UAL and Channel 9

[shon7]

When was Channel 9 (for listening to cockpit communication) introduced at United.

Whose idea was this and for what was the chief aim of the project?

What were/are the costs associated with such a project?

Finally, why do some captains choose to turn it off during flight?

 

[Andy]

Finally, why do some captains choose to turn it off during flight?

I can't answer the rest of your questions, but I'll talk from experience on this one. One word: paranoia. The only ones who turned it off recited a hazy story of how an unknown Captain got scruud due to ch 9. Post-911, the paranoia got worse, but it was more about giving away 'secrets.'
Should I ever return to UAL and make Capt, I will hardwire ch 9 to the 'on' position. It wins a lot of loyal customers. Let's not forget that we're in a business that is supposed to cater to our customers.

 

[RRF985]

I've only flown in United once. I was 12 at the time (19 now). I was on a flight from SFO-IAD and I must admit that Channel 9 was the best part of the flight. Unfortunately, at the time, I thought pilots only talked with ATC during departures and arrivals. I knew nothing about Center frequencies. United is one of my favorite airlines I've ever been on due to this one feature. If I'm ever on another United flight and the Captain has it off, I'll be very unhappy. Oh well though. Can't do much about it if paranoia is the reason.

 

[wxman13]

Channel 9 has been around as long as I've been flying UAL, at least 12 or 13 years I think. I know there is a switch in the cockpit to turn it on or off, but I doubt there's much else to it.

 

[Flying Illini]

was on a flight last year and it was turned off. I asked the flight attendent if she would ask the captain, when she got a chance (I was very polite), if he could turn it on. I got a polite answer about 5 minutes later. "No."

There are aviation scanners that anyone can get ahold of, how is CH 9 going to "give away secrets?"

 

[miles otoole]

I can't answer the rest of your questions, but I'll talk from experience on this one. One word: paranoia. The only ones who turned it off recited a hazy story of how an unknown Captain got scruud due to ch 9. Post-911, the paranoia got worse, but it was more about giving away 'secrets.'
Should I ever return to UAL and make Capt, I will hardwire ch 9 to the 'on' position. It wins a lot of loyal customers. Let's not forget that we're in a business that is supposed to cater to our customers.

Go to the United board of flyertalk.com and ask the frequent flyers if having Channel 9 is one perk which keeps loyalty. You'll find some pretty heavy spending United frequent flyers who absolutely love it.

 

[Mugs]

It isn't about giving away secrets or anything like that. The fact of the matter is, there have been a very limited number of cases that have come up over what a passenger "interpretted" based on listening to channel 9. Now imagine having to spend time answering questions about some baseless allegation that came up. Some in that situation may just decide to prevent that problem from ever happening by always selecting it off. The vast majority of the UAL Capts. have no problem with it at all. But, as with any large group, some will view the issue differently. That is just the way it is. Personally, I think it is a good feature, especially during delays.

By the way, American used to have the same feature along with the famous TV picture from the cockpit years ago. I don't know if it is true, but I was told that the ATC communications were taken out after a few legal cases involving what was supposedly "heard." AA management simply decided that was enough, and pulled the plug.

 

[LearAv8r]

I remember flying on UAL a long time ago and listening to Ch 9. About halfway through the flight I heard our flight number tell center that we had a problem and then the crew must have turned off Ch 9. (channel went dead) The crew never said anything over the PA to the pax and we landed at our destination with no problem (that I knew of anyway). kind of weird. I still like the feature and hope that all airlines kind of did that. Really cool


Lear-

 

[VMA214]

"By the way, American used to have the same feature along with the famous TV picture from the cockpit years ago. I don't know if it is true, but I was told that the ATC communications were taken out after a few legal cases involving what was supposedly "heard." AA management simply decided that was enough, and pulled the plug."


This is correct. Additionally, the DC-10 that went down in Chicago in 1978 had the TV on for all to see their last 60 seconds... not a happy thought...

 

[Andy]

...the DC-10 that went down in Chicago in 1978 had the TV on for all to see their last 60 seconds... not a happy thought...

IIRC, AMR pulled the plug on TV/cockpit comms due to this accident. Also, IIRC, some of the victims' families sued and used the TV as part of the 'trauma.'

 

[Andy]

Go to the United board of flyertalk.com and ask the frequent flyers if having Channel 9 is one perk which keeps loyalty. You'll find some pretty heavy spending United frequent flyers who absolutely love it.

I read flyertalk occasionally. Part of the reason why I believe that sucker should be hardwired to the 'on' position. I want to give the passengers the most pleasant experience possible.

 

[FracCapt]

Can't do much about it if paranoia is the reason.

Sure you can....you can feed on that paranoia....after the flight, on the way out, say to the Captain.... "Hey, I think it's great that you guys now play ALL cockpit communications over Ch 9 instead of just radio communications....but you might want to watch what you say with everybody listening!"

 

[EAP]

Channel 9 has always been a really cool thing and there have only been a very small percentage of conspiracy theorist capts. out there that don't like to have their flight piped to the pax on their headsets for "crtique". However, it has been passed down from training that if you have an emergency to turn off channel 9 so that it doesn't feed assumptions and panic into the cabin with half baked play by plays going on after every transmission. I'm pretty sure channel 9 has been around since the early 80's, but I could be wrong. Add to it the "airshow" - like feature (moving map, altitude and groundspeed) on the widebodys and you pretty much have a front seat at the office.