On the Airbands

For some reason, the pilot of Air Malta 431 lined up with and executed a landing on the taxiway, narrowly missing two light aircraft and airport service trucks.

Air Malta’s Chief Pilot was, just by coincidence, training in the simulator at Gatwick at the time, and was interviewed by CNN. He said he was “astonished” when he learned of the details of the landing, which incidentally caused no loss of life or injury, and no damage to property. Eyewitnesses at the airport stated that the 737’s starboard wingtip missed the terminal extremity by two metres only.

Overseas satellite TV networks often discuss airline matters in their business forums, and this makes owning a satellite system all the more attractive for airline monitors. Anyone interested in satellite TV reception, contact Garry Cratt or James Morris at Av-Comm Pty Ltd, 70 Wanganella Street Balgowlah 2093, (02) 949 7417.

1008. 550-PERTH CONTROL; 1011. 375-WEATHER; 1012. 025- WEATHER; 1013. 000-BRISBANE CTL; 1014. 000-WEATHER; 1015. 675-WEATHER; 1017. 275-BRISBANE CTL; 1017. 500- SYDNEY CTL; 1017. 650-WEATHER; 1018. 825-SYDNEY CTL; 1019. 425-SYDNEY CTL; 1019. 725-SYDNEY CTL; 1020. 200- SYDNEY CTL; 1021. 575- SYDNEY CTL; 1021. 725-SYDNEY CTL; 1021. 900-SYDNEY CTL; 1029. 300-SYDNEY CTL; 1033. 275-SYDNEY CTL; 1034. 100-CANBERRA TERMINAL; 1035. 950-SYDNEY CTL; 1036. 550-SYDNEY CTL.

I have had many letters regarding satellite reception. Yes. . . you can widely broaden your listening horizons using a VHF/ UHF scanner capable of dialling up these microwave IF channels. It connects to your satellite receiver and dish. You literally can listen to air traffic right around Australia. This should also be of great interest to monitors/enthusiasts in remote areas who have little to listen to on their own local VHF/UHF aviation frequencies.

We are going to have to accept and equip with the new technology now becoming available, or get lost in the rush.

We’ve been giving David Carroll from Bathurst NSW a fair bit of space lately. Due to the nature of his information, we’ll devote a bit more space to Dave here.

David states he is monitoring Melbourne Control on 122. 75 MHz loud and clear in Orange, even though he can’t hear the ground station from his home in Bathurst. Some of the other frequencies David says are now “Melbourne Control” are 128. 2 Cobar; 132. 8 north west Broken Hill; 128. 1 Moomba; 128. 85 Alice Springs; 131. 8 Ayers Rock; 132. 9 Oodnadatta; 135. 0 south of Mt Hope; 135. 4 Woomera; 132. 7 Nullabor, 132. 9 Warburton WA; 134. 2 Caiguna WA; 133. 2 Esperance. David states that Melbourne Control has taken over full Seeing as satellite reception for aviation monitoring purity for these frequencies remotely, working towards the twin poses seems to be rapidly gathering momentum, here is some city Brisbane/Melbourne enroute control system which will great frequency information for those of you with sat-TV eventually take effect across the country equipment and subcarrier splitters. All SCPC (subcarrier) signals from CAA transponders are currently on Optus A3 at 156 degrees East, in narrow band FM mode, and Optus B1, geostationary at 160 degrees East, also in narrow band FM mode. The IF (intermediate frequency) values are listed here for you to dial up and enjoy: OPTUS A3 SATELLITE – All frequencies expressed in MHz. 1003. 550-PERTH CTL; 1005. 200-BRISBANE CTL; 1007. 500- SYDNEY CTL; 1009. 400-DARWIN CTL; 1010. 650-MELBOURNE CTL.

OPTUS BI SATELLITE All frequencies expressed in MHz. 991. 825-PERTH CTL; 994. 290-ENROUTE CTL; 994. 450-BRIS- BANE CTL; 994. 925-WEATHER; 995. 150-TOWNSVILLE CTL; 995. 675-WEATHER; 996. 900-WEATHER; 997. 875-PERTH CTL; 999. 850-PERTH CTL; 999. 900-BRISBANE CTL; 1000. 225- BRISBANE CTL; 1000. 350-PERTH CTL; 1000. 500-PERTH CTL 1000. 600-BRISBANE CTL; 1000. 700-PERTH CTL 1000. 900- PERTH CTL; 1001. 025-DERBY CTL; 1001. 150-PERTH CTL; 1001. 200-TOWNSVILLE CTL, 1001. 575-BRISBANE CTL 1001. 625-BRISBANE CTL; 1001. 675-BRISBANE CTL; 1001. 900-TOWNSVILLE CTL; 1002. 575-BRISBANE CTL 1003. 000- BRISBANE CTL; 1003. 450-BRISBANE CTL; 1003. 525-BRISBANE CTL; 1003. 625-TOWNSVILLE CTL; 1003. 950-BRISBANE CTL; 1004. 800-PERTH CTL, 1004. 925- BRISBANE CTL; 1005. 650-TOWNSVILLE CTL; 1005. 850- PERTH CTL; 1006. 150-BRISBANE CTL; 1006. 550-PERTH CTL 1006. 625-ADELAIDE CTL; 1006. 725-PERTH CTL; 1006. 950- PERTH CTL; 1007. 325-BRISBANE CTL; 1007. 650-BRISBANE CTL; 1008. 175-DARWIN CTL; 1008. 425-BRISBANE CTL; From Sydney, 122. 75 transmissions from aircraft stations can be copied, but of course we can’t hear Melbourne Control.

Incidentally our correspondent David Carroll works in another transport industry-building trains.

Andrew Biner from Launceston in Tasmania was monitoring air traffic in his region, namely an outbound Piper Navajo VH-RRM, which was tracking on a northerly heading for Flinders Island, and an inbound Boeing 737 VH-TJL which was on a southerly heading from Melbourne.

VH-RRM makes a departure call to Launceston Tower, Then. . .

LAUNY TWR: “Romeo Romeo Mike, you can expect to pass Tango Juliett Lima, an inbound Boeing 737 who is on descent from Flight Level one-two-zero. We would appreciate a visual sighting and passing. He should be about eight miles off your port wing. What else can I tell you? (pause) Ah. . . oh yes, he’s on descent to 7000 feet. ” UNKNOWN STN: “You can also tellhim he’s-BIG and WHITE!” VH-RRM: “Aw thanks. ” Peter Bertwistle from St Peters NSW overheard this en- counter on his Realistic PRO-35 while outside “Gate 20” at Sydney Airport one recent Sunday.

Speedbird 11 had been holding for some time at taxiway Foxtrot, for a Runway 16 departure. TWR: “Speedbird 11, Cessna on short final, line up behind that aircraft. SPEEDBIRD: “You want us to line up behind the microlight! Okay. ” The Cessna then seemed to take ages to land and roll clear of the runway.

SPEEDBIRD: “All four hundred and two of us on board the Speedbird one-one are enormously impressed by that dreadful delay, Tower!” Bill Battles from East Kingston, New Hampshire, in the USA is a former policeman, and now runs a business doing hand painted signs and truck lettering.

He writes to tell us that he monitored Qantas 1 working Perth on 11396 kHz in upper sideband mode on HF at 1112 zulu (Universal Coordinated Time). The Qantas aircraft sig- nal was weak in New Hampshire, but Bill states he believes that the Qantas HF transceivers are excellent and perform very well. He states that the audio from Qantas aircraft radios is head-and-shoulders above that of the rest of the other airlines. I tend to agree Bill! Bill is also an on-call volunteer for the USA Civil Air Patrol in New Hampshire, and operates a directional beam antenna on frequencies 121. 5 MHz and 243. 0 MHz, the civil and military emergency frequencies. This is so he can assist in determining location if an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) activates in his area.

Last year he published an airline radio callsign directory, which I can recommend. Bill really enjoys all facets of aircraft monitoring, and makes all his own HF wire antennas. If you are interested in the airline callsign book, write to Bill at PO Box 133, East Kingston New Hampshire 03827-0133 USA.

Let’s look at another San Francisco to Honolulu airway route, this time it’s Romeo-465 (R-465), which you can use to pinpoint aircraft you are listening to on HF.

Waypoints – Cheak (lat/long) N25. 45/W149. 56; Citta N28. 18/ W145. 07; Clukk N36. 05/W124. 50; Clure N23. 55/W153. 08; Cluts N23. 00/W154. 39; Coppi N32. 51/W134. 46; Cortt N30. 24/ W140. 42; Costs N34. 46/W129. 14.

And to complete our IRS programming session, we’ll look at one more airway, namely the Honolulu to San Francisco Romeo-577 (R-577).

Waypoints – Ebber (lat/long) N21. 43/W153. 09; Edsel N32. 14/ W124. 05; Ektas N32. 21/W127. 45; Elkey N32. 41/W122. 03; Engin N26. 01/W143. 43; Erwen N22. 30/W151. 33; Escro N29. 47/ W133. 15; Etnic N27. 54/W138. 51; Exams N23. 51/W148. 41; Manjo N30. 00/W128. 21.

Hope the waypoint information included there is of great interest and will be very useful to dedicated HF aircraft monitors. You’ve probably heard of at least some of the waypoints and wondered where they were located. Now you know! Bruce Ellis writes from Gisborne in Victoria. He has been reading this magazine right from Issue 1, when it was known as Australian Aviation and Defence Review (AADR). Remember back then? Bruce is another WIN 108 owner, but this story comes from his personal experiences, not from his WIN 108 scanner. Some years ago a pilot friend offered Bruce the chance to “dead head” on an overnight freight run in a Douglas DC-3 from Melbourne to Canberra, then Sydney, and return.

Some hours into the return legs, with all of the cargo removed from the aircraft, Bruce was offered the chance to sit in the right seat, don a headset, and be shown through the flight controls. The First Officer was on the left, and gave a very full and fascinating description of what each instrument was and what function it performed. The description had continued for some period of time, when Bruce noticed that the microphone switch belonging to the F/O was on “radio” and not “intercom”. Bruce wanted to know if the switch was in the correct position, and keyed his mike to ask the First Officer. A voice on the radio emanating from the ground station interjected with: “No. . . . it’s not!” A look of total dismay on the F/O’s face, and a hasty repositioning of the switch lead Bruce to believe that they had been overheard on the ground throughout the demonstration of the controls and instruments.

Don’t worry Bruce. It wasn’t the first time it’s happened, and it certainly won’t be the last! Sydney’s new Control Tower is a unique design, 45 metres above ground level, being constructed on the northern side of General Holmes Drive, between the existing main runway, and the parallel runway under construction.

Designed by architect Ken Woolley, it features a stayed slender support column, access lift, and enclosed circular stairway which sweeps from ground level to the tower cab up top. Controllers will work from workstations mounted around the perimeter of the control cabin, instead of a central con- sole. This feature has been used successfully in the United States for some years, and was a necessary element to control the parallel runway system.

Controllers will have an unobstructed view of all runways and taxiways, with latest technology radar and communications. The Tower is expected to be completed by July this year, and operational by mid 1995, about the same time the new parallel Runway 16 Left or 34 Right is commissioned.

Ron Kelb from Happy Valley SA provides our final story for our first column of 1994. Some months back, he was flying a Cessna 172 from Kangaroo Island to Goolwa in South Australia. Earlier in the flight, he had been assigned transponder squawk code of 4445.

Flying over the sea, he gets a call from Adelaide Control. ADL RADAR: “Papa Yankee Whiskey, confirm squawking 4454?” VH-PYW: “Negative, negative. . . squawking 4445” (Bruce) ADL RADAR: “Well you better change that to 4454. I suspect the other controller gave you his Cross Lotto numbers!* “Listening In to Aircraft Radio” is available for $19. 95 plus $3. 00 pack and post. Available from Airband Communications, PO Box 16 Georges Hall NSW 2198. See you next month, and enjoy some great listening in!