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Southeast Asia

A Rantburger's question about the "All right. Good night." comment

2014-03-19

This question isn't in the news, it's just something I'm wondering about.

Is there anything suspicious about the "All right. Good night." comment from the co-pilot? I am ignorant of these things, but it doesn't sound like something a pilot would say. Ever. Shouldn't there be a call-sign involved? Perhaps it was a comment from another person on the same frequency? Perhaps it was an earlier recording of the copilot, maybe talking to his wife on his cellphone, taken by the pilot and played back for the purpose of confusing an investigation?

Posted by:gorb

#9 Autos definitely set them off in the little bird, especially when I'm doing them! They don't call them crash and bangs for nothing!

Posted by: 9 Pan 2014-03-19 18:46

#8 If I were to speculate, I would suggest the phrase was coded to report that preliminary activities (aircraft secured) were complete and they were going silent.

If I knew anything about airborne comms.

Posted by: Skidmark 2014-03-19 17:32

#7 ..@49 Pan: you guys work to hard, and autorotations are a bitch, right.?

Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-03-19 17:29

#6 What bothers me is the plane is not sending out any distress signals. First the ELT is G force activated. Meaning if it crashed on land we would know. Second is the salt water activated beacon. If it splashed we should know by now as well. If it crashed, how did both fail? The odds of that are astronomical. Hell, the ELT in my helicopter went off all the time when I landed hard. Its easy to reset, but it could not be turned off.

Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-03-19 15:14

#5 When switching from one radar controller to another pleasantries is common. The proper response should have been," transferring to XYZ radar at abc.d. Thank you." So for a pilot that routinely flies a route to give an abbreviated thank you good night is not uncommon depending on the communications just prior to this statement. This is nothing.

Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-03-19 15:10

#4 I wondered about that too and then dismissed it. Glad you posted.

Posted by: warthogswife 2014-03-19 14:59

#3 Another possibility is that the co-pilot was in on the hijack, or was the principal perp. In either case, whatever he might have said would have been part of the plot.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-03-19 14:54

#2 ..once radio contact is established with Air Traffic Control, the flight ID is sometimes forsaken by the pilot. Not an "approved" practice, but anything but unusual.

After initial call-up, ATC usually has a handle on the sound of the pilots voice and will not question the lack of flight ID, especially at night when ATC is working few, and therefore easier to identify by voice, flights.

Remember also that the "All right. Good night." was probably in response to an ATC radio call and the response was expected.

I've often speculated that a good Air Traffic Controller has something of a "musical ear"..

Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-03-19 13:34

#1 Whoops, I just re-posted a re-do of this thinking I screwed up. Please kill it when you see it. Thanks. :-)

Posted by: gorb 2014-03-19 12:11

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