Air Canada Needs Channel 9
 

Just got finished doing a whack of United flights and I must say I absolutely love passing the time listening to Channel 9.

Knowing that you are buzzing around with a CX, AC, QF or FedEx heavy is a lot of fun. Makes the flight "fly by".

Talk about an easy and cheap upgrade to the AVOD.

What do you guys think?

J

+1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love channel 9 too!

+1

There's rarely a time when I'm on UA metal that I don't listen to it from the time I board. The only annoying bit is getting interrupted for things like passenger announcements ;)

"Nil novi sub sole" ....

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...ssible-ac.html

There is an interesting link on the UA forum about this. So far in my last 5 flights on UA it has only been available once. I spoke to the crew on an sfo-ord flight last fall and the FA's told me the captains have been going away from it because some twit passengers in the back who do not understand anything about atc or airline procedures have complained about things they hear and misunderstood. Some have complained to the FAA causing the crew to have to answer the complaint. On my flight from MSY to IAD Jan 24 it was off on the 319. I asked the Capt about it and he said it was broken. As I was going back to my seat I overheard him admitting to the incharge it was not, but he could not be bothered anymore, and he would tell her why later. I doubt we will ever see it on AC. It's not that they don't have great flight crews, I just do not think its in their culture. Besides they hardly ever talk to you any more as it is. I can count on one hand the number of times they even came on and welcomed you aboard let alone talking to you in flight about route or weather at destination.

This mirrors my experience as well, I suspect for the reasons you've cited.

Whenever it *has* been on I've made an effort to thank the cockpit crew when de-planing (if one of the pilots is standing there saying buh-bye).

+1 as well, I love channel 9!

Agree Ch9 on UA is fantastic.
Had 4 flights on UA in last week and 2 flights had ch9 on. Listened intently as we were the 2nd flight arriving on a newly opened runway in ORD yesterday. Talk of breaking issues on arrival in ORD, windshear on takeoff in SFO, our captain asking + searching hard for smooth air between FL290 and FL370 for most of our SFO-ORD flight. It was weird - we'd hit light/mod chop and he'd be on the radio instantly requesting ride reports at other flight levels

It's a pipe-dream AC will ever adopt something like Ch9. Between the language, privacy and other coddled, affected groups in Canada I'm sure there would be some roadblock.

BTW, Jeff Smirsk (CEO, United/Continental) has stated Ch9 will not be on Continental metal ever. Says it's too costly . . . so maybe it's not as cheap an IFE as we think??

For us non-UA people, can someone describe channel 9?

If enabled, it's a channel linked to the pilot's radio.

Ahh! That would be cool! That and the map on simultaneously would be good reality entertainment.

Thanks rehoult and AB320: I got my daily dose of education. I feel like Grasshopper today.

I would also love Channel 9 on AC, but have also noticed that on UA, it's not being turned on as often these days.

I've noticed the opposite. Perhaps I've been lucky.