Following a rise in the number of aircraft suffering total loss of communication with air traffic control in its flight information regions (FIR), UK air navigation service provider NATS has advised pilots how to use mobile telephony to report their situation. The number of reported radio failure incidents in the last year increased from 65 to 81, it reports.
"The Distress and Diversion Cells serving the London FIR and Scottish FIR may be contacted by phone by aircraft that have approved installations that can access the UK telephone network," says NATS, which provides the numbers to dial. It also reminds pilots that there are alternatives such as HF (high-frequency radio) and the ACARS datalink. NATS says aircraft operating in the Shanwick oceanic FIR, or in contact with London Military, can also use "dedicated satellite voice telephone numbers programmed into the aeronautical ground earth stations of Inmarsat signatories".
Meanwhile, NATS has carried out a seven-day study at its four ATC centres in the UK and at the 15 airports where NATS is the airport ATC contractor. Although pilots are supposed to include their cleared flight level in the information they provide to the controller on the first transmission to ATC after a frequency change, NATS reveals that 73% of the pilots among the 1,454 cases recorded did not include their cleared flight level. And when the controller requested it, 20% of the pilots reported the wrong cleared level.
Source: Flight International
