The verbal listing of what movies are available, what beverages are available, how much a cocktail costs, what time it is at your destination city, etc., are probably not required by the FAA and certainly have nothing to do with safety. The OP probably is referring to these since they're right around the switch to departure frequency, rather than the safety announcements, which are on the ground and maybe during a less interesting time. The complaint is probably still not with the Purser but rather with UA's policies on service-related announcements, unless individual crew members are extraneously ad-libbing.
Actually, safety announcements are required both while in the air and on the ground. The OP was referring to a specific announcement:
Ah missed that -- couldn't have been bothered to read the OP, sorry
Didn't think he meant that one, that one's usually pretty short as they're scrambling to get what they need done. The only announcement that I normally witness going on waaayyyyy too long is the UA service-related one, not the safety ones.
My last lax-syd flight in '06, the purser went on for eight minutes after takeoff. Brutal. I would have less of a problem with it if they didn't start.......then pause......then start over.....then get interrupted and pause....then start.....and go on.....
My last lax-syd flight in '06, the purser went on for eight minutes after takeoff. Brutal. I would have less of a problem with it if they didn't start.......then pause......then start over.....then get interrupted and pause....then start.....and go on.....
FWIW, I'd highly suspect the People's Republic of China for one. In fact, I'd be downright surprised if one were allowed to listen to ATC there.
Be surprised!
I don't know what the official rules are, but you can listen to ATC from pushback to landing in SFO, as well as from somewhere in northern China until you park at the gate when coming in to PEK on 889. No attempts to turn of Ch 9! (Hooray!)
It's fun to listen to the Chinese style of air traffic control. ("You, yeah, whatever, go there... uh huh... whatever, yeah, I guess you can push back... uh huh... one sec, I need a cigarette... you guys try not to crash into each other while I'm lighting up, alright?")
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It's unfortunate that on landing, a lengthy purser speech of some required info and much company info (check the monitors for your latest connection information; we know you have a choice of airlines; if this is your home, drive carefully and come back to see us again) comes just at the handoff from tower's local control to ground control. If ATC weren't "stepped on" at that point, I could find out what our gate was a good 5-10 mins. before we get there.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C-5Crewdog
What part of the FAA mandated safety announcements constitute a "stupid message".
It's almost never the safety announcement that whacks interesting channel 9 exchanges, but rather the purser wanting to hear themselves ramble on for 5 minutes about BOB and the movie.
To answer you question more directly, I find the entire safety announcement to be stupid, but that's another thread in the making.
The morse code identifier is always required. It is very common that the VOR goes down for maintance. The VOR might be broadcasting an erronenous signal. The only way to determine this is if there is no identifier or the ident is TEST. The acronym TITS is for tune, IDENTIFY, twist and set goes for all a/c. Some nav heads auto-identify such as on a 777 (IIRC) (probably honeywell) and a Garmin SL30.
Most transport jets after I'm guessing 1985, pull up the ATIS on the ACARS. The often have a printer that prints this out for them to attach to the plate holder. Newer GA a/c can pull this up on G430/530, Avidyne, G1000 or other MFD. This often requires XM Satellite capability or a separate receiver/decoder.
ATIS is usually updated at around 50 minutes past the hour....not at 20 minutes past the hour. Also updated if wether conditions change dramatically. AIM 4-1-13 covers ATIS.
On some VOR's, HIWAS is broadcast over the voice portion of the frequency. This is high intensity weather info such as tornadoes, thunderstorms, etc.
I *think* when you tune a VOR such 113.9, it not only tunes one frequency but at least one other. So you are actually getting two frequencies. One is nav and one is voice. Similar to any ILS where you tune the localizer frequency and the nav head automatically tunes in the glide slope even though the GS is a different frequency and even a different antenna on the plane.
And to answer a FAQ of pilots, no you don't have to file a flight plan (or get VFR flight following) so no one knows what you are doing and an airport tower might not know you are coming until 6 miles out. The way you say you are landing is, well, you don't. All you have to say is "Podunk, Cirrus XY123, 10 east, 2000, bravo." Who you are talking to (Podunk tower), who you are, where you are (altitude helps) and that you have information Bravo. "information" just ties up airtime without providing any additional info and "landing" is implied.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C-5Crewdog
What part of the FAA mandated safety announcements constitute a "stupid message". If you have issues with what they are required to say, your complaint is with the FAA, not the Purser.
You are assuming I'm talking about the FAA messages. Your assumption is wrong.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by magiciansampras
You are assuming I'm talking about the FAA messages. Your assumption is wrong.
Sorry if I misinterpreted the annoucement you were referring to, but the specific announcement by the Purser that you quoted from LIH Prem was safety related.
Quote:
Originally Posted by magiciansampras
Quote:
Originally Posted by LIH Prem
ATC: United 778, there's been a mild earthquake at SFO and they are going to do a visual inspection of the run ...
Purser on PA: In preparation for landing ...
It seems whenever Ch 9 is on the purser always wants to hear himself/herself talk and they take forever to finish up their stupid messages. Arg.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClueByFour
It's almost never the safety announcement that whacks interesting channel 9 exchanges, but rather the purser wanting to hear themselves ramble on for 5 minutes about BOB and the movie.
To answer you question more directly, I find the entire safety announcement to be stupid, but that's another thread in the making.
If ATC weren't "stepped on" at that point, I could find out what our gate was a good 5-10 mins. before we get there.
I'm not sure of the value of knowing which gate you'll be parking at in advance, but if you subscribe to EasyUpdate, you can turn on your phone after landing and usually find out from the flight arrival message.
Note that I said "usually." Obviously irregular operations will have an impact.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by g_leyser
I smell a sexual harrassment lawsuit
When you hear a male pilot say, "C u next time", to a female controller it's generally not meant in a very kind way ... and yes, there have been some complaints brought against pilots as a result ...
![The Consolidated "Interesting Things Heard on Channel 9" Thread [Merged]](/forum/iconimages/united-mileage-plus/consolidated-interesting-things-heard-channel-9-thread-merged_ltr.gif)
I smell a sexual harrassment lawsuit 
