This is a video of a United 747 takeoff at the San Francisco airport. About 30 seconds in you here the captain talking to the tower. How is the person listening to this? Is it over the intercom?? I have never heard this on flights that I have been on.
At the discretion of the captain, you can listen to ATC on channel 9 in aircraft operated by United that are equipped with audio.
Really thats cool. So is it built into the seat like a radio channel??? I was thinking that the person brought a scanner on board with him. Have you ever flown and listened to that before.
It’s actually channel 9 on the radio, who would have thought. 
I actually used to listen to my scanner on the plane before I realized you weren’t allowed to.
I don’t listen to the radio’s on the planes so i really don’t know how it works but i’m guessing like the one’s in cars. 
So do scanners interfere with the plane communications at all??
It’s not the radio that you hear the ATC communications. Rather, it’s the aircraft’s radio piped into the audio system much like the way you would hear music or the audio portion of the movie.
Scanners and radios are not allowed to be operated in flight.
I don’t think video cameras are allowed to be used below 10,000 either…I was on an Alitalia flight and they told me it would shut the engines down
It’s an electronic device, so yes. And no, most FA’s are not very smart when it comes to these things.
I heard Alitalia Attendant’s won’t let people with pacemakers on the plane because it could shut the engines down.
Can I get a judges ruling on this one…ehhhh…kinda weak.
I was on a United flight a couple of weeks ago. At first I thought it’d just be tower communications during takeoff, but all frequencies are broadcast throughout the flight. At one point along the way, an errant frequency change assignment by a tired controller led the pilots to tune to an ATIS frequency. The pilot seemed very polite and forgiving of the controller when alerting him to the error.
All in all, it was a highly educational experience for me.
CH9 on UAL is fun, especially when it switches to SoCal Approach. Trying to spot other planes/helicopters as they are called out is fun. Every once and a while, you get an ATC with a good sense of humor that warns of AA fire over Disneyland when they have their fireworks shows at night.
Alitalia has this thing about electronic gear shutting down engines. This is from the “Alitalia” topic earlier this month:
They would not allow anyone to use a CD player either. From what my father said it seems as Alitalia has the flight attendants convinced that any use of these items will cause the engines to stop.
I think someone ought to send the message to Alitalia’s captain that the autopilot is about to shut down his pacemaker and his heart and that the flight will just have to cross the Atlantic with the autopilot off.
Isn’t it all sooooo ridiculous??
Didn’t we see this MasterCard ad on TV recently?
First Class ticket to Rome: $3750
A weekend in the penthouse at the Rome Four Seasons: $9700
Shutting down Alitalia’s engines using an electric toothbrush in the First Class lavatory: PRICELESS
Back to the scanners, are you allowed to use them in flight on a commercial flight?
No.
darn, i just bought one and was hoping to be able to use it on the flight… 
What kind did you get? You can always listen to it in the terminal.
That’s what I do quite often. I’ll listen to my scanner while waiting for my flight. Also use it when picking up someone at the airport.
I purchased a Uniden BC246t
Im gonna bring it to the air show when it rolls into town.