On The Airbands

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United 815 from Sydney to Melbourne, early one morning. Frequency 125. 3 departures south.

UA 815: “Ok Sir, you want us to call control on 125 decimal 3. You have a good day!” ATC: “I will if the Swans win!” UA 815 (slightly confused American): “Err. . . oh right!”

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Brian Hill, Public Relations whiz with the Department of Aviation Central Office in Canberra, tells me about the happenings on the air one recent Sunday at Canberra Airport. Frequency 121. 7 (SMC) Aircraft VH-TAX was taxying for the runway, when the pilot suddenly announced to Ground that he had a problem with the nosewheel and would like to hold in a holding bay prior to continuing the taxi, while he alighted and checked the wheel. Quick as a flash, according to Brian, the Ground Controller said. . . “Mmm, is that what you call a holding TAX?” You gotta hand it to ’em. . . they’re quick!

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Couple of newer military identifiers heard recently on UHF by the writer. “Eaglehawk 762” and “Hawkeye 643′, both believed to be helicopters, probably Iroquois. If anyone can make confirmations, please do. Write to ‘On the Airbands’, 68 Ashby Avenue, Yagoona 2199.

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Received an interesting letter from Mr LeMoine Stitt, from Washington State, USA, who came here with his wife as a visitor last March and fell in love with our country and also ‘Australian Aviation’ magazine. LeMoine was planning to write back to Qantas regarding his chances of employment as aircrew, but a previously applied for job as a Flight Engineer with United Airlines came up first. LeMoine is now sitting sideways in a United domestic 727.

LeMoine tells me that Runway 13R at Boeing Field in Seattle points directly at 14,410ft. Mount Rainier, which is 40 miles distant but, because of its height, it looks more like 20 miles away. One particular day, a Learjet departed BFI via normal clearance, which was: maintain runway heading, expect vectors, maintain 11,000ft. The Lear did just that, but as you would expect passing 10,000ft, the pilot asked for higher, but was told to maintain the assigned altitude. As a former Lear driver, LeMoine, who was monitoring this, could tell how concerned the Lear pilot was becoming as he approached the peak. He was becoming very anxious indeed. After being denied his second request for higher altitude, he enquired of the controller the reason for the delay and was told ‘noise abatement’. After an exchange of expletives, the controller calmly informed him that “there will be a hell of a noise if you hit the aircraft directly above you!” LeMoine thinks he may have been happy with that.

Keep in touch LeMoine, also any other overseas readers.

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Gerard La Fontaine, of Strathmore in Melbourne, Victoria, writes about a wide-body crew once again mistaking Essendon for Tullamarine. The 747 we will call ‘Atlantic’ and the following exchange took place on Melbourne Approach 124. 7. Monitoring took place on a Tandy Realistic Pro-32 programmable handheld receiver, an excellent unit.

ATC: “Atlantic 791, you are six miles to the southeast of the field, do you have the airfield in sight?” A/C: “No. . . what’s the airport underneath us at the moment?” ATC: “No, no. . . not that one, you’re for the one at your two o’clock position!” Gerard doesn’t think that the surrounding locals near Essendon would have been too happy with a 747 on short finals.

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I’ve received many enquiries from listeners/readers relating to an aircraft that flew into Williamtown, then Sydney, calling ‘Arrow two-five-four”. The aircraft was a DC-8 freighter and the reason it was here was to bring horses in for the Brisbane Cup. It was scheduled to land in Brisbane (ABBN) but was diverted to Sydney due to weather. One reader, Mr R. Langley of Balgowlah monitored the aircraft report to Sydney Control on Arrivals North 129. 8 that they were approaching minimal fuel conditions and that their company policy was to declare an emergency at 5,000 pounds remaining. They apparently had 6,500 at that time.

Control announced diversion to Williamtown was available and that the field was only 25nm away at that time. The Arrow crew apparently were oblivious to the location of Williamtown and were subsequently radar vectored to Willy. The crew were not route-familiar, route-equipped, or route-prepared, apparently. ‘Arrow 254’ spoke before touchdown to TE147 ‘New Zealand 147’ on Qantas company channel 131. 7, asking TE to relay that they were landing in Williamtown to Qantas, Sydney, whom they couldn’t reach on that frequency, or provide them with Qantas HF. But Qantas already knew the story and were obviously sighing with relief at this point, knowing the aircraft was safe in the hands of Sydney Control’s radar. Another calling they used when speaking with TE147 was ‘Juliett Whiskey two-five-four’.

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Qantas Company HF frequencies are 6637, 10078, 13342, 17922 and 21970 KHz, USB. British Airways HF is 5535, 8921, 10072, 13333, 17922 and 21946. Air New Zealand use 6637 and 13333, amongst others.

We’ll print some known selcal codes for airline aircraft, that may be of use when trying to identify airliners used on specific routes and the selcal codes are passed over the air from crew to controllers, who may not have the codes on the flight strips.

Any listener/reader who wishes to send me special codes is most welcome, but please ensure they are confirmed. One method, if you don’t have access to lists, is to go see the aircraft that’s departing, then listen on HF and hope the code will be broadcast. Making a list of all aircraft parked at the ramp with rego numbers and then monitoring many of them on HF later in the day can be very rewarding, believe me.

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A very enthusiastic reader, name supplied, from Victoria wrote me recently detailing how a farmer was flying his Cherokee Six back to his property in south-west Western Australia. Just forty miles from his property, he called up Flight Service on the R/T and cancelled his Sarwatch. Correctly, Flight Service enquired why he wanted to cancel it there and the reply was. . . “Because I’ve just run out of fuel!” Luckily, the guy landed the aeroplane in about the only clearing for forty miles, successfully and with no damage. However, the ‘strip’ was too short to lift off from and the only way to retrieve the aeroplane was to airlift it out by helicopter.

This was duly arranged with a local helicopter operator, who successfully picked up the unlucky Cherokee. However, once underway, the slung aircraft began to oscillate wildly and the only prudent thing the helicopter pilot could do was to jettison the load. The result: one written off Cherokee Six!

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why does Nadi HF repeatedly go off the air due to maintenance faults? (Even before military coups!) Nadi is constantly having equipment problems, meaning Auckland and Honolulu have to take over Nadi’s airspace with oceanic control. A bit tacky.

We will be compiling another ‘Let Your Ears Have Wings’ instructional feature on airband radio and its complexities in the not-too-distant future and we’ll look at the equipment that’s currently available, so anyone wanting to know a little more about what HF, VHF or UHF receiving equipment to buy, just be patient and the world will be you oyster.

Meanwhile, Sydney Tower frequency 120. 5MHz was temporarily changed due to heavy industrial interference which commenced on the evening of 24 March this year. The new frequency will remain until the interference source is identified. It is believed to be something akin to a plastic welding machine. Identifying the source has been given top priority by the Department of Aviation. We’ll keep you informed.

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Monitored by the writer on Sydney Control 131. 3 (342. 9) recently.

CX 101: “Ah. . . Control, we’ve got a proposition for you. At 130 miles, if we could make one large orbit, that’d put us in the correct position to start our approach for a landing at time one-eight. ” (Followed by aircrew laughter) ATC (American Controller and a damned good one): “Ok Cathay, this is what I got for ya, you got the first part of your request, but after you do that, I’m not sure you’re going to be able to keep on coming in!” CX 101: “Oh. . . why?” ATC: “Well Cathay, you gotta understand. . . you’re dealing with a person here and not somebody capable of making those kinda decisions!”

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Good monitoring. All contributions to Bob Bell, ‘On the Airbands’, 68 Ashby Avenue, Yagoona, 2199.