"Incorrect Frequency, Kenneth?"
Posted on 09/17/2009 4:01:07 PM PDT by dalereed
An NTSB audio recording indicates that minutes before a collision between a helicopter and airplane that killed all nine occupants over the Hudson River last month, the pilot of the airplane appears to have misheard the radio frequency for the air traffic control tower he was instructed to communicate with. An air traffic controller instructed the pilot to tune in to the Newark Liberty International Airport frequency, 127.85, but the pilot read back 127.87, and the controller, who was alone in the tower and was having a personal phone call, missed the incorrect read-back.
Probably his wife, wanting him to pickup some chicken licken on the way home.
I am surprised there are not more accidents.
My friends is a pilot. He flys us anywhere we want to go.
We talk, just like we were sitting in front of a campfire smoking a cigar. I can hear and understand every word he says.
But once he gets on the radio with the tower, he talks so fast and monotone, I can’t understand a single word.
“But once he gets on the radio with the tower, he talks so fast and monotone, I can’t understand a single word.”
He understands and so does the controler on the other end, it takes practice.
If that controler had been doing his job the crash would probably have been avoided.
Ping
What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
This controller bears a very large responsibility in causing this crash, imo. If he had not preoccupied on a personal phone call, he may have heard the wrong frequency being read back to him, and thus averted this tragedy. His inattention definitely contributed to this crash. His attention should have been focused on doing his job and it was not.
Not in this case.
That is why readbacks are MANDATORY!!
If the controler had been doing his job he would have corrected the pilot and he would have shifted to the correct frequency.
Once he shifts to the wrong frequency, no one can contact him.
I agree. The controller should have corrected the pilot.
But, but, but the internal investigation cleared the controller.
Once he shifts to the wrong frequency, no one can contact him.
Actually, the Guard frequency (121.5) can be used in an emergency.
Most general aviation pilots do not monitor 121.5.
He's already lost his job and it's doubtful he'll be on the hook any further. Legally this accident looks like the helicopter pilot's fault. The airplane was to his right giving the airplane the right of way. VFR helicopters are supposed to fly at a lower altitude in this area and avoid all fixed wing aircraft. Most of the journalists paint the airplane pilot in a bad light, but he had right of way and no legal obligation to have radio contact with anyone. Also, like the police not showing up on a 911 call, ATC is almost always not held responsible for bad work.
No one would go to a non frequency of 127.87 to attempt to contact him when the errant controller didn't hear him say it. They only found it now after reviewing the tapes.
A question I’ve had for years, and which I’ve never had answered:
Why, when they can send color TV images from space, does the audio sound as though they are using a $4 toy walkie-talkie? And why, on billion-dollar airliners, do the radios sound the same?
Whenever I hear the tapes of air-traffic controllers and pilots, I always wonder How do ANY of them understand ANYTHING they say to each other? And besides the miserable equipment, it seems to be part of the culture to slur everything that is said as much as possible.
It’s got to be years of experience.
I’ve never had a problem with controler communications except Mexican ones and only a couple of them.
Keep in mind that pilots aren’t listening to the communications over speakers, they are wearing head phones that block out backround noise.
Exactly. It’s a macho-cultural thing. People have a mental image of what a “real” pilot sounds like, and they assume that role. I think it has to do with being appropriately blasé.
It’s dangerous, and something ought to be done to combat it.
I don't know what instructors do at small general aviation airports but at an airport like Burbank the instructor doesn't let you in the air until you are proficient with the communications and just hours of listening helps a lot.
A lot of it is repetitious and you learn to pick up the important part that you write down and repeat back to the controller, if you didn't know what he was going to say for most of a sentence you would be hard pressed to understand what they were saying.
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