Airborne_Again wrote:
You are required to follow the AMC unless you have an alternate MOC which is approved by your national authority. It is different with GM’s.
But not for PART-NCO, right?
arj1 wrote:
But not for PART-NCO, right?
No, but the guard rule is in SERA.
To be fair, wherever it appears, he was right to pick me up on it as bad airmanship. I was only worried because the way he put it made me think there could have been an additional German regulation which I wasn’t aware of.
FWIW, I have never heard of this being “mandatory” in 20 years.
Same here. Few clubs planes have 2 radios but listening 121.5 is never taught.
I know of one which had an engine failure near Chartres (not talking to anyone) and someone at Orly immediately replied to their 121.5 call.
As you know, French are selfish but expect the State to save them from harm’s way 
I thought modern ELT/PLB transmissions were monitored by satellite, so not dependent on aircraft monitoring 121.5.
Yes that is correct; 121.50 has not been satellite monitored for many years. 243MHz I am not sure about and probably isn’t. 406MHz is. The 121.50 ELT signal is for close-in S&R vehicle VDF usage.
Xtophe wrote:
It is in the AMC. So it is good practice not law.
That is a misinterpretation of what “AMC” means. “AMC” is – as the name says – not good practice but rather a proposal on how you follow the “law”.
The law in this case says you “shall” monitor guard (in cases specified in more detailed but basically covering flying in entire Europe). The old rule in administrative law is “shall means must if can”. So if you do not have a good reason not to monitor it (e.g. you need the radio for something more important for some time like listening to the ATIS, etc.), then you must do so – completely independent from the AMC.
arj1 wrote:
But not for PART-NCO, right?
Source? Explanation? Thanks
During my whole training both in Spain and in the UK never once did anyone tell me I should monitor 121.5 on COM 2. The times I have done so were by my own initiative, and when there were no other “better” frequencies to monitor.
On my private flights DURING THE CRUISE I try to monitor it as I believe it to be good practice. But I never thought it was “mandatory”, only “recommended”.
I also think it’s a bit pointless to monitor guard during an approach as you are already in contact with an ATC, and sometimes you get all sort of nonsense heard over Guard which can distract you from your operation. It makes more sense to monitor it during cruise, and while flying OCAS without being in radio contact with anybody else, or just receiving a basic/information service.
