Listening around

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Hello Blue Leader, Hello Blue Leader.........................

It always makes me chuckle when I watch the Battle of Britian video, the one with Michael Caine and Kenneth More, where the Royal Air Force (RAF) radio-telephone (R/T) procedure is so formal in the movie that no wonder some poor chaps were shot down - they just did not have the time to concentrate on "bandits" when they had to remember their R/T procedures.

Seriously though with the amount of air traffic increasing worldwide and the plethora of recreational and commercial pilots plying the skies, communications is the most important aspect of air travel once those engines are started and the pushback from the terminal marks the commencement of the journey. How else do you keep small and large masses of metal and plastics with people inside them apart?

For the listener, the communications world is still your oyster. Receivers have become smaller, compact and affordable. For a little over $120 Australian one can purchase a multi-tasking scanning receiver (with AM/FM radio station reception and a clock) - more than adequate to sit on the desk and have a listen to aircraft.

If you are very close to an airport the small rod antenna supplied with the unit will be adequate but may not unlock the true capabilities of the receiver.

With a modest antenna mounted outside you will be able to hear much more and with better clarity.

So what are you waiting for?

VERY HIGH FREQUENCY (VHF) listening

The aviation industry has defied the urge to change its mode of operation and retains the application of Amplitude Modulation for radio communications.

Very High Frequency (VHF)transmissions are generally considered to be within the range of 30 - 300MHz, with aircraft on VHF operating within the 108 - 134MHz band.

VHF is used all throughout Australia and frequencies are allocated to specific areas and/or specific functions.

A very good reference for frequencies around Australia can be sourced from an Aeronautical Information Package,, supplied by Air Services Australia.

For those living in or near Melbourne, following is some relevant information which may be useful to you.

Note that aircraft use Amplitude Modulation (AM) so your receiver should be set to AM mode to listen to aircraft and ground control transmissions.

YMML frequencies of interest

MELBOURNE (TULLAMARINE) YMML


Melbourne (Tullamarine) is one of two major commercial airports in Melbourne.

Melbourne Airport is able to accommodate the largest aircraft flying commercially in the world and offers two runways, Runway 16/34 (South/North) and Runway 09/27 (East/West).

Major airlines operating from Tullamarine include Qantas, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Jetstar, Tiger and Virgin. A variety of other international carriers have regular flights into Melbourne with a major benefit being that no curfew exists on flight operations, unlike Sydney airport.

Northerly winds can be very strong in Melbourne and often Runway 34 is used where aircraft track to the Plenty NDB (218 KHz, track over the Runway 26 threshold at YMEN Melbourne Essendon, then perform a right turn to line up with Runway 34.

Runway 34 has a series of high powered strobe lights on the approach. These were installed after an incident on 19 June, 1985, when a Garuda Boeing 747 mistakenly approached YMEN instead of YMML. According to a newspaper report in "The Melbourne Age", the Garuda First Officer mistook Runway 35 at Essendon for Runway 34 at Tullamarine. The aircraft was preparing to land on a runway which would not cope with a 747 and air traffic controllers advised the Garuda 747 to abort its landing approach. The aircraft had been cleared for a visual approach to Runway 34 at Tullamarine however when the Garuda aircraft reported visual and turning right onto Runway 34 both Essendon and Tullamarine air traffic controllers realized a problem existed and vectored the aircraft to climb away from Essendon.

Latest ATIS information YMML

Latest YMML Notice's to Airmen (NOTAM)
YMEN frequencies of interest

MELBOURNE (ESSENDON) YMEN


Essendon Airport offers two runways, Runway 26/08 (East/West) and Runway 35/17 (North/South).

Despite mainstream commercial operations transferring to Melbourne Airport Tullamarine in the early 1970's, Essendon still provides a valuable focal point for smaller commercial operators including Executive Airlines, Australasian Jet, XJet,Essendon Executive, Sharp Airlines and Airlines of Tasmania, to name a few.

Essendon Airport is also the home of the Victoria Police Air Wing and Royal Flying Doctor Service. Royal Flying Doctor Service provides fixed wing aircraft to Ambulance Service Victoria.

Aircraft operations are conducted 24 hours of the day all year, however Essendon Tower is usually unmanned from 10PM each evening until early morning the next day.

For this reason the Clearance frequency of 118.45 is used by aircraft after hours to obtain airways clearances from Air Traffic Control at Melbourne Airport when Essendon Tower is closed.

Latest ATIS information YMEN

Latest YMEN Notice's to Airmen (NOTAM)
MELBOURNE (MOORABBIN) YMBB
Moorabbin Airport opened for business on the 5th of December, 1949, and by 2009 was the third busiest airport in Australia, behind Jandakot (YPJT) in Perth and Bankstown (YSBK) in Sydney.

In 2009 Moorabbin officially had 310,550 aircraft movements, and having flown out of Moorabbin a number of times I can believe this figure!!

Moorabbin generally has parallel runway operations in progress, either:

R35 LEFT and R35 RIGHT
R17 LEFT and R17 RIGHT
R31 LEFT and R31 RIGHT
R13 LEFT and R13 RIGHT

Moorabbin also has a short R22 or R04 however operations are restricted on this runway.

Runway operations are determined by prevailing wind, weather and air traffic considerations and any combination of runways may be used at any time however preference is given for 35/17 and 31/13.

The following will provide some useful information for those interested:

Latest YMMB ATIS information

Latest YMMB Notices to Airmen (NOTAM's)

Air Services Australia Data - Movements at Australian Airports
 YMMB Frequencies of interest