On the Airbands

While we’re in military mode, this beautiful little radio exchange comes to us from Stephen Barlay, who wrote a book titled The Final Call. The star is a jet jockey calling his military Tower Controller.

FIGHTER: “Tower, this is chrome-plated stovepipe, Bearcat Triple-Nickel Eight-Ball, Angels eight, five in the slot, boots on and laced. I wanna bounce and blow!”

Can you seriously imagine one of our military Tower crews putting up with that, let alone decoding it correctly and replying with something even better? Don’t think so.

TRANSLATION: “Fighter jet, callsign ‘Bearcat 5558’, at 8000 ft, five miles out, on approach, gear down and locked, request touch-and-go.”

TOWER: “Roger, you got the nod to hit the sod!”

It could only happen in America … thankfully.

The following excellent piece comes from Tony Johnstone of Shorncliffe in Queensland.

Dateline: Brindisi, Casale. A British international airline is the focus of attention. The very pompous, superior-type gentleman we sometimes hear on UK based airline flight decks comes up on air on 128.3 MHz with ….

AIRCRAFT: “Brindisi Control, this is Silverbird six-six, good evening to you Sir!”

BRINDISI: “Buona sera Sir, you cleared to fly level 370.”

AIRCRAFT: “Thank you very much Brindisi, err … and as we’re going southbound all the way to sunny Africa, where we shall endeavour to indulge in some local style Christmas jollifications we’d like to extend our compliments of the season to all your staff at Brindisi Control, and take the opportunity to thank you for your help and co-operation all the year round!”

(A long, pregnant pause follows … then…).

BRINDISI: “Say again please!”

The British crew obliged in full, followed by ….

BRINDISI: “Oh … what problem Sir? (a cascade of frantically spoken Italian words) YOU DECLARE EMERGENCY … YES?”

AIRCRAFT: “Oh never mind Brindisi, Flight Level 370, roger … out.”

Robert Brown from Maroochydore in Queensland recently wrote to me enquiring about the type of aircraft the US Navy’s Blue Angels display team flies, and if I could find out the names of the six operational pilots that make up the “Blue Angels”.

Well Robert, the aircraft flown is the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, similar to those flown by the RAAF.

The Blue Angels pilots are: (in their display aircraft number order) 1 – Commander Bob Stumpf USN (Commanding Officer), 84 Australian Aviation December 1995 2 – Captain Ben Hancock USMC (Right Wing), 3 – Lt Commander Scott Anderson USN (Left Wing), 4 – Lt Commander Doug Thompson USN (Slot Pilot), 5 – Lt Commander Dave Stewart USN (Lead Solo), and 6 – Lt Rick Young USN (Opposing Solo).

Robert Brown saw the team fly in Indiana USA, along with their rocket assisted C-130 Hercules support aircraft, named “Fat Albert”.

At another airshow, in Toronto, Canada, my Canadian contacts Arloa Popke and Daniel Cole from Vancouver, tell me there were no emergency transmissions on the working airshow frequency 119.2 MHz by the crew of an ill fated RAF Nimrod MR.2, which crashed into Lake Ontario, about one kilometre off the Toronto waterfront. The Nimrod had just made a low pass of the airshow crowd area, and the crew had flown a low left orbit. The Nimrod suddenly sharply rolled left and then nose-dived into the water, with thousands of airshow spectators watching in horror as the beautiful aircraft broke into hundreds of pieces in a showering spray as it hit the surface of the water.

Amazingly, several sailboats were narrowly missed by both the actual impact and also the debris which rained down after the massive disintegration.

For those holidaying in Toronto Canada, Toronto VHF frequencies are: Centre 125.775, 132.475, 134.575, 124.925 High level, 127.0, 132.475, 132.8 Low Level, 133.3, 135.625 Hamilton, 135.3 London, 133.725 Moosonee High level, 132.375, 127.25 North Bay High level, 128.275 Waterloo Low level, 135.5 Sudbury, 112.15, 114.8, 120.825 ATIS, 125.4, 124.475 Approach, 128.8, 125.575 Departures, 118.7 Tower RW 06L/24R, 118.35 Tower RW 06R/24L, 121.3 Clearance Delivery, 121.9, 121.65 Ground.

I recently drove my 21 year old daughter Carolyn to Sydney International Airport to see her off on a European holiday. She was flying Singapore 222 to Singapore, and then to London on SQ 322. I used the trip my daughter was making to “check” my monitoring prowess, and see if I could effectively follow the aircraft as far as possible on its journey to LHR. Departure was at 15:30 local, or 05:30 zulu.

My efforts were well rewarded. At the airport, I used an AOR AR-1000XLT handheld scanner backed up by a Realistic PRO-43 handheld, with earpiece being used, and monitored plenty of preflight, taxi, and departure activity on the following frequencies: 463.400 Singapore UHF Ramp, 461.850 Qantas 1TB Ramp, 131.8 Singapore Company VHF, 127.5 Apron Clearance Delivery, 122.3 International Apron, 121.7 Sydney Ground, 120.5 Sydney Tower, 123.0 Departures, 119.7 Richmond Approach, 133.5 Melbourne Control.

As I neared my home in the west of Sydney, I was still monitoring Singapore 222 on Melbourne Control frequency 133.5, as it changed to 128.2 MHz north west of Parkes. At that point, VHF coverage to my mobile installation ceased to be audible.

At 08:35 zulu, I copied SQ 222 8930 speaking with its base in Singapore, providing an ETA Singapore of 12:15 zulu, which mean they were going to be on the deck fifteen minutes early. I copied Singapore Volmet (just like the flight deck crew on SQ 222 was doing!) on 6676 kHz, finding out that the Terminal Forecast for the period embracing SQ 222’s arrival was “Visibility four kilometres in light rain, scattered cloud, with tops to FL 290”.

At 09:48 zulu, Singapore 222 called, Perth Radio on 6556 kHz (secondary 11396 kHz) for a selcal check on “EG-AF” (9V-SPA), and at 09:58 zulu requested climb to Flight Level 390, which was granted shortly after and relayed by Perth Radio.

At 10:01 zulu, SQ 222 called Perth level at 390, estimating Kikem at 10:07. This position is S 09 52.9, E 126 07.7, and meant the aircraft had not lost any more time, and would arrive in Singapore as initially advised at 12:15 zulu, or 9:15 pm local Singapore time.

The aircraft was tracking the 405nm (750km) to Keong on Airway A464, then to Bomax, then the 60nm (110km) to Kikor (S 00 23.0, E 107 06.0), the 53nm (98km) to Atvix (N 00 02.4, E 106 19.9), and then the final 120nm (220km) to Singapore. By the time the airliner reached Singapore airspace, its flight crew had spoken with the following HF MWARA ground stations: Bali, Jakarta and Singapore Radio.

I only lost the aircraft on HF 6556 when it changed to Singapore Control on 128.1, with secondary VHF 135.8 MHz. The airliner landed in Singapore shortly after this radio report, at 12:23 zulu. The Boeing 747-400 was then turned around as SQ 322 on to London, and I copied the aircraft calling Madras Radio on 10066 kHz as it tracked nor nor west to overfly what used to be the Soviet Union. You will find that Europe flights go much further north than they used to in order to avoid those nasty problems that could befall them if they overflew Bosnian and Serbian airspace.

The time was just after 14:50 zulu, and I was still monitoring the aircraft my daughter was travelling on. I was so tired, having an early start in the morning, that I had to succumb and finally go to bed. But effectively, I had monitored the aircraft from prior to departure (about 05:20 zulu) and was still hearing it at 14:50! I’d been monitoring the aeroplane for over nine and a half hours! You can do the same, and better, regularly.

Try the US west coast routes. You can hear Qantas 12 (Los Angeles/Sydney) on the ground in Los Angeles testing selcal and getting preflight HF checks around 05:15 zulu. That’s 15:15 Australian Eastern Standard Time, and the aircraft arrives about seven in the morning the next day in Sydney! And you can follow it all the way!

Do it now, before the new FANS (Future Air Navigation System) takes over primary reporting from HF, utilising satellite and VHF based ACARS digital mode reporting and aircraft surveillance. A lot of our HF monitoring opportunities may disappear once FANS gathers momentum.

One light at the end of the tunnel is the possibility of less financially viable airlines being given the option of channelling their long range ACARS through HF. AlliedSignal and Rohde and Schwarz are developing improvements to an already up and running HF ACARS system, with Delta, United, and Transport Canada currently conducting trials over North Atlantic routes. The combination of SatComs and HF ACARS will mean those who can’t monitor the satellites will possibly be able to make up for it on HF ACARS frequencies. Utilising three ground stations, a figure of 99% reliability is being suggested around within the airline industry. This will mean there is a cheaper alternative than the expensive SatComs links.

Eight to 10 HF ACARS stations need to be opened worldwide to achieve true global coverage. Ed Flynn, from San Rafael California, has phoned me to tell me that he has heard that several of these dedicated HF ACARS stations will be converted HF voice stations from the present MWARA HF network, operating at 300 baud initially.

Ground stations currently testing HF ACARS are located in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland. More on this very important subject when I get more data.

Greg Panazzolo lives in South Australia at Camden Park, and monitors aircraft on his highly reliable Netset PRO-2028 base scanner. Greg makes this welcome contribution: Frequency – Adelaide Ground 121.7, Aircraft – Qantas 81 (Sydney/Adelaide/Singapore), a Boeing 767-300.

QANTAS 81: “Adelaide Ground, Qantas 81.”

GROUND: “Qantas 81, Adelaide Ground, go ahead.”

QANTAS 81: “Where have the bears gone?”

The “Bears” referred to are two teddy bears, one on a bicycle, and one on a chair, that sit beside Adelaide’s RW 23, and were put there by airport workers with a sense of humour. Refer photo p16 April 95 AA.

GROUND: “They’re still there, on the left hand side of Runway 23. Did you miss them?”

QANTAS 81: “Yeah, we’ll have to get a quick squizz on take-off!”

From a source in Queensland I am protecting, on request. A wartime story of bombers returning to a British airfield after a night raid over Germany. The first aircraft calls on frequency, stating that “one engine is out, and I have wounded on board!” The aircraft is given a priority approach pattern, and begins descent. Suddenly, a second bomber calls in, stating “I have two engines out, and wounded on board”. Immediately, that second aircraft is given higher priority than the first bomber, with number two bomber getting set on approach to the field.

Finally, a third aircraft calls on frequency, stating “I only have one still turning!” So the situation has again changed, and bomber number two is also “stood off” to await the arrival of the aircraft with only one engine turning, who now has complete priority.

All ground staff held their breath, as they’d been listening to the Tower talk to the aircraft on outside speakers.

Suddenly, a lone Spitfire came floating in for the smoothest touchdown of the night. Not all that easy in a Spit! Needless to say, the “smartie” in the Spitfire narrowly missed being strung up when he alighted from his aircraft!

See you next year. Write to me at Airband Communications, PO Box 16 Georges Hall if you wish to order Climb into the Cockpit by Radio ($22.95 inc. post) and Listening In magazine ($8.00 inc. post). Due to my overseas trip, the order may take up to six weeks to arrive. So have patience my friends. Relax by the pool with some recent copies of AA magazine, and make sure you keep your airband receiver scanning nearby!

Northwest Airlines Has Become Air New Zealand’s Latest Frequent Flyer Programme Partner.

Brian Mcdonald Has Returned From Hawker Pacific (Where He Was Divisional Manager South East Asia) To Become The General Manager Of Helicopters (New Zealand).

Auckland International Airport’s New International Terminal Check-In Area, Group Tour Facilities, Public Areas And Rooms Are Due To Become Operational On December 1.