KPHL-KBNA flight

[roiegat]

So new to aircraft monitoring. Not new to radios though..been a ham operator for quite a bit of years now. But recently got back into going to airshows so picked up a Uniden Bearcat 125AT to listen to airshow traffic.

Next month I'll be flying to Nashville for a work trip and was going to take my scanner with me to listen to the traffic. Questions is...I'm used to small airport...what frequencies should I listen to. More so, what is the order of operations for planes. Who do they contact first? I'm looking to build a bank of frequencies that will let me monitor from the gate, taxi, takeoff, in the air, approach, land, taxi.
I've already programmed the KPHL ones...but not sure which order to listen them to. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rk911]

[url{www.Airnav.com[/url] is a great place to get aeronautical frequencies for just about any public airport in the county.

At airports WITH towers some common frequencies in use are...

- Clearance Delivery: In use at medium-to-larger airports, pilots will first contact CD to announce their intentions...ready to taxi, intended destination, etc. Once acknowledged pilots will be instructed to contact Ground Control for permission to actually begin to taxi.

- Ground Control: In smaller airports Clearance Delivery is combined with CD on fhe same frequency. Pilots will announce their location on the field, type of aircraft, tail number and intended direction of travel once airborne to a comtroller in the tower. "Aurora Ground, Bugsmasher N1234A at (location on field), ready to taxi (taxi=movement on the ground from parking, hangars, etc. to a specific runway), departing to the (direction). The Ground Controller will then give the pilot specific taxi instructions and to contact TOWER at the conclusion of the taxi. During the taxi the pilot will continue to monitor the GROUND frequency.

- Tower: At the conclusion of the taxi but prior to takeoff the pilot will switch to the TOWER frequency and announce that he/she is ready for takeoff.

At some airports CD, GROUND and TOWER will be on separate frequencies, at others all on the same. A separate CD will generally be at larger airports.

Most General Aviation airports do not have a control tower and of those that do the tower might not be staffed full time. In those cases pilots will announce their intentions before taxiing, taking off, approaching the airfield, landing. etc. on the CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency). Other pilots on the ground or in the air will monitor the CTAF.

Unless you're on or very near the airport proper you likely won't hear much traffic from the tower.

 

[hill]

You won't be able to use your scanner in the aircraft.

You can monitor all You want on ground, but I would keep the volume low.

 

[tvengr]

Here are the ATC frequencies for Nashville. You will need to lockout the ATIS frequency. It is a continuous transmission with airport info.

118.600	KBNA Tower VHF
257.800	KBNA Tower UHF
121.900	KBNA Ground VHF
348.600	KBNA Ground UHF
126.050	KBNA Clear Deliv
122.950	KBNA Unicom
135.100	KBNA ATIS
118.400	KBNA App/Dep VHF
119.350	KBNA App/Dep VHF
360.700	KBNA App/Dep UHF
372.000	KBNA App/Dep UHF
121.500	Aero Emerg VHF
243.000	Aero Emerg UHF

 

[roiegat]

[url{www.Airnav.com[/url] is a great place to get aeronautical frequencies for just about any public airport in the county.

At airports WITH towers some common frequencies in use are...

- Clearance Delivery: In use at medium-to-larger airports, pilots will first contact CD to announce their intentions...ready to taxi, intended destination, etc. Once acknowledged pilots will be instructed to contact Ground Control for permission to actually begin to taxi.

- Ground Control: In smaller airports Clearance Delivery is combined with CD on fhe same frequency. Pilots will announce their location on the field, type of aircraft, tail number and intended direction of travel once airborne to a comtroller in the tower. "Aurora Ground, Bugsmasher N1234A at (location on field), ready to taxi (taxi=movement on the ground from parking, hangars, etc. to a specific runway), departing to the (direction). The Ground Controller will then give the pilot specific taxi instructions and to contact TOWER at the conclusion of the taxi. During the taxi the pilot will continue to monitor the GROUND frequency.

- Tower: At the conclusion of the taxi but prior to takeoff the pilot will switch to the TOWER frequency and announce that he/she is ready for takeoff.

At some airports CD, GROUND and TOWER will be on separate frequencies, at others all on the same. A separate CD will generally be at larger airports.

Most General Aviation airports do not have a control tower and of those that do the tower might not be staffed full time. In those cases pilots will announce their intentions before taxiing, taking off, approaching the airfield, landing. etc. on the CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency). Other pilots on the ground or in the air will monitor the CTAF.

Unless you're on or very near the airport proper you likely won't hear much traffic from the tower.

Thanks for the amazing info....will start programming scanner.

 

[roiegat]

You won't be able to use your scanner in the aircraft.

You can monitor all You want on ground, but I would keep the volume low.

Would the scanner not work on the aircraft while in the air? I have the close call feature so figured I'd at least be able to hear what the pilot is transmitting.

My current thought is to have scanner in my bag and connected to my headphones via wire. Shouldn't stand out too much.

 

[AirScan]

Some links/info you might find useful.

PHL-BNA Standard Route

PHL Departure

BNA Arrival

Enroute Frequencies along the Standard Route
- during standard day shift times, in order of contact

124.350 Philadelphia Departure (10000 and below)

135.450 New York (11000 to FL230)

133.475 New York (FL240 to FL330)
124.775 New York (FL340 and above) (if active, rarely used)

133.975 Washington (FL270/FL240 and above)

133.275 Washington (FL240 to FL330)
118.025 Washington (FL340 and above)

120.275 Indianapolis (FL240 to FL310)
135.125 Indianapolis (FL320 to FL350)
119.525 Indianapolis (FL360 and above)

128.225 Indianapolis (FL240 to FL320)
123.775 Indianapolis (FL330 to FL360)
120.975 Indianapolis (FL370 and above)

134.675 Indianapolis (FL240 to FL340)
126.925 Indianapolis (FL350 and above)

132.900 Memphis (FL230 and below)

118.400 Nashville Approach (15000 and below) (LiveATC coverage)

Sectors will be dependant on altitude or they might combine some sectors/frequencies at certain times. If you scan all 17 frequencies you should get complete coverage of the flight enroute assuming no weather deviations and you fly the standard route.

If you have internet on the aircraft some of those frequencies are covered by LiveATC. Also handy to use the LiveATC archives before the flight to monitor PHL-BNA flights and familiarize yourself with the communications.

Be aware that Southwest and American have CPDLC capability for enroute comms, Spirit and Frontier and most Regional Jets do not.

Monitor CPDLC

 

[AirScan]

My current thought is to have scanner in my bag and connected to my headphones via wire. Shouldn't stand out too much.

You will be able to hear the aircraft but not the controllers.

 

[roiegat]

Some links/info you might find useful.

PHL-BNA Standard Route

PHL Departure

BNA Arrival

Enroute Frequencies along the Standard Route
- during standard day shift times, in order of contact

124.350 Philadelphia Departure (10000 and below)

135.450 New York (11000 to FL230)

133.475 New York (FL240 to FL330)
124.775 New York (FL340 and above) (if active, rarely used)

133.975 Washington (FL270/FL240 and above)

133.275 Washington (FL240 to FL330)
118.025 Washington (FL340 and above)

120.275 Indianapolis (FL240 to FL310)
135.125 Indianapolis (FL320 to FL350)
119.525 Indianapolis (FL360 and above)

128.225 Indianapolis (FL240 to FL320)
123.775 Indianapolis (FL330 to FL360)
120.975 Indianapolis (FL370 and above)

134.675 Indianapolis (FL240 to FL340)
126.925 Indianapolis (FL350 and above)

132.900 Memphis (FL230 and below)

118.400 Nashville Approach (15000 and below) (LiveATC coverage)

Sectors will be dependant on altitude or they might combine some sectors/frequencies at certain times. If you scan all 17 frequencies you should get complete coverage of the flight enroute assuming no weather deviations and you fly the standard route.

If you have internet on the aircraft some of those frequencies are covered by LiveATC. Also handy to use the LiveATC archives before the flight to monitor PHL-BNA flights and familiarize yourself with the communications.

Be aware that Southwest and American have CPDLC capability for enroute comms, Spirit and Frontier and most Regional Jets do not.

Monitor CPDLC

Thanks...will add these to the program bank.
I'm assuming my bearcat 125at won't be able to monitor CPDLC...but will need to look more into it

 

[andy51edge]

I'm assuming my bearcat 125at won't be able to monitor CPDLC...but will need to look more into it

Correct, the simplest way is with a computer and SDR. CPDLC is a datalink between the pilots and controller.