CTLR SUGGESTS THAT ACFT MICROPHONES HAVE A TIMING DEVICE BUILT IN TO REDUCE STUCK MIKE PROBLEMS.

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THIS RPT CITES A RECURRING PROBLEM RATHER THAN A SPECIFIC EVENT. OCCASIONALLY; AFTER A PLT MAKES A RADIO XMISSION; THE MICROPHONE SWITCH WILL REMAIN KEYED (STUCK MIKE). IN AN ENRTE OR APCH CTL ENVIRONMENT; THIS IS UNNERVING AT BEST AND VERY DANGEROUS AT WORST WHEN DEALING WITH NUMEROUS ACFT AT CONFLICTING ALTS. ON THE GND; THIS MAY CAUSE DELAYS WHICH EVENTUALLY AFFECT TFC IN THE AIR. AT PRESENT; THE OFFENDING PARTY IS RARELY AWARE OF THE STUCK MIKE; AND THE SITUATION MAY EXIST FOR SEVERAL MINS; MAKING THE FREQ VIRTUALLY USELESS. OTHER PLTS ON THAT FREQ ARE THEN AT THE MERCY OF THEIR OWN COMMON SENSE IN TAKING APPROPRIATE ACTION. THIS ACTION IS OFTEN TO RETURN TO A PREVIOUS FREQ; WHICH; ALTHOUGH PROBABLY THE BEST ALTERNATIVE; MAY PROVIDE AN UNNECESSARY WORKLOAD ON THAT SECTOR. IN ORDER TO BRING A STUCK MIKE TO A PLT'S ATTN; A TIMED WARNING DEVICE COULD BE BUILT INTO OR ADDED ONTO ACFT RADIOS. AFTER A MICROPHONE HAS BEEN KEYED CONTINUALLY FOR A SPECIFIED TIME (EXAMPLE: 30 SECONDS) A BEEP-STYLE ALARM SOUNDS; ALERTING THE PLT THAT THE MICROPHONE IS STILL KEYED. IF THE PLT IS IN THE MIDST OF A LENGTHY XMISSION LONGER THAN THE SPECIFIED TIME; HE/SHE MERELY 'CLICKS' THE MICROPHONE SWITCH QUICKLY AND CONTINUES XMITTING; AND THE ALARM IS DISCONTINUED; BUT RESET FOR ANOTHER 30 SECONDS. SOME NEW AUTOMOBILES HAVE A SIMILAR FEATURE TO WARN THAT A DIRECTIONAL SIGNAL HAS BEEN LEFT ON; SO THIS SUGGESTION MERELY ADAPTS EXISTING TECHNOLOGY.