United Channel 9

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So right
now I'm sitting on united flight 445 from BWI to Denver, and so far its been a
typical flight. We've just been told by Potomac departure that were cleared to
17000 ft. How could I possibly know this? Well, when you fly on united and turn
your headset to channel 9, you can hear live air traffic control. Everything
the pilots hear, you can hear. I love it! Being a pilot was one of the things i
would (and still) have wanted to do. Since i don't know how to fly an airplane
- yet - listening to air traffic control is the next best thing.

"Climbing
to 270 (27000ft), with continuous light chop."

Flying
on united isn't the only way to get my air traffic control fix, if you visit
liveatc.net, you can listen to live air traffic control from many airports and
centers all over the world. If your feeling super piloty you can even fire up
flightaware.com, and see the live locations of planes that are in the air.
Combine that with the air traffic control your listening to, and you can be
your own air traffic controller, just without the crippling stress, and risk of
accidently killing hundreds of people.

Sometimes
when I'm sitting and programming, I like to pick an airport and listen. Usually
nothing super interesting is going on, but I find its still worth listening to.
It keeps me focused on programming, and provides me with a bit of
entertainment.

Climbing
to 360. Woot! We will probably stay here for a while, as this is probably our
cruising altitude. The pilot also asked how the ride up ahead was, and ATC said
they had no reports of problems. Boring. But I'm on the boring flight, and
boring is good.

Also, if
your not familiar with listening to ATC, once you're outside of the airport,
your flight is asked to change frequencies to a regional center. These centers
basically monitor the traffic in their area, once you leave the area, your
flight is passed to another center. Once you get close to landing, you're
passed to that airport.

Now that
were cruising, the drinks are coming out. I'll take them up that.

Next
time your flying united, I definitely suggest listening. If you've listened
before, have you heard anything interesting? Why do you listen?