but not in the United States. Here ATIS is rarely on a navigation frequency and normal updates are hourly.
Hi LarryJ - any chance you could explain how a nav signal and ATIS could (in cases where the would) co-exist on the same frequency? Are they modulated differently? Some sort of sideband issue? I've never understood how aircraft radios were able to perform multiple functions...
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NRT - SFO a few years ago was so fast, the flight info display said we hit 710 -- MPH, not KPH. Fastest I've gone that I'm aware of. Short flight.
I was doing about 405 LHR-ORD last week. The flight from wheels up to wheels down took over 10 hours. I was pissed. An FA I know said that her LHR-IAD flight took 9h45.
on NRT-SFO..."United 838 heavey turn heading blah blah blah for routing into SFO"
"United 838 heavey with a request; can we have routing blah blah blah direct to SFO for a MECH."
I didn't understand the ATC speak but it sounded like the longer routing was a problem, but I guess not as bad of a problem that would require an immediate vector. this was about 25 minutes before landing.
what kind of mechanical problem could this have been?
Hi LarryJ - any chance you could explain how a nav signal and ATIS could (in cases where the would) co-exist on the same frequency? Are they modulated differently? Some sort of sideband issue? I've never understood how aircraft radios were able to perform multiple functions...
All navaids have a morse code identifier. Some navaids also have a voice. "Seattle VOR"
A navaid can transmit a morse code as easily as an ATIS.
Hi LarryJ - any chance you could explain how a nav signal and ATIS could (in cases where the would) co-exist on the same frequency? Are they modulated differently? Some sort of sideband issue? I've never understood how aircraft radios were able to perform multiple functions...
It's fairly common to have a NAVAID freq transmit more than just the morse code ID. Normally they'll have an area weather observation (AWOS); but if the NAVAID is co-located with an airport the ATIS or like weather and info will be broadcast. Most general aviation radios have the capability to receive either the identifier or the voice broadcast -- flick of a switch.
Sorry can't explain the technology that enables this; results are more important than the method!
I noticed Channel 9 was not turned on while UA862 was pushing back in HKG a few days ago and asked the FA walking by and 30 seconds later, it came on and HKG is definitely ROC even though it is technically a SAR.
Hong Kong is NOT part of the Republic of China (ROC), it's part of the People's Republic of China (PRC)! And if PRC has regulations against Channel 9, it wouldn't apply to HK. (I know for sure aviation frequency receivers are legal in HK, so why not in the air?)
The Basic Law of HKSAR specifies which mainland (PRC) laws apply to HK, and there are very few.
I agree, during taxing, take-off, approach and landing it's interesting, but I wouldn't spend a full 8-12 hour transatlantic flight listening to channel 9.
The rest of the flight it's mostly about switching from one frequency to another, some minor changes in altitude etc.
Haven't flown UA trans-Pacific for close to a decade. Do they still report positions over the ocean? (If they do and you can hear it, and you have looked up the flight plan on FlightAware prior to departure, it would be better info than what's displayed [or even available for Y pax] on board.)
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