"Requesting lower"

One human factor that's been overlooked -- on late night flights, it is
often very very quiet aloft. I like the sound of a human voice from
time to time, it's reassuring to know the coms are working. Listening
in on aircraft to aircraft frequencies, and chatting as well, is I
think a safety factor. Pilots who make long cross country flights will
understand the reality of my point , others may appreciate at least the
theory.

It could even be a factor for sim pilots gaming a flight.



On Jan 19, 2:25 pm, "Tony" wrote:
On Jan 19, 1:55 pm, "BDS" wrote:



"Milen Lazarov" wrote

It's not always about separation. Hearing a DASH-8 report moderate ice
while descending through 12,000 can be helpful too. Do I know where
exactly he is? Sort of, I know where he's going and how high he is.
Can I ask ATC where was the DASH-8 who just reported ice? You bet I can.Good point. Another one is aircraft that are diverting to avoid buildups
and cells.

BDS- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

Tony writes:

One human factor that's been overlooked -- on late night flights, it is
often very very quiet aloft. I like the sound of a human voice from
time to time, it's reassuring to know the coms are working. Listening
in on aircraft to aircraft frequencies, and chatting as well, is I
think a safety factor. Pilots who make long cross country flights will
understand the reality of my point , others may appreciate at least the
theory.

It could even be a factor for sim pilots gaming a flight.

It is. It's always a bit eerie to be the only living soul around with
a radius of a hundred miles. Just driving a car alone on a deserted
highway can do this, especially in the western U.S., where some
highways can look uncannily like the deserted road in the old movie
posters for _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_, which definitely
does not help at all. I think being in a small aircraft can only
magnify this feeling.

I wonder how astronauts in the command modules of Apollo flights to
the moon must have felt while thousands of miles away from their
colleagues on the opposite side of the planet. They didn't even have
a radio to listen to.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Tony writes:

One human factor that's been overlooked -- on late night flights, it is
often very very quiet aloft. I like the sound of a human voice from
time to time, it's reassuring to know the coms are working. Listening
in on aircraft to aircraft frequencies, and chatting as well, is I
think a safety factor. Pilots who make long cross country flights will
understand the reality of my point , others may appreciate at least the
theory.

I think the ATC guys get just as lonely - I think I've had them start up the
conversations late at night more often than the other way around.

One sticks in my mind for some reason even though it was quite a few years
ago. The Wilkes-Barre, PA controller said something like "Hey, aren't you
guys the ones who make the sausages?" I was mistaken for another aircraft
with a similar call sign that flew the same route frequently late at night.
We had a nice chat for the few minutes that I was in his airspace.

BDS

BDS wrote:
I think the ATC guys get just as lonely - I think I've had them start up the
conversations late at night more often than the other way around.


I've gotten football scores along with IFR services late at night. Sometimes I
didn't know which of us is more like the Maytag repairman.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

BDS wrote:
Tony writes:

One human factor that's been overlooked -- on late night flights, it is
often very very quiet aloft. I like the sound of a human voice from
time to time, it's reassuring to know the coms are working. Listening
in on aircraft to aircraft frequencies, and chatting as well, is I
think a safety factor. Pilots who make long cross country flights will
understand the reality of my point , others may appreciate at least the
theory.

I think the ATC guys get just as lonely - I think I've had them start up the
conversations late at night more often than the other way around.

I was flying back from Mexico several months ago and had just cleared
through San Diego. When I got handed off to Lemoore approach at about
20:30 it was pretty slow. I was in and out of IMC but wx was clearing.
So I asked them if they knew when Harris Ranch restuarant closed. The
controller came back about 5 minutes later, said he had checked with
the menu in the break room, confirmed they were open until 22:00 and
wanted to know if I would like to divert and if he could phone in a
reservation for a table for us!!!! My wife was 1/2 awake and the kids
were asleep in the back but eventually all agreed that steaks after a
week of Mexican food sounded good. He even prefiled an IFR for the rest
of our trip after dinner!!!

-robert, CFII

"Robert M. Gary" wrote

I was flying back from Mexico several months ago and had just cleared
through San Diego. When I got handed off to Lemoore approach at about
20:30 it was pretty slow. I was in and out of IMC but wx was clearing.
So I asked them if they knew when Harris Ranch restuarant closed. The
controller came back about 5 minutes later, said he had checked with
the menu in the break room, confirmed they were open until 22:00 and
wanted to know if I would like to divert and if he could phone in a
reservation for a table for us!!!! My wife was 1/2 awake and the kids
were asleep in the back but eventually all agreed that steaks after a
week of Mexican food sounded good. He even prefiled an IFR for the rest
of our trip after dinner!!!

The other pilot here at work was flying in the Chicago area a couple years
ago. He was late and a little harried and was on the center frequency when
he asked if someone would mind calling his appointment to let them know he
was going to be late. The controller (who my friend thought was the unicom
operator) said something like "Er, ah, OK", took the info and made the call.
It was shortly afterwards that my friend realized who he made the request
with.

It was a busy time of day and so it was pretty neat that they accommodated
him - maybe the controller was just in shock that someone would request that
center do something like that!

BDS