Close call at EWR

[Northeasterner]

"An air traffic controller at TRACON mistakenly gave the Continental Express crew the wrong frequency for the Newark tower and instead gave them the frequency for the tower at nearby Teterboro Airport"

http://www.wnbc.com/news/15078728/de...=headlineclick


I know it wasn't the COEX pilots fault but shouldn't they know what the Newark frequency was? Not trying to point fingers, just wondering if after a while you learn different airports frequencies especially if you're base there.

[mastermags]

You might know the frequencies by heart, but if a controller gives me a frequency I'm usually going to switch to it. For example in ATL in the evening sometimes one controller is working two runways so the approach will give you the appropriate frequency to contact. Now I know all of the Atlanta frequencies pretty well to know if they gave me a wrong one, but if I was going somewhere unfamiliar I might be more prone to switch without thinking anything of it. To avoid that, I will set the expected frequency before I am switched, and if the controller gives me something different, I will ask him to confirm the freq.

[Baronman]

I haven't seen/heard all the details, but don't assume the pilots should have known better. I looked up the crew and it was a fairly senior crew, the Captain having 8 years with the company and the FO about 2, and it was a EWR crew.

On a busy night coming into EWR you may talk to three or more different approach controllers prior to getting to tower, it's not always the same frequencies. Additionally by the time you get to the final approach controller to the time you're on the localizer, it can be pretty quick. Throw in a wrong frequency change, very busy frequencies, testy controllers and before you know it you may not be where you're supposed to be.

I doubt (I KNOW) that it was not an error with mixing up the EWR tower frequency. There is only 1 freq (118.3) and if you've been based there for any amount of time, there's no way you're forgetting it that easily, or mixing it up with TEB tower.

Probably a bad hand off from one controller to the next and it took the flight crew a minute or two in really congested airspace to get back in the game. In the meantime separation was lost but really this whole thing was a non-event.

[matt152]

About a year ago, departing LEX, the TRACON told me to "contact Indianapolis Center on 121.5."

[taseal]

Originally Posted by matt152

About a year ago, departing LEX, the TRACON told me to "contact Indianapolis Center on 121.5."

I would have gotten back and be like

LEX app, center told me to squawk 7700 and come back on this freq.