rickair7777

Yes, but most airplanes today have three radios...
1. ATC
2. Guard
3. Data (SELCAL/ACARS)

If you only have two radios, then you'll need company or data on com 2.

Nevjets

Some aircraft have three radios that are setup as atc, SELCAL, and data. Point being that not all operators are required to guard 121.5. Once they got rid of our SELCAL, I realized how much of this annoying, useless chatter was going on on guard.

Count Dracula

After 30 plus years of flying, I have enough hearing left that monitoring congested ATC freq's and the "blocked" transmissions are enough to do....let alone constant vigilance on Guard and the jagoffs who reside there daily.


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tom11011

Doesn't matter, it is not an emergency. For example, the lost comm procedure only has you squawk 7600. It used to be back in olden times you squawked 7700 for one minute (an emergency) then 7600 for 15 minutes, then back to 7700. By changing this 15 or 20 years ago, they are clearly signalling it is no longer to be considered an emergency.

The FAA doesn't make policy on what is allowed on 121.5, the FCC does under 87.173. Their policy plainly says "121.500 MHz be used solely for emergency and distress purposes. The FAA continually monitors 121.500 MHz and treats any distress call received as an emergency to be investigated immediately."

Therefore controllers will be in violation for trying to locate airplanes who are not responding to their assigned frequencies, its just not an emergency.

I think they should change the rules to allow controllers to locate aircraft on 121.5 but I don't really have a say.

rickair7777

That's ridiculous. The FCC will not prosecute the FAA for using guard to find lost airplanes...they might be in distress or even hijacked, and eventually will likely create a traffic conflict. So ATC is certainly within the intent of the rule.

CBreezy

The FAA disagrees with you. And they define what is an emergency. The FCC doesn't..

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/orders_notices/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentID/186823

tom11011

I hope you are right

threeighteen

"IF CAPABLE" pretty much gives me the authority to not waste a valuable communication/information tool by monitoring guard. Fortunately I work for a company that "gets it" and does not require us to monitor guard if we feel like we can use our radios more effectively.

I have been able to obtain invaluable information about weather at my destination, airport closures, etc by monitoring company and other frequencies more times than I can count, a few times this has allowed me to start coordinating a diversion long before I would have been able to otherwise or has helped me find ways around weather from company guys out ahead as we try to navigate the nastier weather of the lower flight levels.

One specific example.... A few years ago I was on my first trip off of IOE at my old company, we're flying across the Rockies in the winter, monitoring ARINC and we hear another aircraft calling their dispatch after their second failed attempt to get in their destination. Their destination happened to be our alternate. We ended up calling our dispatch, got our alternate changed because of the worse than forecast weather there. We ended up flying to our destination, going missed, and then diverting to the new alternate. We landed at the new alternate with min fuel plus 10 minutes. Not a fun situation but we made it. However, had we been monitoring guard we may have been clueless to the weather events unfolding below us and could have ended up not getting a new alternate and finding ourselves in a very terrible situation.

Furthermore, never has monitoring 121.5 provided me with any benefit. Granted, I'm a lower time guy who hasn't missed a handoff (YET, I'm sure it will probably happen), but if ATC forgets to hand me off there are other methods for re-establishing contact such as having other aircraft retransmit a new freq to me, or I'm just going to look at my chart and pull up the center frequency for the sector I am currently in and give that sector a call. Not a great situation, but not the end of the world.

So if you want to call me incorrect and unprofessional for not continuously monitoring 121.5, so be it. I'm willing to take that hit in order to monitor the frequencies that are going to give me the information that can save my career and/or potentially my life.

CBreezy

It may not have helped you, but it undoubtedly saved these people's lives. https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/04/04/delta-589-crew-whidbey-navy-rescue-olympic.html

And wouldn't it be the job of the dispatcher to let you know that airplanes at your alternate aren't getting through and coordinating a different one with you?

threeighteen

Theoretically yes, it would be the dispatcher's job however they did not know at the time we contacted them. Would they have found out later? would it have been in time? who knows. That day was a mess for a ton of our flights and they had their hands full. They could have easily missed it completely.

I'm not denying the merits to monitoring guard, however with the circus show it has become on the eastern half of the country, I do not find myself very motivated to change what already works. The Delta story is definitely one good reason to do it though.