Meowing on Guard- can it be stopped?

[AV8R_87]

you're confident that the majority of meows happen in the terminal area

Let's clarify this first - I never claimed that the majority happen in the terminal area.
I just said that I heard one recently that was in the terminal area.

So you're saying you know the type of airliner

And you're doing this by ear?

When you listen to that long enough, especially as you're looking for EMI issues, you develop an ear for it.

Sometimes it's subtle, the same way guitarists talk about the difference in sound between a Stratocaster and a Telecaster. Sometimes, it's the worst dumpster fire ever, with so much 400 Hz bleedthrough that it's hard to miss (mostly ERJs). But yeah, you can tell (most of the time) when it's an airliner vs a bugsmasher or a turboprop or a bizjet. They have a different sound.

 

[Salty]

I just said that I heard one recently that was in the terminal area.

I think they are saying they don’t believe there is a way you can know that it was in a terminal area.

 

[AV8R_87]

I think they are saying they don’t believe there is a way you can know that it was in a terminal area.

Same electrical background noise called approach a few seconds later leveling off at 8000.

 

[Salty]

Same electrical background noise called approach a few seconds later leveling off at 8000.

So there are never two crjs with the same avionics on the same frequency at the same time?

 

[AV8R_87]

So there are never two crjs with the same avionics on the same frequency at the same time?

There are, and they don't sound exactly the same. Those two transmissions did sound like they came from the same aircraft.

 

[Salty]

There are, and they don't sound exactly the same. Those two transmissions did sound like they came from the same aircraft.

Well I’m sold. lol

You may very well be right, but you’d be hard pressed to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

[EdFred]

So there are never two crjs with the same avionics on the same frequency at the same time?

My Cousin Vinny flashback.


...the same size and model tire...

 

[cowman]

Wanting the govt to "fix" this tiny little nuisance to a few people is the equivalent to having the cops do a "welfare check" on a family member. It can only end in disaster with the repercussions only hurting you in the long run.

My fear is someone will come up with a "good idea" like mandating we have to get new radios that have a unique identifier encoded in the transmission.

 

[AV8R_87]

You may very well be right, but you’d be hard pressed to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

That's why I said "(almost) sure" in my original post.
Although, if I had good quality recordings I could do a spectral analysis and be certain.

My fear is someone will come up with a "good idea" like mandating we have to get new radios that have a unique identifier encoded in the transmission.

The airlines will pay for them!

 

[Daleandee]

Back in the days of the CB radio craze you could get a "roger beep" installed that sounded whenever you unkeyed the mike. I'm certain some enterprising soul will soon do that with a "meow" for aviation radios ...

 

[Ed Haywood]

...the same size and model tire...

 

[Brad Z]

Wanting the govt to "fix" this tiny little nuisance to a few people is the equivalent to having the cops do a "welfare check" on a family member. It can only end in disaster with the repercussions only hurting you in the long run.

First, it's a nuisance to literally hundreds of people at once. Every single ATC facility has to monitor guard, as well as every aircraft capable of doing so. If it's never bothered you, congratulations, you either live out in the boonies or you never tune into 121.5.

Second, who's suggesting the government fix this? I don't see the FCC ever dealing with this and it's outside the jurisdiction of the FAA. That said, a few public shamings and I think the nuisance will stop for everyone real quick. I suspect this is something we could police ourselves.

 

[Brad Z]

You only need to get a few of them a demand letter for a HIMS psychiatry evaluation. That'll stop all of them, FAST.

While I like the thought, I'd rather not see the medical certification process weaponized to penalize bad behavior. Besides, does a psych evaluation screen for immaturity?

 

[texasclouds]

Five pages. Can’t believe you turnt-up baddies are still going on about this for five pages.

 

[Bob Noel]

Five pages. Can’t believe you turnt-up baddies are still going on about this for five pages.

welcome to the interweb

 

[GeorgeC]

My fear is someone will come up with a "good idea" like mandating we have to get new radios that have a unique identifier encoded in the transmission.

I was just thinking that an inaudible modulation of the radio's s/n would be a good idea

 

[danhagan]

You’ve double-checked the volume and your audio panel setting for your second radio, right?

Yes

Have only picked up an occasional ELT ... all planes in a hangar except one that was real, but reported simultaneously by myself and an airline ...

I flew tonight just around the local field and one dude goes "SEE YA!" which prompted 10 other people to shout it back.
I think the thing that annoys me the most about is the lack of originality. "This is the thing the cool kids on TikTok are doing? I too shall replicate it."
If you are going to do something dumb, do something original.

We get all the "over-flow" Chinese and Hispanic student pilots that aren't training in Arizona at the two field near me ... I'd take the meows over their horrible radio calls that take 60 seconds to get to the point, all with the PTT depressed non-stop ... of course when there are 5-6 in the pattern

 

[midwestpa24]

First, it's a nuisance to literally hundreds of people at once. Every single ATC facility has to monitor guard, as well as every aircraft capable of doing so. If it's never bothered you, congratulations, you either live out in the boonies or you never tune into 121.5.

Second, who's suggesting the government fix this? I don't see the FCC ever dealing with this and it's outside the jurisdiction of the FAA. That said, a few public shamings and I think the nuisance will stop for everyone real quick. I suspect this is something we could police ourselves.

Put one of these on the offender's flight bag or carry-on? Maybe on the back of their convertible sports car? (Just assuming)

 

[Daleandee]

We get all the "over-flow" Chinese and Hispanic student pilots that aren't training in Arizona at the two field near me ... I'd take the meows over their horrible radio calls that take 60 seconds to get to the point, all with the PTT depressed non-stop ... of course when there are 5-6 in the pattern

You're not alone. One time I had to use ADS-B in the pattern to find a guy as I could not understand much of what he said. I heard "Cherokee" so I knew what I was looking for ...

 

[Bob Noel]

You're not alone. One time I had to use ADS-B in the pattern to find a guy as I could not understand much of what he said. I heard "Cherokee" so I knew what I was looking for ...

That might not always work... consider the guy that usually flies a cherokee but is sitting in a 172.

Or am I the only one that made that mistake... I mean, ...

 

[EdFred]

That might not always work... consider the guy that usually flies a cherokee but is sitting in a 172.

Or am I the only one that made that mistake... I mean, ...

When I owned a Cherokee and jumped into a Sierra for some flight training, I may have on more than one occasion given the wrong tail number and type. Then when I got the Comanche it may or may not have happened again when in non-Comanche planes.

 

[billsgs126]

Put one of these on the offender's flight bag or carry-on? Maybe on the back of their convertible sports car? (Just assuming)

View attachment 143937

You are assuming that the caller (not offender) was humanoid and not feline.

 

[Zeldman]

Flying cancelled checks, about 2am, tired, bored as heck, no radio traffic for at least 10 minutes so I uncorked a good rumbling from the toes belch, on frequency, center frequency.

About 2 seconds after I unkeyed the mic, some one came up with, ''good one'', then someone else ''not bad manners, just good beer''.

Then the controller....''arright, let's knock it off, please''...

 

[Pinecone]

Oh boy. Trivia time. 121.5*2=243.0. Why did they pick those frenquencies?

There is also a VHF FM emergency frequency at 40.5

This band is used by ground forces and some air to ground

 

[Pinecone]

I was referring to the requirement to monitor the guard frequency. I have a hard time imagining the FAA opening up an EIR on a pilot who wasn't monitoring 121.5, unless a whole lot of other bad stuff happened too.

Maybe not, but they will likely pile it on with all the other things you did wrong that got their attention.

 

[Katamarino]

Back in the day, there was a Cessna accident where a cat escaped a cage and got into the tail cone, causing aft CG.

Uh...how heavy was that cat!?

Running the numbers for a 182, with 2 up front, 60 gallons fuel, and 60lbs baggage, you'd need to add a 90lb cat in the tailcone to hit the rear CG limit. If you have a loose mountain lion in the plane, CG is unlikely to be your main concern.

 

[Ed Haywood]

Uh...how heavy was that cat!?

Running the numbers for a 182, with 2 up front, 60 gallons fuel, and 60lbs baggage, you'd need to add a 90lb cat in the tailcone to hit the rear CG limit. If you have a loose mountain lion in the plane, CG is unlikely to be your main concern.

Well, I can't swear it happened. I read about it like 30 years ago and just remembered because it was so funny.

But when I say tail cone, I mean all the way back at the control surfaces. That's a lot of arm.

 

[Piperonca]

Assert dominance on the frequency, that'll fix it:

 

[AV8R_87]

But when I say tail cone, I mean all the way back at the control surfaces. That's a lot of arm.

I considered adding a few pounds of lead in the tail to improve the CG. My thought was to attach it to the tail tie-down skid. 15 pounds or so would be required to have some meaningful effect.

 

[GeorgeC]

Pilots’ animal noises in the cockpit have FAA listening - WTOP News

Animal noises on an air traffic control channel near Reagan National Airport have gone viral, drawing FAA scrutiny — and a memorable jab about “still flying an RJ.”

wtop.com

 

[bbchien]

i heard one retort, near Knox intersection: ....."go back to riddle" you shouldn't be here"

 

[flyingcheesehead]

i heard one retort, near Knox intersection: ....."go back to riddle" you shouldn't be here"

I heard one during the pandemic - "I thought all the pu$$ies got furloughed." There was a nice long silence after that.

 

[M20K]

I heard one during the pandemic - "I thought all the pu$$ies got furloughed." There was a nice long silence after that.

Just read in another Mooney group (that some of you may have seen) from an Aussie...

It is kindergarten behaviour.

 

[40YearDream]

As far as tracking down the 'meows' (no connection to my avatar!) - would take a combination of a VHF automatic direction finder and ADS-B reception. Seems like it should be a relatively simple RF & software task to put the 2 signals together - some software to distinguish noise on 121.5 from intelligible speech (?), and correlate the 2 sources. Assuming, that there's (usually) only one on at a time. It would probably only take a few of these, operated at un-announced varying locations, along with significant fines, to drastically reduce this problem (kinda like having random hidden highway speed traps).

 

[Ed Haywood]

As far as tracking down the 'meows' (no connection to my avatar!) - would take a combination of a VHF automatic direction finder and ADS-B reception. Seems like it should be a relatively simple RF & software task to put the 2 signals together - some software to distinguish noise on 121.5 from intelligible speech (?), and correlate the 2 sources. Assuming, that there's (usually) only one on at a time. It would probably only take a few of these, operated at un-announced varying locations, along with significant fines, to drastically reduce this problem (kinda like having random hidden highway speed traps).

You need 2 or 3 direction finders to triangulate. Matching it up with an ADS-B ping is trivial. VDFs are already in the field for SAR and ATC, so I suspect it does not rise to the level of a problem the FAA feels worth the effort to pursue.

While incredibly juvenile and annoying, it is also harmless. Can anyone cite an instance where meowing continued during an emergency?

 

[eman1200]

...Can anyone cite an instance where meowing continued during an emergency?

not right meow I can't

 

[luvflyin]

This was story on ABC News last night. At DCA. They had recordings. Even did a dog barking.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

This was story on ABC News last night. At DCA. They had recordings. Even did a dog barking.

I just saw that too. Mention of >$19,000 fines.
They said no one can be caught unless they turn themselves in...just wonder if one day a copilot will turn in a captain or similar circumstance.

 

[M20K]

Can anyone cite an instance where meowing continued during an emergency?

Don't know if it was meowing, but heard someone transmit "cut the noise, there's an emergency in progress".

I was to far away to hear the emergency, I just heard that guy.

 

[luvflyin]

I just saw that too. Mention of >$19,000 fines.
They said no one can be caught unless they turn themselves in...just wonder if one day a copilot will turn in a captain or similar circumstance.

Hmm. What sound does a rat make?