What happens if you call the pilot deviation number?
Posted by IllManagement5004@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 20 comments
We all know the famous trouble that pilots get when ATC gives a phone number to copy for possible pilot deviation. Brasher warning: Now let's say you're a passenger on that plane, and you somehow overheard that phone number being given to the pilot, and you call the phone number before the pilot once outside of the plane, where calling isn't restricted. What happens if you call that number as an civillian/passanger?
redditburner_5000@reddit
It's just a guy at the other end who is expecting one thing and gets another. He'll probably be confused at first, then either laugh at you, scold you, or just hang up.
Then they dronestrike the location they think the call came from and imprison you family. You'll have to go into hiding and live on the run. Soon, you'll find that there's a whole subculture of folks that felt the urge to call the number and you'll probably establish a small paramilitary organization. One of you will get a fake passport and join the ranks of ATC, ultimately rising to the rank of colonel in command of a tower of your own. From there, you'll get your compatriots positions in centers and approach controls across the region. Now the stage will be set. Eventually you'll be ready to trigger your plan to bring the system down, but then you'll notice a pilot who missed his turn to base and give him a number to call. When he calls, he'll have a flicker of a memory of a similar call 20 years prior. A phone call. It just doesn't sit right. And then he remembers that call where a wierdo called him at the tower and just breathed silently into the phone. And he recognizes that ragged breath. The CIA algorithms cross reference everything and pin your location to an abandoned warehouse at the old deep-water port. You're done.
All that work and planning down the drain. So close, but never to be achieved. The system won again.
And that's why you never ask pilots to call the tower.
Valuable_Purpose1261@reddit
I guess if you're quick enough you could use some colorful language and make that other guy's bad day even worse
SecureAsk8297@reddit
I hope they trace your number as that would be a federal crime
Gabriel_Owners@reddit
What federal crime might that be?
hawker1172@reddit
This is a very strange and weird desire you have. Please refrain.
ManWithTheWand@reddit
What happens when the pilots call the number? They get scolded for their mistake or "deviation"?
SecureAsk8297@reddit
I got a number to call once from tower. I called him back and he said he told me to report a three mile final, but I reported at 3.2 miles. He must have been bored.
ManWithTheWand@reddit
bruh what, that's ridiculous lol
randombrain@reddit
What's supposed to happen is: The person answering asks for the pilot's name, license number, and address. That information gets added to the report and gets sent to the FSDO along with our description of the event. End of call.
You'll get deviations from that in both directions, though. Either the person answering the phone gives the pilot a brief rundown of why they messed up and then says "go forth and sin no more," or they get into a big long argument about what happened. Technically neither one of those are the correct move.
If it's just an informational thing, "Hey you did something unexpected and here's why we'd prefer it if you do something else instead," we're probably going to give you the non-recorded number.
poisonandtheremedy@reddit
Nah. Not when I called. Just “Hey don’t do that again, cool, kthx bye”
randombrain@reddit
The number is the recorded line for the supervisor's desk. Depending on how small the facility is, it might also be the recorded line for IFR clearances and cancellations at non-towered fields.
Generally speaking that line isn't used for much besides possible pilot deviation calls and IFR clearances, but if the dedicated facility-to-facility landlines are broken for whatever reason then we might possibly use that phone line to communicate with other ATC facilities.
You shouldn't use that line just to call up and say hi to your controller buddy that you know is working today. But it's not like you're going to blow up the NAS if you call it.
Specifically in the case of a PPD, we need to get the pilot's name, certificate number, and mailing address. Not super likely that you would know all of that info as a passenger, so it would just be a waste of time. Unless you pretended to be the pilot and said inflammatory things, then you might get them in more trouble.
flyingron@reddit
Can't vouch for that, but I was on a NORDO situation coming back in to IAD one night. There was an instructor and student in the front seats of the plane, I was in the back. We had a balky handheld that only allowed me to HEAR ATC, but we got in. While the instructor debriefed the student after landing, I called the tower on the phone to let them know what was going on and thank them.
theonlyski@reddit
Don't call the number, it's not for you and you likely have nothing to do with the situation. The controller needs info from the pilot and unless you're intimately familiar with them and have their certificates in your hand, you won't be able to provide it, so it would just be a waste of resources.
LRJetCowboy@reddit
You have been given a perfect opportunity to seal your fate and make it easier for them to violate you. Be polite, admit nothing, offer no explanations and don’t say I’m sorry.
NuclearDC10@reddit
Press 1 for runway incursion. Press 2 for landed without clearance. Press 3 for the atis. Press 4 for anything else.
flyingwithfish24@reddit
One way ticket to El Salvador for you!
MJC136@reddit
Probably get cursed out
FlowerGeneral2576@reddit
A controller supervisor at the relevant air traffic control facility answers the phone and asks what the hell you’re wasting his time for.
otterbarks@reddit
You'd get a very confused tower supervisor on the phone.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
We all know the famous trouble that pilots get when ATC gives a phone number to copy for possible pilot deviation. Brasher warning: Now let's say you're a passenger on that plane, and you somehow overheard that phone number being given to the pilot, and you call the phone number before the pilot once outside of the plane, where calling isn't restricted. What happens if you call that number as an civillian/passanger?
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