121.5

Whitney

Whitney

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Whitney
When doing a cross country flight, who still tunes into 121.5 to listen.

I do, but seems that from talking to some newer pilots, they weren't taught to, and don't.

Do you?
 
Yes. It’s required, if capable:

FDC 4/4386 FDC SPECIAL NOTICE... NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM INTERCEPT PROCEDURES. AVIATORS SHALL REVIEW THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION MANUAL (AIM) FOR INTERCEPTION PROCEDURES, CHAPTER 5, SECTION 6, PARAGRAPH 5-6-2. ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATING IN UNITED STATES NATIONAL AIRSPACE, IF CAPABLE, SHALL MAINTAIN A LISTENING WATCH ON VHF GUARD 121.5 OR UHF 243.0. IF AN AIRCRAFT IS INTERCEPTED BY U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT AND FLARES ARE DISPENSED, THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES ARE TO BE FOLLOWED: FOLLOW THE INTERCEPT'S VISUAL SIGNALS, CONTACT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL IMMEDIATELY ON THE LOCAL FREQUENCY OR ON VHF GUARD 121.5 OR UHF GUARD 243.0, AND COMPLY WITH THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY THE INTERCEPTING AIRCRAFT INCLUDING VISUAL SIGNALS IF UNABLE RADIO CONTACT. BE ADVISED THAT NONCOMPLIANCE MAY RESULT IN THE USE OF FORCE. 200405191412-PERM
 
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It seems to be kind of like some things we do at work…it becomes suddenly important, they communicate the crap out of it, and put it in writing somewhere. Unfortunately that “somewhere” is buried so deep that most people can’t find it, and eventually it becomes more “tribal knowledge”.
 
Ah yes, Air Force common. I still tune in for the entertainment value-added and the aforementioned FAR.
 
RyanB said:
*if capable

Having a single Com radio makes it difficult to comply. ;)
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I've never had an issue with it; modern radios let you monitor the standby freq.
 
I still monitor. Though sometimes with a bunch of frequency flip flops it sometimes ends up in the standby position.
 
I do on long cross country flights but not on a local flight. I have to monitor all that at work so I don’t want to listen to it when I fly. It’s worse during game 7 of the World Series or the super bowl.
 
Last time I monitored guard, it was "let's go Brandon" every couple minutes, which completely ruined my podcast.

The time before that I made a bunch of airline pilots' day by forgetting to switch back to ctaf before transmitting my position report and pattern entry intentions. There were 15 "YOU'RE ON GUARD"s transmitted within seconds.

Usually the center/ tracon traffic is annoying enough without adding guard. I'll monitor it sometimes when I'm solo, but almost never when I'm with my family. Too much disruption to our conversation.
 
It’s tough to monitor when all you hear is meowing. Anecdotally, the further out west or over any ocean, the quieter it gets.
 
I guess it depends a lot on where you fly. Most of my flying is in the SE or mid-Atlantic regions and while I’ll hear some meows occasionally, it’s rarely more than 1 or 2. Certainly not enough to be distracting.
 
Where do you guys fly that you hear all this on guard? I fly all over the SE and about all I hear is a occasional call from ATC trying to get someone over to the correct frequency.
 
I had a potential post about this on my mind last trip. We monitor as required at all times, however…

Those who are on a quiet frequency and decide to broadcast on 21.5 for fun things, I don’t think you realize that others monitoring guard may be also talking/listening on a very busy atc frequency at the same time.
Last trip I missed what atc was saying on a slammed approach frequency, because of unnecessary audio on com 2. Of course, when that happens, com2 gets muted in order to hear atc which defeats the purpose of monitoring. (Once com2 is turned down or otherwise muted, guess how long til that is remembered and turned back up?)
Anyway, I’m a huge proponent of fun and games, but discovered what the misuse of guard frequency is doing.
 
Jeff767 said:
Where do you guys fly that you hear all this on guard? I fly all over the SE and about all I hear is a occasional call from ATC trying to get someone over to the correct frequency.
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I've heard "meow" while flying in/over/near the following states in the past 5 years:
MI, MN, IN, IL, WI, KY, MO, OH, KY, TN, GA, SC, NC, VA, FL, AL, PA

I didn't hear it over ND or MT.
 
I always tune in, throw it in COMM 2 and just leave it there. Sometimes a mic gets stuck or you hear some other nonsense. Also helps me make sure I don't miss a call or handoff. But I agree, most of the people I fly with don't seem to use it
 
I do once I'm out of Chicago airspace. Until then I'm usually too engaged listening to FF and looking for traffic.

(and flying...)
 
I try to but sometimes I forget. It is mildly entertaining though, I usually get at least one meow for any cross country flight > 1hr.
 
Once when departing Albuquerque very late one night I heard a strong ELT on 121.5 just as soon as I flipped it on. I hit the switch to monitor right after the first power reduction.

I notified the tower to let them know. I never heard anything about it so I guess it was from a parked plane.
 
I do when there isn't something more relevant to monitor. I'm glad we don't have the apparent BS to listen to prevalent in the east...
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I had a potential post about this on my mind last trip. We monitor as required at all times, however…

Those who are on a quiet frequency and decide to broadcast on 21.5 for fun things, I don’t think you realize that others monitoring guard may be also talking/listening on a very busy atc frequency at the same time.
Last trip I missed what atc was saying on a slammed approach frequency, because of unnecessary audio on com 2. Of course, when that happens, com2 gets muted in order to hear atc which defeats the purpose of monitoring. (Once com2 is turned down or otherwise muted, guess how long til that is remembered and turned back up?)
Anyway, I’m a huge proponent of fun and games, but discovered what the misuse of guard frequency is doing.
Click to expand...
What radio/audio panel doesn't automatically mute the radio being monitored when there's a transmission on the primary? That seems like a flaw in that system to not consider there may be transmissions on both.

I monitor it when I'm on cross countries and when towing banners. I've never heard anyone meow.
 
I was taught to always have it in standby, which I can monitor in my single COM radio. Standby, so that you don't accidentally broadcast on it. Wouldn't want to interrupt the feline mating calls. I've heard at least one almost every trip.

I'll basically monitor it until I'm about 15-20nm from destination, by which time I'm switching in ATIS and tower.
 
Quiet over what ocean? That wasn't my experience crossing the Caribbean-adjacent portions of the Atlantic. Most meowing I've heard in a long time, and I'm a cat owner mind you lol.

In fairness, it was welcome sound because I knew as long as I could hear kittens, they could hear me if the lawnmower quit over the Puerto Rico trench (incidentally, the deepest sector of the entire Atlantic Ocean).:D
 
Monitor guard on nav 2, and have the destibation weather in the flop. Makes it easy. And if your flying in ti a controlled airport, after getting the weather one can change 121.5 to ground. Again, makes it easy.
 
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