The CC Skywave™ has prompted a lot of curiosity on “what might I hear on Airband?”.
The primary purpose of Air traffic control worldwide is to prevent collisions, organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and provide information and other support to pilots. It was difficult to find any “history” of airband but it appears that it was first used extensively after World War I and after 1921 at Croydon airport in London.
The Airband radio frequencies play a critical part for all civilian aviation including every flight you have been on. All flights use radio to be cleared for takeoff, landing and changes during the flight to avoid accidents or conflicts. Conversations can be dry, lively, funny or dramatic. We have one customer using the CC Skywave to monitor the ground to pilot communication at the local air races.
Navigation and air traffic control have changed over time and many areas use additional sophisticated systems to help prevent accidents.
According to Wikipedia, Airband, also referred to as Aircraft or Aviation band, is a group of frequencies in the VHF radio spectrum that are allocated to civil aviation radio communications. VHF is a short range, line of site transmission. Our radio covers 118 – 137MHz for Airband. In most countries a license is required to operate airband equipment but that appears to apply only to transceivers, not receivers. In some countries it is illegal to listen to or monitor the Airband without authorization (even in the UK).
The language that is used to communicate on this band can be a challenge to follow. Ken Hoke’s article on Stuff Pilots Say, gives some great insight into the meaning of the seemingly cryptic language used on Airband. His tips on a few basic phrases will really help you understand what is being said. Another great article by Ken is “How Pilots Communicate”
Why we decided to include Airband in our radio… Here is Bob Crane’s answer:
“When you are in a big airport you are sometimes subject to the whims of security and circumstance. TSA does a great job but when the process gets a little tense I yearn for more information. I want to know everything that will affect my tiny domain. When you listen to aviation band you can usually figure out more by reading between the lines on what pilots and the control tower are talking about. Sometimes you gain a sense of power and wisdom as you do with any knowledge.”
For more information on what you might hear or how to listen, visit the links below.
http://radio-scanner-guide.com/radioscannerguidepart3c-civilaircraft.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Listen-to-Your-Local-Air-Traffic-Control
All I need to do with this radio is to listen to 122.8… …and 122.9… …that is all I need… “…and this lamp.”
Parking by Idlewild (Now Kennedy) airport, listening to the air traffic and watching the planes take off and land. Can’t get that close today.
Parking by Idlewild (now Kennedy) airport, listening to the air traffic, and watching the planes take off and land.
Can’t get that close today.
My best travel story? Flying a DoD-chartered 747 from St. Louis to Osan AB, Republic of Korea. Full plane, 17 hours, refreshments gone in the first two hours. But I made it!
Hi everyone.
I live about 30 miles northwest of New York City. Sometimes we get airplanes flying over. Sometimes I wonder whats is going on.
Also I was on vacation to Miami for the Christmas/New Years 1993/1994. I remember on the flight back to Newark airport we had to circle around because we couldn’t get clearance for some reason or another. The pilot never said why we could not get clearance. This was over Tennessee but to this day I am still wondering why we had to circle around twice. We were about 15 minutes late getting to the airport (12:15 instead of 12 noon). I wish I had a radio to listen to what was going on. This was also before cell phones became popular like today.
yay … airplanes and stuff : )
Reblogged this on ccrane2016 and commented:
My best travel story
My best travel story was when I went to Manaus, the largest city in the state of the Brazilian Amazon, the first time to setup a manufacturing facility for Kodak in the mid nineties. It was my first time there and the excitement started as I arrived at the the hotel. It was late evening and as I approached the main entrance glass door I noticed what appeared to be a fairly large black stencil on the all glass door. But to my amazement the cab driver swatted the hairy tarantula off the door to allow me in. He joking said you better get used to them since they are all around. The next evening I attended a cook out where a giant peacock bass common to the area was being roasted like a pig on a spit. At dusk, thousands of bats would appear doing kamikaze nose dives feasting on the potentially malaria infected mosquitoes. Once back at the hotel I would turn on my portable am/fm radio and listen to local stations wondering how nice it would be to have a compact travel radio that would get local ham users and aircraft. I eventually became accustomed to the area but got to appreciate there is no place like home.
I listen to airband during the our local airshow in Hamilton ON, always intersting to catch the chatter between the tower and the performers. I think the adage that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing is true and lots of credit to those crews that are able to bring the planes in safely.
Last year I was lucky enough to spend 2 weeks in Cuba. I was a little worried about taking my well traveled CC SW through Cuban customs as it holds so many memories for me (it comes on every trip) but it was let through with no issues. I’ll never forget sitting on the golden sands enjoying the hot sun whilst listening to Radio Havana then tuning to hear the contrasting broadcasting on Voice Of America! Such a wonderfull time and my fondest memory of off my trips.
I have love listening to Airband for most of my life,especially while living in the New York Metropolitan Area where I was born.The frequecnies here are always so active 24/7 and it is facinating to listen to the runway,approach and departure instructions. And I just missed monitoring Miracle on the Hudson…
I always listen to the airband when attending the local airshow in Hamilton, ON. The chatter between the towers and the performers (when you figure our the frequency) is always fun to hear. In terms of best in-flight travel story I think the old adage that says any landing you can walk away from is a good one and kudos to the aircrews I have had the privilege of flying with for getting us down in one piece!
In I previous job I was a busy road warrior flying in and out of cities with my carry on. As the airlines got greedier with excess weight fees I always looked to keep it lean so my ICOM 92ad was my companion. I used it to listen to everything and to chat with local hams. The shortwave and medium wave performance was very poor. Many times if I pulled the radio out to listen to landings and take offs the people in my row would ask questions. Sometimes they would alert he flight attendants to my radio. Then we would have a conversation and that would be the end of it. My best flight was missing a connection due to the airline not having a flight attendant and the gate staff flying me long haul in first class on the next flight out. I had an extra layover at LAX and spent time tuning the airwaves. The LAX help frequency wa s interesting to listen to. My worst flight was what seemed like hours of white knuckle turbulence bouncing around like a cork in a turbulent ocean. Scary indeed. If you love flight you will love airband and you will enjoy it more listening to the tower and watching the heard call signs fly in. Remember flying is an adventure so listen to airband, listen to local mw or fm broadcasts, listen to the shortwave before all the stations shut down and always appreciate the flight attendant.
I live next to Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia and we have the Air National Guard practice landing those big transport planes here all the time. It is amazing how the conversation goes between the tower and the pilots. Not really joking but sometimes a little humor between the lines so to speak. If you are near me you can listen in at 119.750. Plus I want to say I have never been disappointed by CCrane. When I got this radio I was shocked by the size…very travel easy…and I thought this one might not measure up. However I was blown away by how well this radio pulls in and sounds. I intend to order another one because I need a back up in the Faraday Cage (preparing for EMP).
Best travel story? It would have to be my trip home from Desert Storm and having my wife and 3 children waiting for me as I got off the airplane.
After a 30-year military career (84-14) and 50-countries, I have so very many stories (CWO4, Ret.). A memorable one was October ’97. My Training Team & I were in Almaty, Kazakhstan. We were headed to the coast (Aktau/Aktay, Kazakhstan). We were traveling w/ two cargo crates filled with Law Enforcement (LE) training gear (real handcuffs, real gun belts, real batons, fake guns w/ other LE-related training gear & translated handouts – in Russian). Each weighed over 100 lbs. Back in the day, U.S. air carriers would charge us a very reasonable two hundred dollars or so to get these crates from the U.S. to our foreign destination. Once we landed on foreign soil and slept for a night, the “chain” was broken and we had to broker through the foreign carriers. We had to stop for the night – landed at 11 P.M. – and the Aktau/Aktay flight was the next day around noon. Our in-country carrier was Kazak Air. At that time Kazak Air had old Aeroflot (Russian National Airlines) planes from the 70s (maybe even the 60s – they were old!). These planes didn’t give the appearance of being safe or well maintained. When we checked our baggage (Team of 6: 4 trainers & 2 military interpreters w/ personal bags & the LE Gear), the clerk rang-up our cross-country excess baggage to something close to $3000 USD! We tried to reason, cajole, etc., but she just smiled and held firm with her number. We had no choice but to pay the fee. When we walked out to the plane, a man in coveralls approached us. After 45-seconds speaking to the interpreters, my lead interpreter turned to me and said, “You must pay him an excess baggage fee”. I laughed, said a few choice words and “you’re kidding me, right?” My interpreter said, “Sir, you don’t understand, this man is the loadmaster … he is in-charge of loading our bags. You only paid the airline. He said if we ever want to see any of our bags again, we must pay him, too”. The loadmaster’s bribe amounted to $375 USD. To top it all off, on this flight my teammate Bob sat next to an elderly lady who had a caged chicken on her lap during the flight (I’m sure no one believes this but it’s the truth). That day wasn’t fun – that entire mission wasn’t fun – but it sure is fun looking back on 19-years later.
So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. So, I tell them I’m a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald… striking. So, I’m on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one – big hitter, the Lama – long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.” So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.
In 1974 while traveling from Egypt to Jordan aboard a small Egyptian airliner, in the two seats on the left at the rear of the passenger section I sat alongside a Jordanian businessman. While flying, a “tornado” came out of the jet engine and danced on the window where I sat. The Jordanian said he had never seen that happen and asked politely if I were sucked out the window not to grab him because he had a wife and nine children.
When I was a kid in the 50s I loved to listen to the World Series on the radio. When we moved from Nebraska to Arizona I could pick up KFI in Los Angeles at night and listen to Dodger Baseball on my new 8 transistor Emerson Vanguard 888 radio. Many nights I went to sleep with that radio under my pillow. Most places I went in Arizona I could pick up KFI at night.
That is when I learned to love radios.
Although not on the “airband” I heard an British Airways Speedbird Capt or 1st Officer on a HF Speedbird company frequency passing on a request from a 1st class passenger. He asked, “Would you call my neighbour Lord “something” and ask him to go over to his castle and make sure I turned off the stove”. 🙂 Whichever pilot was on the radio he had a good chuckle over that as did the on the other end at Speedbird control.
When I was 9 years old(1963) my family was heading down to Nags Head NC for the first,”Real Vacation” that I can remember. My two younger sister were asleep in the back sleep and my mother was also sleeping next to me in the front. It was the middle of the night in southeastern Virginia ,lost on some backroad and I was proud as could be as other than my father who was driving, I was wide awake,feeling like a co-pilot. Our Chevy ,as with most cars of the time on had an AM radio, which was seldom turned on. I asked my Dad if I could turn on the radio… Much to my surprise my father said yes… ‘Only if I kept it low’ and that ment low. Now in Virginia I couldn’t find a damn rock station… Which my father would have turned off immediately in any case. With the volume very very low I found a country station and listened to some ‘High Lonsome’ into the wee hours waiting to see the ocean for the first time. The music was low and peaceful in the dark. Hearing those lonsome,yearning songs both reminds me of the trip.and the first time I heard it. It is a sound that ‘takes me away’. The rhythm of the guitar is what some refer to as “Entrainment”. I had my crystal(Spy Pen) radio at the time and I tried every night, on that trip,to find that sound and feeling that it brought to me,with no luck. I forgot that feeling somewhere along the line.
Twenty-some years in the late 80’s I am taken my family to the Banks and at that time ,as now, I have a bud in my ear every night as a “sleep-aid” ,doing a little AM DXing……. Some time in the middle of the night I wake up and hear a low powered AM station on the coast somewhere. And there it is …. The long forgotten family vacation I had as a kid. What a wonderful audio touchstone. That is one of many reasons radio(s) are such a part of my life.
My (true) story is exciting and simple. Last summer while driving errands with my 14 year old daughter, a long severe squall line was developing. I was listening to local ATC on my ham transceiver and heard many commercial pilots sounding tense and somewhat scared having to divert towards other airports a couple hundred miles away. Our major airport was effectively closed. Even my daughter who normally finds listening to the radio so boring thought it was very interesting. I helped explain to her what was happening, and that evening she was eager to tell her mom all about it.
Imagine, a teenager actually enjoying airband communications!
I was going through Phoenix to get home, MPLS, last week. We took off and 5 minutes BEFORE the half way mark, we turned around and landed back in Phoenix. Some maintenance thing popped up as needing done. Yes, that is what the cockpit said. No they did not have another plane ready so after an hour or two we were again on our way.
That reminded me about the time I was flying from HI to MPLS, non stop, :-D. We fly a 747 so the first one was missing an access door and it was removed from the gate. The next one almost made it to the gate before someone called it back. Never heard why. The third one got to the gate, and all the baggage and everything was loaded. The Captain was standing next to me looking out the window at the plane. He said that “third time is charm, we’ll fly on this one”. I looked at him and told him that he was not going to be flying that plane anywhere. He explained that this one is in fine condition. I asked him how he planned on seeing out of that windscreen? He looked at what I was looking at and used words that I can’t use here and around 4 hours later we left HI.
morale, if you see me getting on a plane, change your flight.
All my travels involve bringing one of my portable radios. Whether I’m sailing the LI Sound, camping, or a plane or a car trip, I love tuning in to a local station when I arrive to get the flavour of my latest destination.
One of my favorite radio-related travel memories was sitting on the porch of a cabin we had rented near Pinos Altos, NM. We had sweeping views to the east and south, where we could see mountains in Mexico. Using my FT-817 and an EFHW antenna, I checked into an afternoon SSB net in Georgia. They were amazed that my 5W did so well, but as I pointed out, nothing like a 7,000 ft elevation advantage in your antenna.
Taking my first commercial flight to Lake Tahoe to visit a friend on 4th of July. Pilot flew around the Grand Canyon twice for the passengers to see. What a view! one of the best days of my life. One day Ill make it back an see it from the ground !!
as a young boy in New York I never missed my radio programs after school. My best possession was a transistor radio (emerson) that I received for my birthday. Wish I still had it.
I never am far from some type of radio. Had the first Crain radio 15 years ago, still works but the display is messed up, wish that could be fixed. I offered it as a gift to the Crain company but they said no, I guess they have plenty of old stuff laying around.
Somewhere around 1968 I was in the US Air Force traveling on a Braniff Air Lines (remember them?) contract flight to Viet Nam. We were on a Stretch DC-8 from Clark Air Base in the Philippines to Da Nang Air Base in Viet Nam. About 30 minutes into the flight we were in the middle of a typhoon that had us bouncing all over. I was waiting for one of the wings to snap off they were flexing so much. All of a sudden we took a nose dive and finally leveled off in what seemed like minutes later. I was sitting in the last row and had taken my boots off. They ended up halfway down the aisle. One of the Flight Attendants said that was the last flight over the Pacific she was working. The pilot told us that with that nose dive we had dropped 15,000 feet and pulled 12 G’s. Did he exaggerate? Maybe, but I was a believer! We had to make an emergency landing in Hong Kong which I believe was a no no in those days. I’ve flown constantly for 40 years since then and had some other scary moments, but that was the flight from hell..
I had to visit a friend in New York and did not realize till the last minute that there was a snow storm predicted for the night that I arrived. So I did not pack any warm clothes at all!
At the layover airport in Pittsburgh when I realized my mistake, the only warm jackets on sale were for the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team I don’t follow.
It was a fun experience as every Pittsburgher on the flight kept stopping by discussing the last Sunday’s game and I just nodded along in agreement since I did not have any comments to offer. Luckily nobody noticed my ignorance and I reached my destination warmly!
Funny how people end up liking you when you agree with them all the time 🙂
I went on a weekend road trip around Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada which is scenic ..great place any way me and the girlfriend saw a huge bull Moose on the road, Watched it for a few minutes at a good distance , next thing I know the girlfriend is out of the car and within about 100 feet for him both staring each other down. Since I couldn’t explain to the Moose the consciences of what was about to happen I explained it to the girlfriend she quickly stood down and the Moose lived another day. Ah to be Canadian. 0o …….PS. This was a big Moose.
Remember the 1980’s and Piemont Airlines. After your meal, you received a hot, steamy towel to wash up with.
I had taken a weekend road trip around Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada with the girlfriend which was a very scenic drive one weekend and we came across a huge Bull Moose. We watched at a safe distance when the next thing I know the girl friend is out of the car and staring down the Moose at about 100 yards I quickly jumped into action to save the day and since I couldn’t speak Moose to warn him, about what was about to happen I took the second option and warned the girl which she agreed would be best for both party’s and quickly backed away. That’s one lucky Moose.
My most interesting flight was back in the early 1970’s when I had to take a C130 cargo plane to catch up with my ship (an aircraft carrier) in the Mediterranean after I got done with my training. It was fun and memorable as I sat on a cargo net all the way across the Atlantic and our only “in flight” meal was a box lunch consisting of a dry turkey sandwich, an orange, a pack of Twinkies, and a small carton of milk. What ? no pack of peanuts ? 🙂
My best holiday story was years ago when I was listening to my receiver with Air Band .Two little neighbors and I were told in a minute on the right will appear a helicopter. And after a while it appeared the helicopter.
Then tell them now in a while will go a plane from drecha.
They were fascinated by the conversations of the pilots with the control tower. They came home every evening to listen to airplanes and I was his hero.
Great memories of a great summer.
As a road warrior I always take my Icom handheld with me to chat with local hams and to also listen in on the Airband traffic. The Icom is a poor shortwave and MW receiver but does a great job for its intended use. The best listening experience was when I was delayed on a flight and looking for the gat seating area it seemed there was some intense interest around the front door. A quick search of the local airlines maintenance and ground frequencies on Radio Reference allowed me to listen in on the maintenance crew. They had a problem with the hinges on the door somehow bent or damaged. Oooopps I am going to miss my connection. I checked the schedules and saw that my connection flew every 45 minutes to my final destination. The Airband receiver made my day. However, it cannot really help when you are buckled in tight, white knuckled, with the plane bouncing around as it fights its way through turbulence. A few weeks ago I was stuck at LAX due to a missed connection and had a lot of fun listening in on the Helo frequencies and seeing them fly across the skies. A year before that during a 6 hour layover I was lucky enough to catch traffic from the Goodyear Blimp. The Airand can be an interesting part of our hobby to participate in.
Airband? Ah yes, I once played air saxomophone in an air band We were known for our airy sound and almost won an air Grammy right after the air tour we made on air airplanes. Unfortunately our air guitar player got hooked on pure oxygen and vanished into thin air, and so did our career in the air band business. 🙂
When flying, don’t speed because “they even got a bear in the air.”
You all know how it is with airport security…. Everything is scrutinized. Briefcases and laptops? Obvious recognition. How about musical instruments? Gong! Unless you are dealing with educated people in a metropolitan area, they will not have a clue as to what a recorder (flute) is or a metronome. I was just trying to take a couple of instruments in their cases on board, along with a metronome. By the way, a metronome looks like a little black box that ticks. Uh oh!
“That looks and sounds like a bomb to me!” said one guard. “And what are these wooden things? What’s inside?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “They are hollow inside. They are like flutes.”
“What do they do?” the guard queried.
“They are musical instruments. You play them to make music.”
Fortunately, someone else came along who agreed with me that I had musical instruments and a musical practice device. Was this episode a reflection on our society? I’ll let you reply….
Being allowed to go solo on a Cunard lines 2 week cruise to view the June 30, 1973 total eclipse of the sun as a 16 yo guy. I was able to dine with staff members of Sky & Telescope magazine, Walter Schirra, Arthur C. Clarke and other scientist. A few life first were checked off on that cruise aside from capturing images of the eclipse of a lifetime.
My best travel story? Last year for labor day, we headed down to Kenosha, WI. The plan was to stop at a little cafe and walk the waterfront and come home. While eating at the cafe we saw all these tents and people down by the waterfront. So we walked down there to check it out. It turned out to be cheese a poloza. There was also an old car show and a farmers market. We ended up staying hours longer than we expected. A memorable experience. We are deinately going back.
I havent heard the first call on my radio .Had it almost 2 months .I ive close to the airport about 10 miles from aiport Tunica Ms and 20 miles south of Memphis never picked up first plane. Other than that i love the Skywave
Best travel was my first cruise. We (my girlfriend and I) went from LA to Catalina Island, Ensenada, and back to LA. We enjoyed a 1950’s era transit bus ride on Catalina. Just a couple of miles into the trip the bus broke down. Most of the passengers stayed with the bus to wait for the replacement bus. It was a beautiful February day, we could see the ship anchored off shore, and got to enjoy the company of strangers who became friends rapidly.
I also enjoyed listening to my scanner on the ship and also at the airport before boarding our flight back home.
On a flight a few years ago, as we were ascending an a alarm above a door sounded. Everyone in the cabin had the look of fear in their eyes. After we leveled off, the co-pilot came out of the cockpit and walked back to the door. He looked at it then took his foot and held on to the overhead containers and pushed the door with his foot. The alarm shut off, and he just turned and did a thumbs up to us. The cabin erupted into applause. That was one interesting flight!
My wife always listened to me on the air band when I was flying.
My best travel story involves camping in the mountains of southern Colorado. We were awoken in the wee hours of the night by a brown bear that had broken into our ice chest. He ate EVERYTHING. He ripped open juice bottles, and egg carriers,lunch meat containers, he even bit into cans of fruit! Nothing could stop him.Everything was devoured.Or so we thought.After he left we discovered the only thing he did not touch was my homemade spaghetti sauce in a flimsy plastic container.My family to this day still refers to my spaghetti sauce as “bear repellent”. As in, are we having “bear repellent” for dinner?
This looks like a wonderful radio! Another great device from C Crane!
During the first Persian Gulf War, in the early 1990s, I had just arrived in Malaysia and tuned in daily to hear the live briefings from the Voice of America. Similar broadcasters, i.e. BBC, DW and Radio Australia, were monitored on short-wave as well. Radio played a very important role in disseminating news and information during this crisis. It always has and continues to do so.
Emergency landing of JAL in Malaysia, 1980, due to lightning strike, and getting to see Kuala Lumpur for one day.
Here’s a true story that should put every air traveler on alert to PAY ATTENTION to what’s said before your flight takes off: It was a full flight and we were all sitting in our cramped little uncomfortable seats in Salt Lake City FINALLY getting ready to take off. So there was that air of nervous excitement as we were about to FINALLY be on our way. The stewardess went through the usual speech about seatbelts and exits. Her last comment was a cordial: “And have a good flight to Fresno.” To which a number of us passengers blurted out: “But we’re going to Bakersfield, not Fresno!” To which the stewardess replied, with a somewhat startled expression on her face: “Oh, really?!” After a bit more sitting and waiting we were all shuffled off the flight because–I’m not making this up–this pilot and crew “could not” fly a few more miles south down the California mainland past Fresno and on to Bakersfield. Instead, we had to wait SEVERAL HOURS in a middle-of-the-night empty airport until another pilot and crew was assembled to fly us down to Bakersfield come morning daylight. Had no one been paying attention to what the stewardess said as the final sentence of her speech, we would have all landed in Fresno. Wonder what the airline would have done THEN?!
My first trip to New Orleans- my family didn’t like to travel so when I left home I worked and saved – and New Orleans was close and affordable so I started there-
I was taking a very small plane from Florida to Abaco, Bahamas. I was the only passenger. The was room for 4 or 5 passengers in 2 rows of seats. The pilot asked me if I wanted to sit in the back or the front. I’ll sit in the front, I said, and started to get into the plane’s passenger compartment. The pilot stopped me and said, no sit in the front where a co-pilot would sit if we had one. that was a very cool experience.