Let's Go Brandon, SHUT UP!

[201er]

Has anyone else noticed that it isn't possible to fly a few hours with the second radio tuned to 121.5 without being bombarded with unnecessary distractions like "let's go brandon", "meow", a lecture on radio etiquette, and an argument about politics. If you are one of those imbeciles that indulges in this childish humor, seriously shut the hell up! It could be you some day trying to get an emergency call out or hoping your ELT is picked up when it turns out pilots are muting 121.5 because they are tired of these distractions.

I had to mute my 121.5 monitoring radio for a lot of my last flight because it has been an endless distraction. Stuck mic on guard for half an hour, an airline captain describing the weather at the destination and seat belt policy, a request for coffee and car rental, a discussion of the pros/cons of the president, and several pissing contests with the usual meows, let's go brandon's, and reprimands. Seriously, it got old before it even started. If you wanna screw around, do it somewhere else. Leave the emergency frequency for emergencies.

Not to mention missed ATC calls on com1 because of being stepped on by 121.5 interference. Also think about the negative impact on our passengers hearing this kind of stuff coming from our radios. Doesn't exhibit the level of thoughtfulness and professionalism we want to exhibit to make them feel safer.

It's bad enough that we have to deal with laser interference from the ground, but the last thing we need is this coming from other pilots!

Edited November 9, 2021 by 201er

[GeeBee]

Wait until you are over the UK

[eman1200]

I did a night flight to myrtle beach last night and while monitoring 121.5 heard some knucklehead asking how to put an app on his iphone into night reading mode.  

 

 

 

[PilotX]

Seems impolite to tell people to shut up. Especially when you don’t know that anybody on this forum is responsible. Sort of 

[bmcconnaha]

Last time I flew was heading to texas to drop my plane off at aerocomfort for an interior redo.  121.5 was just a play by play of the baseball game, and meowing.  

[Raptor05121]

We have to deal with it on a daily basis

[Air pirate]

Guard should always be clear and have full availability for actual emergencies

Save “let’s go Brandon” for 122.75 and weekly college football games, MLB, NASCAR and just about any place with a crowd. 

[RobertGary1]

Never heard any of that on emergency. 

[Immelman]

Prior to the pandemic my 121 flying took me across the continent on a regular basis. I have been off the line since the beginning of the pandemic, only GA flying in my Mooney, and will return soon.

Before the pandemic the guard nonsense had a strong geographic component to it. From what I have read, that is still occurring.... flying the Mooney here in CA it is safe to monitor guard. Once in a while a person makes a genuine mistake with their flip-flop or mic selector and that's it. None of the bullshit.

Based on this my educated guess is that most of it likely comes from one or possibly two regional airlines operating in that region, primarily east of the Mississippi. This is a localized set of bad behaviors that have been allowed to fester in a lousy culture. Most likely not a Mooney pilot....

Edited November 10, 2021 by Immelman

[1964-M20E]

I've never heard anything on guard that I can recall other than an ELT. Now 123.45 yes lots of comms between aircraft.

 

[Greg Ellis]

8 minutes ago, 1964-M20E said:

I've never heard anything on guard that I can recall other than an ELT. Now 123.45 yes lots of comms between aircraft.

 

This is not important to anything and is really just a small pet peeve of mine but 123.45 is not an official frequency for air to air comms.  It is for use in Oceanic regions and for non-governmental flight test operations.  There are proper frequencies for air to air communications such as 122.75 for fixed wing, 123.025 for helicopters and 123.30, 123.50 for aviation instruction, gliders and hot air balloons. 

So, just a nice deep breath to get that off my chest.  

[cbarry]

I’ll say first that I’m not in favor of additional oversight for oversight sake, but for safety sake I’d like to see at least some of my tax dollars, aviation fees…go toward a project that might be helpful such as modernizing radio technology.    This discussion makes me wonder how far are we away from an imprinting style of radio transmissions?  Obviously, while transmitting to control facilities, recordings are occurring, but out in the “open air,” I’m not sure the non-military version of radio technology is advanced enough to track a transmission.  To those who are well-versed in the field, is it possible we see  “waas” style of voice communications at some point?  Not only would this be traceable, but it would appear to be much more solid.  

[GeeBee]

Lot of tight underwear in this world.

 

[201er]

6 hours ago, Immelman said:

Based on this my educated guess is that most of it likely comes from one or possibly two regional airlines operating in that region, primarily east of the Mississippi. This is a localized set of bad behaviors that have been allowed to fester in a lousy culture. Most likely not a Mooney pilot....

Really? It’s regional? For those of you who are hearing a lot of nonsense on 121.5, can you mention where you’re hearing it?

I was flying back from Michigan to NJ and heard it pretty much anywhere in that range: Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey.

A Southwest pilot is being fired or investigated for saying Let’s Go Brandon over the PA and as silly as it is, it doesn’t cause anywhere near as much harm as doing it on the radio distracting other pilots or blocking the frequency for real emergencies.

[DXB]

There are definitely times when I've stopped monitoring 121.5 in flight due to these distractions. Since 121.5 serves multiple serious functions and is also monitored by ATC, the constant meowing, LGB, etc. must annoy ATC as much as it annoys me. It probably also interferes with them using it to raise an aircraft on 121.5 from time to time. I gather there is also no recourse if some anonymous person were to abuse another ATC frequency either?  If so, it seems strange that rarely happens.

 

[PeteMc]

Eventually when we go to digital radios with the N# embedded in the transmission, I bet it will stop real fast.  Well...  Probably more the reality is someone will get nailed big time to make the point, then the point will get across.

But for now, since you bring up ATC....  Wonder what would happen if for the next few weeks, time permitting, every time there is a "meow" or whatever, the response would be "This is XXX Approach on Guard, is there someone if distress?  If not, please stay off this active ATC frequency."  (But then sometimes I am quite the dreamer....)

 

[PilotX]

Weird I monitor guard and I haven't heard anything. I am going to do a search on MS and see if people were complaining about "meow" or anything else on guard or is it just because it is political speech (albeit inappropriate on guard) - which we gentleman aviators try to avoid on MS. Let's Go Google... 

[PilotX]

5 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Is the meow thing political speech?   Seriously.  I don’t know it’s origins.  

No the LGB thing is political speech, I inferred that it only came up because it is political speech. Telling MSers to SHUT UP because somebody is irked by political speech on guard is not the appropriate forum, maybe contact the FCC. I suppose I could go to APF or PPW and tell everybody over there to shut up if I didn't like what I heard on the radio.  

I only found one reference to meow's on guard in my exhaustive search. 

[201er]

12 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

OK.  Thanks.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but this has nothing to do with politics to me. Extraneous and excessively verbose radio transmissions on any aviation frequency are a pet peeve of mine, personally.  Not just the meows and recent LGBs on Guard.  

^This

[201er]

22 minutes ago, PilotX said:

Telling MSers to SHUT UP because somebody is irked by political speech on guard is not the appropriate forum

If any MSers are engaging in childish play on an EMERGENCY frequency, they deserve to be told to shut up and I would say it to their face if I met them and knew they are doing  this. I disagree with calling it out on 121.5 (at least by pilots, maybe ATC can be more involved) because it makes the verbal orgy continue for longer and ties up the frequency even more. So, I say to anyone hiding behind anonymity that partakes in these forums that engages in this stuff, shame on you. Go do dangerous stuff solo in your plane all you want, but stop putting other's at risk.

[ilovecornfields]

Independent of political ideology, abusing an emergency frequency which one day one of us will depend on is shameful and insulting to the entire aviation community. It’s basically a big f-u to your fellow aviators. If you lack the insight and/or executive function to not tie up an emergency frequency with your verbal ejaculations then you really have no place in aviation.

I know people ACCIDENTALLY transmit on guard all the time, but deliberately tying up this frequency for whatever reason is at best a pathetic cry for attention and at worst sociopathic behavior. Either way, it doesn’t belong on guard.

[kpaul]

2 hours ago, 201er said:

Really? It’s regional? For those of you who are hearing a lot of nonsense on 121.5, can you mention where you’re hearing it?

I was flying back from Michigan to NJ and heard it pretty much anywhere in that range: Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey.

A Southwest pilot is being fired or investigated for saying Let’s Go Brandon over the PA and as silly as it is, it doesn’t cause anywhere near as much harm as doing it on the radio distracting other pilots or blocking the frequency for real emergencies.

It is very regional.  When I was living and flying around the Southeast, the BS on guard was ridiculous. The constant "meow" and "GUARD" drug out in a gravely voice was awful. 

Now that I am in the Northwest guard is nearly silent other then the occasional first officer calling dispatch on the wrong frequency.  

 

[Immelman]

2 hours ago, 201er said:

Really? It’s regional? For those of you who are hearing a lot of nonsense on 121.5, can you mention where you’re hearing it?

As I say it (and this was my flying pre-pandemic, pre "Brandon") was heavily concentrated east of the Mississippi. Further west and the shenanigans faded. I bring this up because doing transcons you really got a sense of where it was happening more.

Southwest's recent events (rolling coal, that PA, and some other things) are also revealing something about their culture...

 

[rbridges]

13 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

Never heard any of that on emergency. 

same here

[rbridges]

4 hours ago, 1964-M20E said:

I've never heard anything on guard that I can recall other than an ELT. Now 123.45 yes lots of comms between aircraft.

 

yeah, I've been guilty of that, too.