Thanks to the crew of UAL702

[FlySooner9]

Not sure how many United pilots are in here, but just incase i just wanted to say thanks to the crew of United flight 702 that flew into OKC on 4/22/06

today i went on my first solo cross country and more, Over all i flew about 5 hours and 400nm today. It was absolutely awesome. One interesting story.. i was approaching Okie City APP i had flight following with FTW-CTR. Well for some reason i was not able to hear FTW-CTR (this i didn't know) I know im getting close to Okie City APP but hand't herd a handoff, well about that time i hear Cessna 73707 this is United 702 how do you copy? I thought i was hearing things at first lol, anyway to make a long story short, i guess FTW-CTR thought i had gone off freq, so i dont know if center asked the United flight going into OKC to make a call or if he just did it at of the kindness of his heart but once i responded to the United flight i could hear him tell Center that i was on freq, then center relayed my hand off through the United flight and i read it back to the united aircraft.

[Kristie]

Nice!

[Screaming_Emu]

nice to have stuff like that happen. When I was working on my instrument rating I relayed a couple clearances for Mesaba and sometimes the other way around. In some places if you get sorta low, you may not be able to communicate with center because the transmitter/reciever is not in your 'line of sight' anymore.

[Diamnd15]

well im glad that happend sounds like that was just your day. just to show you how we pilots like to help each other out. Even better it was on one your first couple solo flights, spread the love man, great story.

[tonyw]

I've done that. Rather than having ATC try to query an airplane a million times which I can hear responding but they can't, if the frequency is relatively quiet, I'll relay the messages.

The one I'll remember was one of my first flights without an instructor in a Cardinal. Someone had some issues with their gear, and wanted to return to GAI. ATC couldn't hear them, and after about the third time, I told ATC what they were saying, because I could hear them loud and clear.

They were cleared to return, and ATC couldn't have been nicer -- they even asked if there should be emergency equipment on hand!

[PanJet]

That's awesome. I've had that happen to me twice. Once I was decending into a valley and couldn't hear ATC handing me off, so a Horizon flight relayed the message.

Another time, a friend and I had lost our alternator and our battery was quickly dying while we were on an IFR plan at night (luckily not IMC). The radios were weakening, so we couldn't hear or transmit to center anymore, but we heard an Alaska Airlines flight, so we called them up and they were more than happy to relay our messages until they got us close enough to approach control where we diverted to.

The coolest part of that story is that the airport we diverted to, YKM, (Yakima, WA), kept their tower open an extra 20 minutes past their normal closing time to wait for us and make sure we made it safe. It was awesome how helpful everyone was that night.

[moxiepilot]

pretty cool.

[bwade210]

Nice....

[Okstate Pilot]

On my first solo cross country from Wiley Post to Ponca City back to Wiley Post, Kansas City Center had me relaying transmissions to a low flying Cessna.

No biggie, but when its your first solo XC it can seem fairly intimidating having to relay a simple message.

Then on the last leg of my Long Solo cross country from Ardmore to Wiley Post, I went through an area where Okie City approach couldnt hear my transmissions. After several failed attempts of replying they gave me the heading they needed me to fly and asked me to ident if I understood.

Again, another situation where something happens that wasnt planned for. Excellent confidence builders in regards to communication.