LEADER OF FLT OF 4 F16'S HAS COM PROB WITH CTR. DSNDS BELOW FL180 TO CANCEL IFR.
Synopsis
LEADER OF FLT OF 4 F16'S HAS COM PROB WITH CTR. DSNDS BELOW FL180 TO CANCEL IFR.
Narrative
I WAS LEADING A 4 SHIP OF F16'S; CALL SIGN W; AS THE TRAILING FLT; AIR REFUELING IN AR648B. BECAUSE OF WX; WE HAD REQUESTED AND RECEIVED A REFUELING BLOCK OF 16000 FT THROUGH FL200. WE HAD 10 F16'S LED BY X; REFUELING WITH Y AND Z. AT THE COMPLETION OF AIR REFUELING; WE SWITCHED TO ASSIGNED UHF FREQ OF 363.15; ZLC TO PICK UP OUR IFR CLRNC TO DEPART AND HEAD TOWARDS THE LOW LEVEL RTE. WE ATTEMPTED RADIO CONTACT ON 2 FREQS FOR ALMOST 10 MINS WITH NO LUCK OR RESPONSE FROM ZLC. IN THE MEANTIME; SALT LAKE CLRED THE 2 TANKERS OUT OF THE TRACK FOR RECOVERY TO HOME STATION. X GAVE OUR END OF AIR REFUELING REQUEST TO THE TANKERS WHO RELAYED TO ZLC. X LEFT FREQ FIRST AND PICKED UP HIS CLRNC. V THEN SWITCHED AND PICKED UP A 20 MI TRAIL ON X. I WAS IN CLOSE (1 NM) RADAR TRAIL WITH V SINCE WE HAD THE REFUELING BLOCK OF 16000 FT TO FL200 AND COULD NOT MAKE RADIO CONTACT; WE CANCELED IFR CLRNC IN THE BLOCK BELOW FL180 AND IN THE BLIND. THE CTLR EITHER HAD UHF TURNED DOWN OR WE WERE IN A BLIND SPOT. HE BEGAN TO CALL WHEN WE WERE AT 13000 FT DSNDING AND ASKED HOW WE DEPARTED THE CLASS A (PCA). WE STATED THAT WE HAVE BEEN CALLING HIM FOR 10 MINS AND HEARD HIM FINE. I ASKED FOR A PHONE NUMBER TO CALL HIM; AGAIN WITH NO RESPONSE OTHER THAN A DIATRIBE ON HOW HE HAS NEVER SEEN A 'REFUELING OP LIKE THIS IN HIS 13 YRS OF AIR TFC CTL.' I FEEL STRONGLY THAT HE HAD UHF TURNED DOWN DUE TO VHF SATURATION. WE HAD A BLOCK BELOW THE PCA AND CANCELED SINCE WE COULD NOT FOLLOW THE TANKERS HOME. NO CONFLICT EXISTED AND WE LEGALLY CANCELED IFR.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.