Has any pilot had a 'Jammed Open Microphone incident ?. . .Now,. . .be honest. . . .

[Phil Perry]

On my VERY FIRST proper nav cross country excercise from Casey airfeld,at Berwick, (several NM South West of Melbourne, in the Dandenong direction. . .). . . I was flying a C-172 to Deniliquin and return,. . .and after saying G'day to Melbourne ATC, after clearing their airspace around the Eastern route around the zone. . . to the North,. . .I had ( I thought ) put the mike down on the right hand seat,. . .we didn't have headphones back in them days, and used the classic Cessna Mike, which was a 'D' shaped tubular device, which fitted into a clip bracket on the panel,. . only, the clip was broken on this aircraft and I put the mike on the other seat out of the way. . . this iem got jammed down (somehow ) between the seats.

 

I was operating on Sartime,. . so did not have to make regular reports to an FSU, so did not require the radio.

 

When I called Deniliquin,. . .can't remember if I had to change frequency, . . .might have been the usual 119.1, the channel used for most non controlled country airfields at the time, ( I thought ) that I found the mike was jammed between the seats. . .

 

When I got near to Deniliquin, I noticed the problem. . . .. I got a Right Royal Bolllocking,. . . .How they knew that it was ME I don't know,. . .but the only thing which cheered me up was the Lady who did the refuelling for me,. . .I think that her name was Mel,. . .she had on a very short Mini skirt and it was a Joy to a young man to see this vision of 30 year old loveliness on the ladder pumping the fuel that I had asked for. . . In fact, I could have watched her all day but I digress.. . .Keith Hatfield, the owner of the Groupair Aviation Company shielded me from any repercussions as a 'Student' making a silly error. . . . Being a Radio Techy nowadays, I realise that as I flew further away from Melbourne, the signal strength from the Cessna's radio ( 7 Watts RMS ) would have reduced considerably, thereby allowing other aircraft to use the frequency with only a small, and mildly annoying heterodyne in the background. . .

 

I Have had WORSE JAMMED MIKE incidents on Amateur Radio,. . .one night on Mount Dandenong Restaurant car park, the Missus and I had ,. . .well,. . .sort of Mild disagreement,. . which, due to a jammed mike allowed most of the Melbourne radio hams to have a giggle about. . . when you're parked at 2,000 feet AMSL, the signals on VHF tend to travel a long way. . . .

 

 

[turboplanner]

One of the worlds most famous open mic incidents occurred during the assassination of President Kennedy. Dallas Police Radio Channel 1 was jammed from about a minute before the assassination, so all police communications were hamstrung during and in the immediate aftermath of the assassination.

 

The Dallas police motorcyles at the time had a two way mic switch, so you had to switch it off after you transmitted, and eventually it was found that one of the riders had forgotten to switch his off, just at the critical time.

 

Nothing was done about it for years, until a researcher decided to see if the original Dallas Police log was still around. It was, and expert analysts found (from memory) 11 shots had been fired, and on further analysis matched claims that Chuck Nicoletti fired from the Daltex building and James Files fired from the grassy knoll.

 

The House Select Committee on Assassinations used it as evidence of a conspiracy to kill the president, their findings were rebutted by more experts and more experts rebutted those experts etc. etc.

 

This is not a bad summary of events which unfolded afterwards: JFK MURDER SOLVED - Reward

 

 

[Birdseye]

Inadvertently transmitted cabin addresses can cause mirth at times, but can also bite. Many moons ago a domestic jet inbound to Heathrow was told by Heathrow approach to "leave Bovingdon heading 140, no delay, runway 28R" as was the norm in light traffic periods. Shortly after came a cabin address over the air: "apologies for our late arrival, this was due to ATC delays". Nothing rancours an ATC than to be blamed for delays as a result of congestion, especially when there aren't any! The next transmission the errant pilot heard was "enter the hold at Bovingdon".............. It wasn't me on radar that day, but I would have enjoyed doing the same.

 

 

[Happyflyer]

Really, an airtrafficker gets his nose out of joint and has the power to delay every person on a flight for petty revenge? I’m guessing air traffic is more professional than that and this did not happen. If it did he should be sacked.

 

 

[Birdseye]

Really, an airtrafficker gets his nose out of joint and has the power to delay every person on a flight for petty revenge? I’m guessing air traffic is more professional than that and this did not happen. If it did he should be sacked.

Actually, if I remember correctly, the pilot was sacked after doing it a second time.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

A few years back a couple of pilots who frequent this forum flew a new aeroplane interstate to a fly-in at a private strip. Old mate was at the controls and after he'd made his circuit calls another aircraft cut across his bows. This caused him to spark up something fierce.

 

He delivered a thorough analysis of the offending pilot's parentage and lack of airmanship, not realising the light-as-a-feather mike button had stuck open. He was unaware of the size of his audience until after the plane had been tied down.

 

But it gets worse: the airfield owner had thoughtfully set up loudspeakers to relay all CTAF calls across the entire airfield.

 

It turned out that the subject of his diatribe was our host, the airfield owner!

 

Things seemed to get smoothed over after dinner that night, with the help of a bottle of Tullamore DEW.

 

 

[Happyflyer]

Actually, if I remember correctly, the pilot was sacked after doing it a second time.

Wow! Yes I can see that a pilot who twice told his passengers that lateness of the flight was due to ATC and twice transmitted that message to ATC should be sacked. What are the odds of that? What a dill.

[Raytol]

Yes, I had an incident with an open mic. My motorglider was being flown by a popular, but perhaps a little vulgar, Canadian/English instructor.

 

He was waiting at the keys for a glider to land, which proceeded to turn across the runway and stopped in his take off path. I was nearby and testing out my newly bought

 

hand held radio. Much to my dismay, the instructor started the longest and most ferocious denigration of the glider pilot ever to be heard on the tower frequency!

 

I must of looked like a madman as I was running towards my motorglider, waving furiously and trying to catch the attention of said instructor! Luckily, the accent

 

of the instructor got me off the hook when the "bluey" came through!

 

 

[rickshaw8]

Around 15yrs ago Departed YDAY in C172 for YDAY with wife in RH seat. After dep YROM push to talk jammed when giving call. Mrs comments for 30 min transmitted over 1/2 Qld until son SMSd to alert me to problem

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Around 15yrs ago Departed YDAY in C172 for YDAY with wife in RH seat. After dep YROM push to talk jammed when giving call. Mrs comments for 30 min transmitted over 1/2 Qld until son SMSd to alert me to problem

Strewth mate,. . . . your SMS alert must be a joy to behold. . .I miss most text message alerts when driving as my Android phone doesn't have a loud enough alert function . . . .

 

 

[Guest Guest]

Strewth mate,. . . . your SMS alert must be a joy to behold. . .I miss most text message alerts when driving as my Android phone doesn't have a loud enough alert function . . . .

Might have seen the screen light up alerting to an SMS, aural is just one alert method.

 

 

[old man emu]

My wife was a radio operator working police radio dispatch in Sydney. She came home one morning and told me of an open-mike incident that had happened on night shift. It was at a time when women were beginning to be deployed on General Duties. For the first few months of all constables' (male & female) worked with a buddy, learning the ropes. Naturally this lead to romantic relationships forming between naive female probationers and worldly-wise Senior Constables.

 

For this buddy/probationer pair, quiet night; a secluded parking spot, and an open mike entertained the rest of the police on the same channel for some time.

 

Her favorite trick when I was working the car and she was on the radio was to frequently call my car to report its location. Then towards morning she would call my car and tell me not to forget to pick up some milk on the way home.