For example, a plane is hijacked but civilians regain control, they know how to change the plane's frequency but no procdeures - i.e. dont know guard frequencies. There are fighter jets alongside who do have contact with ATC. What could the jets/ATC do to let them know what frequency to use?
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2BTW, what you're talking about has happened, and the person at the controls wasn't completely unqualified. – Ron Beyer May 17 '20 at 02:09
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Very similar, but no relation to terrorism. – Super May 17 '20 at 02:15
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Does the terrorism part really matter for the purpose of this question? – Ron Beyer May 17 '20 at 02:16
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1I don't think you will find a single commercial pilot anywhere in the world who does not know the guard frequency – 60levelchange May 17 '20 at 06:17
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related: What's the point of intercepting an aircraft?, Are military jets always scrambled when communication to a commercial aircraft is lost? – Manu H May 17 '20 at 10:15
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I think you may be interressed by the interception procedures (chapter 5, section 6 of this publication, jump to 5-6-13-b for the part related to your question). This FAA-procedure is similar to the one I'm currently learning in Europe. – Manu H May 17 '20 at 10:23
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Is your question restricted to airliners? for smaller aircraft, helicopter interception with written orders can be dispatch, as in this article (fr) – Manu H May 17 '20 at 10:26
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Mobile phone? The fighter pilots could hold up a number to call – Dave Gremlin May 17 '20 at 21:51
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Welcome to aviation.SE! I'm not completely sure what you're asking. There are already well defined procedures for interceptions, including frequencies, and pilots know what they are. Are you asking specifically about a scenario where the pilots are incapacitated and the intercepting jets have to communicate directly with the passengers? If you're new to the site, the [tour] may be helpful. – Pondlife May 18 '20 at 03:07
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Nothing. There is no possible world in which someone has the necessary training, knowledge, and experience to operate the complex communication equipment, yet doesn't know 121.5.
Jörg W Mittag
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The premise of the question is that a passenger defeats the hijackers, takes over the controls, knows how to operate the radio, but doesn't know the guard frequency. I would argue that such a person doesn't exist. It is much more likely that they would forget how to operate the radio than what the guard frequency is. And even if what you say would happen, and they forget the guard frequency but still remember how to operate the radio, then they only need to look down, since there is a high chance that the standby radio is tuned to guard anyway. – Jörg W Mittag May 18 '20 at 21:23
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The fighters may have the the guard frequency painted on them, as in this photo:
But as others have said, the likelihood of a person
- Knowing how to tune an aviation radio,
- Recognizing what "STBY 121.50" means, and
- Not knowing in the first place that 121.5 is the guard frequency
seems vanishingly small.
Besides, unless there was some kind of struggle the radio should be still tuned to the last ATC frequency. If the aircraft is in the flight levels it should still be within radio coverage even if it's moved beyond the controller's sector boundary.
randomhead
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The reality of this situation is that there are no standards for dealing with a passenger flying an airliner.
We can all come up with ideas of what a fighter pilot may do, but this isn't something that's written down and trained for by anybody.
Dan
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