Listening to ATC transmissions - The Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949

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There are several great sites out on the internet that are streaming live ATC transmissions for all to hear. However one thing you won't hear on any of them are ATC transmissions from the UK.

It never occured to me to wonder why until I wanted to listen to a friend of mine as her flight left for Hong Kong recently. When I looked into it apparently there is legislation forbidding it. Section 5(1)(b) of the WT Act 1949 states that it is an offence if a person "otherwise than under the authority of a designated person,

either:

(i) uses any wireless telegraphy apparatus with intent to obtain information as to the contents, sender or addressee of any message whether sent by means of wireless telegraphy or not, of which neither the person using the apparatus nor a person on whose behalf he is acting is an intended recipient;
or:

(ii) except in the course of legal proceedings or for the purpose of any report thereof, discloses any information as to the contents, sender or addressee of any such message, being information which would not have come to his knowledge but for the use of wireless telegraphy apparatus by him or by another person."

So for all those of you who like to use scanning equipment to listen to ATC you are all breaking the law by using the scanner. Owning, purchasing and selling a scanner is not illegal, but in order to legally use it to listen to UK ATC transmissions (and emergency service transmission) you have to be a licensed user of the frequencies in question. Any CAA or JAR certified pilots who are reading this will be fine because they will hold a Radio Operators license as part of their certification, but a normal 'man-in-the-street' is commiting an offence by doing this.

But only if you are based in the UK. So If I was listening from Holland, for example and I could pick up Heathrow ATC - or similar coverage from the UK - I could broadcast it legally. Also this law doesn't apply to Southern Ireland which means I can listen in quite legally to Shannon and Dublin. Nor does it apply to many of the European countries, Oceanic countries, Central and North America.

So why the UK?

Well, according to the Radiocommunications Enforcement Policy Unit this is because "No-one likes their private or business conversations to be listened to. Parliament has passed these laws to protect the privacy of radio users". So let me get this right: If you are transmitting using a commonly accessible, unecrypted, non peer-to-peer signal which is easily and readily receivable by consumer grade electronics, you are deemed to be having a 'private conversation'?

What's wrong with this picture?

What happens when it all goes terribly wrong. A test pilot story.

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You may have heard of the SR-71 Blackbird. Built almost entirely from titanium and stainless steel at the Lockheed Skunkworks in Burbank, California, the Blackbird was able to cruise at Mach 3.35 for extended periods, at altitudes of over 80,000 feet. Designed from the start as an invulnerable platform for strategic photographic and electronic reconnaissance, the Blackbird flew with impunity over the Soviet Union, China, and virtually every "hot spot" in the world until it's retirement in 1998.

Of course flying at such extremes of speed and temperature had both advantages and disadvantages. The air friction outside is so much that normal metals used to create aircraft would simply melt. Furthermore, ejection at that point would put a pilot into such extreme low pressure - it's right on the edge of space - that his blood would literally boil. So being a test pilot in such a plane has more than the normal share of risk.

Here's a first hand account of what happens when flight testing the fastest aircraft ever made goes ever so slightly awry. Next time you have an engine loss at 3000ft and have to put down in a field or divert to an alternate airfield think of how much worse it could be.

(Link courtesy of Alexis Park Inn)

Any pilots care to help me?

My recent post about the new Air Traffic Services Outside Controlled Airspace gave some basic information about the new services that came into effect on March 12th last year.

Well, it's been almost a month of using this and the weather in the UK has been sufficiently good to enable you pilots to get some experience with the new services.

Any chance of you dropping your thoughts in the comments?

• What you like about them
• What you don't like
• What you would change
• How easy the changeover was
• Any problems you encountered
  

I would like to get some feedback for my readers who, maybe, haven't been able to get out and do the hours yet.

Please let me know your thoughts below....