1988-08 · NASA ASRS report 94099
SPI LOST BROADCAST IN THE BLIND AND GETS ASSISTANCE FROM INSTRUCTOR ON APCH O36.
ON DOWNWIND FOR LNDG AT TRACY ARPT; HEARD AN XMISSION ON UNICOM FREQ. A PERSON IDENTING HIMSELF AS LOST; AND A STUDENT PLT. I CALLED AND OFFERED ASSISTANCE (BEING A CFI); BUT LOST CONTACT WHEN DSNDING TO LAND. ON FINAL DECIDED TO GO AROUND; LEAVE THE PATTERN AND GAIN SOME ALT. RE-ESTABLISHED CONTACT AT SOME 3000'. STUDENT RPTED HIS POS AS NEAR LIVERMORE. I INQUIRED AS TO HIS FUEL SITUATION. WAS TOLD IT WAS 'GOOD.' I THEN QUERIED THE STUDENT AS TO LANDMARKS; CALLED HIS ATTN TO SOME OBVIOUS ONES (A MOUNTAIN AND A FREEWAY) AND HE FINALLY RPTED LIVERMORE ARPT IN SIGHT. HE ASKED FOR LIVERMORE TWR FREQ; SAYING HE WANTED TO 'LAND AND SORT THINGS OUT ON THE GND.' I GAVE HIM THE FREQ AND PROCEEDED TO MY DEST. THROUGHOUT THE RADIO ASSIST; THERE WAS HEAVY (ALMOST UNBEARABLE) INTERFERENCE ON 122.8. SEVERAL TIMES I ANNOUNCED; 'WE HAVE AN EMER ON FREQ; ALL ACFT PLEASE STAND BY;' ONLY TO HAVE THE REQUEST IGNORED BY MANY PLTS RPTING THEIR POS IN THE PATTERN AT SEVERAL DIFFERENT ARPTS. I GET THE FEELING PEOPLE ONLY TALK ON UNICOM; DON'T LISTEN. REINFORCING THIS; STUDENT PLT HAD APPARENTLY MADE SEVERAL CALLS FOR HELP. NOBODY ELSE RESPONDED. WHY DIDN'T STUDENT HAVE LVK TWR FREQ? LVK IS ON THE SFO TCA CHART; BUT MY GUESS IS HE WAS USING A SECTIONAL. PROBABLY NEVER INTENDED TO GO NEAR TCA; SO FIGURED HE DIDN'T NEED ANYTHING ELSE. LOST AND; SURPRISE; NO ARPT DATA ON THE SECTIONAL. FOR AN ARPT WELL OUTSIDE OF THE TCA (THROUGH ON CORNER OF TCA CHART). CONCLUSION: REMOVING ARPT DATA BLOCKS FROM SECTIONAL WAS UNSAFE. LACK OF INFO MORE CRUCIAL THAN CLUTTER. UNLESS EVERYONE CARRIES TCA CHARTS (AND THEY DON'T); ARPT INFO MUST BE RETURNED TO SECTIONALS!
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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