Stuck Mike

Coming back from Pella (near Des Moines) today we over-flew a poor sap who
was apparently sitting on his microphone. Worse, he had the incredible
misfortune of being the last person in a flight of three to land, and while
they landed ahead of him he gave a long, critical, and quite profane running
review of his "friend's" landings to his co-pilot -- and also, unknowingly,
live on the air, to every pilot in the Midwest.

After he landed, we could hear the guy shut down, and someone yelling at
him. Then the mike went dead. It was quite hilarious.

Aside from the obvious lessons to be learned from this (like, always be
careful what you say, in case you're transmitting!), we just could NOT
believe the number of pilots who tried to call the guy with the stuck mike!
For some strange reason, half a dozen folks, both on the ground and in the
air, somehow believed that a radio that is transmitting could also receive
at the same time, so they were broadcasting stupid stuff like "AIRCRAFT WITH
THE STUCK MIKE, PLEASE CHECK YOUR MICROPHONE..."

Obviously (or so I thought) anyone with a basic knowledge of how a 2-way
radio works knows that the receiver is necessarily cut off during
transmissions -- but apparently there are a fair number of people who don't
have a firm grasp on this concept.

This isn't the first time I've heard this type of thing. Back in the 70s,
during the CB radio craze, it was pretty common, and I've heard this happen
once or twice while flying -- but it never fails to amaze me.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"