FriendlySkies

Once we switched over to Jacksonville Center, the controller approved our course deviation, so the Captain cooled down a bit..

ZNYGUY

Maybe the pilot should be more professional and follow proper procedures. How about that?

Ocn Vw 1K

In nearly 30 years of gate-to-gate ch.9 listening, I've heard very few examples of testiness on either side of the conversation. These have been so very few and I can't recall one where a UA FO was the offender.

One in the last year involved an ARTCC radar controller who got testy with our flight solely for failing to use the full callsign in acknowledging a clearance (i.e., "United 239" instead of the "239" that our flight used - after the flight had checked-on in the sector with the full callsign.) While I obviously couldn't see the sector's strips or display, I heard no similar-numbered callsigns in use at the time. Of course the controller was literally correct as to proper acknowledgment phraseology, but he did not have to be testy about it, given the prevalent -- and common -- practice our flight used of a shortened callsign after checking on with the full one.

jackal

It's been awhile since my small bit of flight training, and I'm sure the REAL pilots here can correct me if needed, but IIRC, the rule is that you can use a shortened callsign once the controller identifies you using that shortened callsign.

For example, I used to fly Diamond 439A. I would contact ground with, "Merrill Ground, Diamond four-three-niner-alpha*, taxi for city-high departure." Ground would usually respond, "Three-niner alpha, ground, taxi runway 26." Once that happened, I could respond with "Ground, three-niner alpha, taxi runway 26." which, of course, I usually did.

*Yes, I know that technically, it should be "fower-tree-niner-alfa"

LarryJ

ATC doesn't shorten company callsigns.

Cristobal

Heard this on UA836 PVG-ORD about a year ago while we were taxiing before departing PVG.

There were a number of Chinese flights landing at the time and tower was speaking mainly in Chinese, so this made a Dragon Air flight (I assume from HKG) stand out with its impeccable English, spoken in a perfectly clipped British accent. I listened to the Dragon aircraft land and then shortly thereafter call the tower again. The conversation went something like this:

Dragon: Tower, this is Dragon XXX
Tower: Dragon XXX go ahead
Dragon: Tower, there is a large dead bird on runway 16 at [gives some kind of location identifier]
Tower: Dragon XXX, you had a bird strike?
Dragon: Negative. There is dead bird on the runway
Tower: You say there is a dead bird beside the runway?
Dragon: Negative. The dead bird is on the runway. On the centerline of the runway. [Gives location again]
Tower: OK Dragon, we will send a car out there

Loren Pechtel

My wife (ESL, native Chinese speaker) always has had trouble with the positional pronouns.

SaveTheTulip

I was on UA 625 from DCA-ORD yesterday, 6/16. As we were flying over Lake Michigan close to the Chicago shoreline on approach to runway 28, however, Channel 9 went away, and about a minute later the purser came on the air and notified us that the captain had informed him that we did not have a braking system and that he needed to prepare the cabin for an emergency landing. (We were on an A320). There were a couple of pilots sitting on the aisles in bulkhead row 6, and the flight attendants swapped them with the two passengers sitting in the window seats in the first exit row, row 10. There was a pilot already sitting in 10E. A minute before landing the captain told us "one minute to touchdown, brace positions, please," and we got into position. The landing felt normal, but we had to wait on the runway for 20 minutes because without brakes we couldn't taxi.

Anyway, has anyone listened to channel 9 during an emergency landing or been on another flight and listened to an emergency landing in progress? If so, any interesting stories?

vandalby

Yup, just a couple of months ago. Was on an evening departure from ORD to either LGA or PHL (can't remember - I do remember that it was on a 75), I was upgraded to F and sitting on the window around row 4 or 5. I can look back in my flightmemory should anyone want all the details.

Shortly after takeoff to the East, the cabin started to fill with an unusual smell. Nearly every passenger (including myself) described it as the smell of burning pizza. It was strong enough that a number of passengers began hitting the fight attendant call button - it seemed to start near the area between F and Y and moved it's way toward the back of the aircraft.

I was listening to Ch. 9 since we left the gate; at the time of the incident we were just starting to pass over the Chicago shoreline out over the lake. I hear the pilot declare the emergency back to ATC. The ORD ATC team managed the entire process extremely professionally from runway selection to telling our crew to let them know whatever we needed.

We banked back toward ORD; at this point the flight crew must have done something to begin venting the cabin as the smell went away rather rapidly never to reappear. I do distinctly remember the the flight crew calling out the "number of souls" aboard to ATC. I understand that this is standard operating procedure, but when you hear it out loud, it is a sobering event.

On final, we were given instructions by ATC as to where to pull off the runway to be greeted by the ORD fire crew. We pulled over and heard some of the chatter between the flight and fire crews as the fire crew performed a visual inspection of the aircraft to look for fire / smoke. Nothing was found and we were sent back to the gate. We were given a replacement aircraft and were back in the air about 90 minutes later.

I understand that the expectation is that Ch. 9 is typically shut off during an emergency, but I did find it reassuring to know that I was hearing in real time what was going on. I wouldn't fault any captain for chosing to turn it off though.

FWIW, I always wondered if the smell came from the aircraft that departed before us. I know they stack up the departures tight at ORD, but it seemed that on our takeoff we were released very close to an AA MD-80 that from my limited experience appeared to be billowing a lot of darker than normal exhaust. I thought we may have scooped some up while departing and if the cabin air was set to some recirculation setting that it may have just passed through the cabin. Again, when the pilots hit the control to vent the cabin air, the smell went away very quickly.

axpmaluga

This one made me laugh today while waiting to take off from BOS:

A plane coming in to land reported seagulls at 800 feet and let the tower know so they could pass along the info. When the controller relayed it to the next incoming flight the pilot replied (paraphrasing) "US Air XXX cleared to land 22L, we LOVE Flock of Seagulls"

DBCme

Listening on ch9 tonight around 1030pm, someone from flight deck reported being hit by laser about 10 miles south of SFO. Green laser. Upon touching down medical assistance was requested of ground control. Medics and police met plane at gate. No official announcements were made by flight crew.

After the report, an alert was issued by SFO approach for other inbound planes of unauthorized laser.

..Hope the crewmember didn't suffer any significant injury.

lhrsfo

The departure control ATC at LHR is very busy and business-like, almost non-stop as planes line up in various lines for departure on the single take-off runway. The conversation is staccato, with no humor in it or any other distractions. On 931 a few years ago, I heard an exchange something like this:

Female ATC: "United 931, left on [Alpha] and then right on [Tango] behind the Virgin 747 on your left"
Male UA Pilot: "OK - I'll slip in behind the Virgin 747, United 931"
Female ATC: "United 931, I need a proper readback on that"
Male UA Pilot, after a pause: "Left on [Alpha], right on [Tango] behind the Virgin"
Female ATC: "Thank you, United 931 - for the tapes, you know".

I spent the next 11 hours wondering if our pilot really had his mind on what he was meant to be doing.

FriendlySkies

Why would they send in the police?

Sounds like the response from my pilot on a MCO-DEN flight in May..

magemarq

Once flying back from Newark the ground controller started yelling at our pilot. Went something like.

Ground Controller "United xxx what the hell are you doing on my taxiway?"
Pilot "So and so ground controller told us we were clear to push back"
Ground Controller "Those are my taxiways not so and sos!"

Guy sounded pretty ticked off.

DBCme

Possibilities:
1. Take a report from the unimpacted flight deck crew and/or witnesses?
2. The airport police are otherwise bored out of their mind and they showed up only out of curiosity. (It was a in terminal bike SFPD officer)