The plane I was on when I was flying back from a recent trip to San Francisco had one of those channels where you can listen to what the air traffic controllers are saying. I've always been mesmerized by all the communication and stuff going on, and I would usually listen to it for quite a long while.
Aside: So why do they still use this archaic technology? You'd think they'd at least have caller ID, so when someone transmitted the plane ID would automatically show up. And instead of manually and verbally telling "American 1650 climb to 20 niner" and then having the plane go "Climbing to 20 niner American 1650" they could just send the equivalent of a text message by touching a few things on the radar. Or even have a computer figure out the best configuration for all the planes coming in and automatically sending out commands as to where a plane should go. Of course you could have a few live humans monitoring it. But seriously.
Anyways... I remember a couple of funny moments as I was eavesdropping. A long time ago I was listening and the guy on the ground would say "American 1560 blah blah takeoff position" except he would say it like "takeoff posi-SHAWN" like Cajun Man of SNL fame would.
So on this flight back from SF to O'Hare, we were making our final approach to O'Hare so planes were lining up to land. The following took place:
Tower: United 1250 cleared to land on runway 42L
United 1250: Requesting runway 48R, running a little behind and would like to cut down on taxi time.
Another voice: Aren't we all
Another voice: Me too
Another voice: me three
Another voice: 4
Another voice: 5
Then silence. The tower never did respond to the request. He got DISSED! I wonder if his request was really out of line or what. I suppose O'Hare is one of the busiest airports in the world so they probably weren't too keen on taking requests.
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4 comments:
ha! too funny!
I didn't know this existed - this could be entertainment for hours!
I know you can listen in on United's flights - they advertised that they are the only airline to still let you do so (is that true -which airline were you on?).
It gets pretty boring for me. The intermittent speaking can be enough to keep me from falling asleep. It's more fun near cities when activity picks up again.
I would not have given into the request either--there was a reason the chosen landing site was chosen...
I was also appalled the first time I listened to the air traffic channel and realized that it was so archaic. It's nothing more than an analog walkie talkie, everyone's on the same frequency, and it's unencrypted.
That means it's unsecure (anyone can listen and talk on the frequency... in fact sometimes there are pranksters), prone to misunderstanding (accents, voice quality), talking over someone. Accidents have occurred in the past due to radio miscommunication.
I think they still use it because it works fine and is universal. Upgrading that system would mean lots of $$$ as every airport and commercial plane in the world would need to upgrade.
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