High Life
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Dear PCN (of over 2600 subscribers),
Have
a Great a RELAXING Labor Day Weekend!
_________________________________________________________________________
Oooppps! One little missed handoff………
Exciting times over Belgium……
Yeah, you guessed it that is the Belgium Air
Force’s F16 out my cockpit window at FL380.
And well, it wasn’t planned nor welcome but we did get the royal intercept.
Okay….okay here is the story.
Unplanned Two-Ship!
When I was a young aviator, my dad
would always say to me that the best teacher in aviation are the mistakes
made by other pilots. I remember a feature in the old Flying magazine
that highlighted that very thing. Writing about pilot miss-steps and then
hoping the readers would take things to heart. Well, below is my goof up
and I share in the hopes that it won't happen to any other pilots.
After you fly a route a few times a
certain level of comfort sets in that can (without care) lead to
complacency. You know, KWI-SNN boring right? Ever been there?
My practice flying Europe has always
been to "mark" FIR boundaries. We all know that that is where a
handoff can always be expected. I generally use my Fix page to circle the
boundary intersection, but there are many methods of creating a visual reminder.
Pick one. I've done this religiously for 6 years in my current job.
The thought being having a visual reminder will alert you are about to get the
"big" handoff. Well, as mentioned sameness can lead to
the pilot sin of complacency. And, you can throw stones now because I did
that. Complacency led me to get lazy on marking FIR boundaries on the FMC
and then to carry an elevated alert level when crossing state boundaries.
What sorta complicates things a bit is that all boundaries aren't guarded by
ATC with the same level of vigilance. Heck, in Jeddah you can fly for
miles without any VHF contact with ATC whatsoever. You often get the
vibe in that part of the world they really aren't doing much
"controlling" and wouldn't freak out if you just switched on your own
to Kuwait. Ahhh, but not so in places like Belgium that has had a few
recent Brussels terrorist attacks which has risen the country's alert level
thermometer. On this day, we were
ferrying a 767 with company personnel onboard from Kuwait to Shannon,
Ireland. Rhein control cleared us all
the way across Germany to in intersection half way inside of Belgium. Even with this clearance, without a call approaching the
boundary's edge you can expect the Belgium Air Force to roll up on your
left side. Exhilarating to be sure, but was this necessary? And the
short answer is absolutely not. But it happened to me all because I let
my "guard" down and didn't give FIR boundaries their due respect. Now to be clear, we DID re-establish contact before the FIR and of course
before out clearance limit, yet none-the-less the scramble had been
ordered. Even though we were now back in
full contact we were told the intercept was still going to take place so it
indeed did. Approximately 10 minutes
later two of them were on us and now we were also talking ship to ship on
guard.
Even though all boundaries aren't
guarded with the same intensity, a good rule of thumb is to treat all with the
same level of respect. Missing handoffs will occasionally occur but to
avoid a high percentage of them if special caution is conducted at FIR
boundaries to be in contact with the next control, along with following procedures
of monitoring guard and air to air, along with always maintaining the SAT phone
settings to receive, most complete NORDO situations will indeed be
avoided.
One more thing to be alert
for. If a control clears you to an intersection halfway (or all the
way) across the successive FIR boundary, for communications purposes don't
consider that clearance intersection as your limit. For constant comm purposes,
still consider the FIR boundary as you limit and do not penetrate it without
successful communications with that respective control. If you operate
this way you will avoid having the boys loaded to the gills with armament
screaming up on your left yelling at you on guard. Exhilarating, but for
me I'll take excitement in other forms. When it comes to FIR
boundaries stay on guard in more ways than one. You will remain bored and
happy at the same time. And you won't add the same stupid episode, as I
did, to your flying book of memories.
An intercept like this will elevated the
blood pressure a bit, yet I was very hopeful that the F16 guys would stay calm
and cool. They did and soon there was a
thumbs up and a salute and our “taste” of Belgium was over. Wheeewwwwww!!!!!. Next time I will listen a little more
carefully when the controllers carry a heavy accent. European excitement I can live without!
Holiday
Fireworks?
Yup, Cincy celebrates
Labor Day in a big way. A HUGE fireworks
show on the river timed to music. I’ll
be there tonight. If you’ve never been,
its worth it. Lot’s of fun down by the river.
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