Why is United Airlines the only airline where passengers can listen to ATC radio transmissions?

N918KT

N918KT

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
720
Location
Philadelphia, PA
Display Name
Display name:
KT
As far as I know United is the only airline where passengers can listen to ATC radio transmissions on their flights. On a recent JetBlue flight in their new A321, you supposedly could listen to ATC on their touch screen system with Sirius XM but it never worked when I tried to listen to it.

My question is why don't other airlines allow passengers to listen to ATC radio transmissions? Might be a perk for pilots or aviation enthusiasts.
 
They still have Channel 9 at United?
 
Probably because a majority of people aren't insterested. I'm usually asleep before takeoff. The last thing I want to do is listen to ATC.
 
The less you know ,the better. Keep the customer in the dark.
 
Ryanb said:
They still have Channel 9 at United?
Click to expand...
Yes and no. The CAL airplanes never had it and still don't. The A320/319s had it but lost it when they installed the personal device entertainment (PDE). The 737s don't have it. The pmUAL widebodies still have it. The plan is to eventually have it added to the PDE streaming but I have no idea when that'll happen.

ARFlyer said:
Lucky. I can't sleep on a plane even with pills.
Click to expand...
"I can't sleep on an airplane--unless it's MY leg!"
 
Was on a UAL flight out of ORD when we hit pretty good turbulence for a bit. The pilot reported to ATC moderate. When we landed a gentleman stepped up to the FO as we were trying to deplane and introduced himself as a private pilot and proceeded to scold the FO for reporting Moderate when he knows it was Severe.

If I flew for UAL I would never have channel 9 on.

My last few flights before I became my own airline I never heard CH9 in action. I'll check again on my way to Alaska next month....that's a little out of 310 range.
 
Larry in TN said:
"I can't sleep on an airplane--unless it's MY leg!"
Click to expand...

Hahaha, Heck YES!!

Even if it's a 15 minute flight on the last leg.

Calling out the F word isn't too keen at my place, especially as a probie FO. You'll either loose pay or sick time... If you don't have any sick your up **** creek. Plus you can't deny a 2 hr 117 extension without saying the F word. I had that argument the other night. Plus it adds a disciplinary action to your records
 
I enjoyed CH9. And it has long been Pilot Discretion whether is was "offered."

I don't fly UA much since they started killing guitars. (more accurately since I moved to an AAL hub and it makes no sense for me to fly UA anymore)
 
Radar Contact said:
Was on a UAL flight out of ORD when we hit pretty good turbulence for a bit. The pilot reported to ATC moderate. When we landed a gentleman stepped up to the FO as we were trying to deplane and introduced himself as a private pilot and proceeded to scold the FO for reporting Moderate when he knows it was Severe.

If I flew for UAL I would never have channel 9 on.

My last few flights before I became my own airline I never heard CH9 in action. I'll check again on my way to Alaska next month....that's a little out of 310 range.
Click to expand...

And this is why I do not like private pilots on my plane. Seems like the ones on my plane know more than I do about flying....

Going to Alaska in September...... you will miss all the bugs and tourist.....:lol::lol::lol:
 
jordane93 said:
Probably because a majority of people aren't insterested. I'm usually asleep before takeoff. The last thing I want to do is listen to ATC.
Click to expand...
Good thing there's someone else with you on the flight deck! ;)
 
Last edited:
Radar Contact said:
Was on a UAL flight out of ORD when we hit pretty good turbulence for a bit. The pilot reported to ATC moderate. When we landed a gentleman stepped up to the FO as we were trying to deplane and introduced himself as a private pilot and proceeded to scold the FO for reporting Moderate when he knows it was Severe.
Click to expand...

Which exactly why I think that does not need to be available to the passengers, especially these days where EVERYONE is and expert on EVERYTHING. I am a private pilot sitting on that airplane but would never DREAM of correcting/making comments to pilot like that. That's just foolish.

And sometimes we get to hear it anyway, our charter pilots sometimes push the wrong button, or as I prefer to think, they just want to read back to the passengers that we have been cleared for takeoff
 
I always enjoyed listening to channel 9.
Since I no longer live at a United hub, I no longer fly them very much.
As for asking the pilots, yeah I have asked them questions. But more along the line of, why did they change call sign (same plane crew, one stop on way to destination) kind of stuff. Basically stuff you would never see in GA.

Tim
 
TRocket said:
Which exactly why I think that does not need to be available to the passengers, especially these days where EVERYONE is and expert on EVERYTHING. I am a private pilot sitting on that airplane but would never DREAM of correcting/making comments to pilot like that. That's just foolish.

And sometimes we get to hear it anyway, our charter pilots sometimes push the wrong button, or as I prefer to think, they just want to read back to the passengers that we have been cleared for takeoff
Click to expand...
99.9% of passengers that are also pilots are awesome. They are always interested and ask good questions. Very, very occasionally, you get the god's gift to aviation PPL who say the dumbest things.
 
jordane93 said:
99.9% of passengers that are also pilots are awesome. They are always interested and ask good questions. Very, very occasionally, you get the god's gift to aviation PPL who say the dumbest things.
Click to expand...

You've been reading too many posts on POA:D

Cheers
 
Last edited:
jordane93 said:
99.9% of passengers that are also pilots are awesome. They are always interested and ask good questions. Very, very occasionally, you get the god's gift to aviation PPL who say the dumbest things.
Click to expand...
Hey now! I just make snarky remarks like "Good short field landing" and I'm careful not to ask about taxing back to look for parts. Of course I know they'll look for the parts when they taxi out for departure...
 
jordane93 said:
99.9% of passengers that are also pilots are awesome. They are always interested and ask good questions. Very, very occasionally, you get the god's gift to aviation PPL who say the dumbest things.
Click to expand...

And sometimes they can really make your day. Remember a L1011 flight back in the 80's I was on from DFW to MCO (before "K") and on approach to MCO I noted the PF was holding about a 15 degree crosswind correction. Upon landing, a Captain was in the flight deck doorway and I asked who's leg that was. He pointed to the FO. I complimented him on the landing which was a greaser. As I turned to leave the Captain said I just made the FO's day -- this was his checkride for the left seat!
 
I can recall that I've ever made a comment about flying to the pilots of an airline, except in the one or two cases where I knew them. When I'm on the airline, I'm a passenger, like everyone else. On the other hand, people often said, "thank you" to us, but that's probably the difference between being in a group of 1-9 rather than being in a group of 200-400. Plus we often had the chance to talk to them beforehand.
 
Here's a great example of why it's a bad idea. I'm sure that they could turn it off, but it adds to the already busy workload. -

 
Never agreed with the old channel 9.
If they effed up, which will happen at some point, it could panick the passengers.

I don't think channel 9 exists today, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, mind your own business. I don't have a microphone in your cubicle.
 
I listened to it for a little while on my UAL flight to China this past May. So unless they killed it since then, they still have it.
 
United Airlines is still in existence... oh wait, here comes another PR headline... has to be United.
 
I miss it. Some UA planes have it, but, as noted, it's at the pilot's discretion. I long suspected that they weren't limited to Com 1 and had that proven a number of years ago on a flight from SEA to NRT. It was Super Bowl Sunday and the pilot found an AFRTS shortwave broadcast of the game and put that on Ch 9 until we lost the signal. Scored a lot of points with a number of passengers on that flight. I find it interesting in other parts of the world, as well. To me Japanese controllers are the hardest to understand. Everyone else in Asia doesn't have quite the accent problem. The old pmCO planes never had it and never will (as I understand it). The newer ones don't seem to have it, either. Too bad, I like to know what's happening. Oh well, if I have a window seat the GPS in my tablet works great and Garmin Pilot shows me exactly where we are.
 
Radar Contact said:
Was on a UAL flight out of ORD when we hit pretty good turbulence for a bit. The pilot reported to ATC moderate. When we landed a gentleman stepped up to the FO as we were trying to deplane and introduced himself as a private pilot and proceeded to scold the FO for reporting Moderate when he knows it was Severe.

If I flew for UAL I would never have channel 9 on.

My last few flights before I became my own airline I never heard CH9 in action. I'll check again on my way to Alaska next month....that's a little out of 310 range.
Click to expand...

LOL. Severe is when the know-it-all private pilots in back without their seat belts on hit the ceiling and get injured...because they know "Severe" can't hurt them.
 
LH has two cameras on their 747s. One looks forward, the other one straight down. Fun to watch along with the GPS map.
 
ATC on 9 is getting harder to find on United as well. First off, you have to have a former UNITED planes (the ex-Continentals won't do), then you want a captain with balls enough to expose himself. Then you have to hope there's nobody in the jump seat who tunes the audio output to something other than COM1
 
Kritchlow said:
Never agreed with the old channel 9.
If they effed up, which will happen at some point, it could panick the passengers.

I don't think channel 9 exists today, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, mind your own business. I don't have a microphone in your cubicle.
Click to expand...
Does left field get a little lonely for you?
 
paflyer said:
Good thing there's someone else with you on the flight deck! ;)
Click to expand...
That 'other thread' says that the 'someone else' is going to be eliminated any time now...

Kritchlow said:
I don't think channel 9 exists today, but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
If only someone had answered that question in post #9 in this thread.

Ghery said:
I long suspected that they weren't limited to Com 1
Click to expand...
It's connected to the output of one of the jumpseater's audio panels. Any audio source on the panel can be routed to Ch. 9. There is a switch within easy reach of the pilots which can cut it off quickly if something that could unnecessarily frighten the passengers is going on.

25+ years ago I was flying for one of the American Eagle commuters. Customer service letters related to pilot stuff would be forwarded to the respective chief pilot for response. He'd save the better ones. A couple I remember...

1. Flight on a Metroliner. Private pilot passenger wrote in to tell about how unsafe the pilots were. They didn't even do a mag check prior to takeoff.

2. Flight on a Saab 340. Private pilot passenger wrote in to talk about the unsafe altitude at which the pilot's flew. They flew at only X,000' (something well below 10,000'). He knew this because his wrist watch had an altitude function.

3. Flight to BMI (Bloomington, IL). Flight flies the ILS but goes missed and diverts to IND (Indianapolis, IN). Passenger writes in to complain that the pilot should have been able to land and that the pilot never had any intention of landing in BMI. He knew that they should have been able to land because he could see the runway directly below as they went around. He was also upset that they waiting until just "200' above the ground to DECIDE if they were going to land". It was obviously unsafe to wait so long to DECIDE if you were going to land at a HEIGHT of only 200'. He knew that the pilot never had any intention of landing at BMI because when they went around they immediately raised the landing gear instead of leaving it down for another approach. He also complained that they should have diverted to CMI, not IND, as that would have been more convenient for the passengers.

So, yeah... Passengers, even those who are pilots, can have some serious misconceptions regarding what's really going on.
 
Channel 9 on United? Didn't they disconnect the ATC feed, and replace it with a police scanner?
 
Ages ago American Airlines had a video feed from the cockpit at takeoff. I think they decided to get rid of that after they dropped the DC-10 on takeoff. Some of the foreign airlines still did it. I was on ANA and they showed the takeoff on the in seat screens (at least in business class).
 
flyingron said:
Ages ago American Airlines had a video feed from the cockpit at takeoff. I think they decided to get rid of that after they dropped the DC-10 on takeoff. Some of the foreign airlines still did it. I was on ANA and they showed the takeoff on the in seat screens (at least in business class).
Click to expand...
LOL. American and their video cam. There's a story about that. I think it really happened. The cam would look out the the windshield, but between the pilots, you couldn't see them. One of them decides to have a little fun and gets a gorilla suit. This is visible when he reaches to the throttles. After getting airborne the hand from the other seat reaches out and hands the gorilla a banana. As the story goes they didn't get suspended. They got fired.
 
luvflyin said:
LOL. American and their video cam. There's a story about that. I think it really happened. The cam would look out the the windshield, but between the pilots, you couldn't see them. One of them decides to have a little fun and gets a gorilla suit. This is visible when he reaches to the throttles. After getting airborne the hand from the other seat reaches out and hands the gorilla a banana. As the story goes they didn't get suspended. They got fired.
Click to expand...

Perfect, they should have got a raise..!!!:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top