Transcription of radio communications V2.0

This is a verbatim account of what can be heard in the audio recording of radio communications between military air traffic control of the Royal Netherlands Air Force and three RAF Tornado jet fighters. Due to the sometimes poor quality of the recording, a few short passages were almost impossible to transcribe. These are represented in the text with the word "unintelligible" between square brackets.

Special thanks go to Gareth Johnson (UK), who made an improvement to the previous version of the transcription. He found that in a formerly unintelligible part near the end of the recording, the Dutch Mil air traffic controller is mentioning "reports of a comet sighting" to one of the Tornado pilots.

Please contact (UWN / Tornado info) us if you have any suggestions for corrections or additions to the transcription, especially if you are a native English speaker with good knowledge of (military) aviation phraseology.

General info

Recording date: November 5, 1990
Recording time: 18:00 UTC (19:00 hrs MET)
Recording duration: 3:17 min.
Frequency: 251.400 MHz (Dutch Mil Upper)
File: EHMC_Tornados.mp3 / EHMC_Tornados.ogg

Explanation of terms used

Dutch Mil = Call sign of the military air traffic control centre at Air Operations Control Station Nieuw Milligen (AOCS NM), a unit of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF).

603, 637C and 637A = Call signs of three British RAF Tornado fighter jets.

Laarbruch = RAF Laarbruch, a British air force base in Germany near the Dutch-German border. It was closed in 1999.

Flight Level 350 = altitude 35,000 feet.

At [Flight Level] 150 = altitude 15,000 feet.

Flight Level 60 = altitude 6,000 feet.

C-5 = Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy, a heavy military transport aircraft, which was the largest aircraft in the world at one time.

B-2 = Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, a stealth bomber. The first flight of a B-2 was in 1989 (source: FAS).

Vipers = General Dynamics F-16 jet fighters.

Transcription

[Begin of recording]

603:
"Dutch, 603, do you have traffic in my right, two o'clock, slightly high?"

Dutch Mil:
"Confirm, slightly high?"

603:
"Affirmative."

Dutch Mil:
"We have traffic at your two o'clock position, uh, 32 nautical miles at 1,000 feet below."

603:
"Roger that."

Dutch Mil:
"Further traffic at your two o'clock position is at Flight Level 350, same range out."

637C:
"Dutch Mil, 637 Charlie."

Dutch Mil:
"637 Charlie, go ahead."

637C:
"Do you have any radar returns in about half a mile of us at a higher level?"

Dutch Mil:
"637, say again?"

637C:
"There's a very large aircraft, appears to be about across, a mile at our left side, at 150."

Dutch Mil:
"Confirm at your left side?"

637C:
"It's behind us now, we just passed in front of it."

Dutch Mil:
"Roger, there's no known traffic to me."

603:
"I think, uh, it's uh very large with three lights and a very bright light at the back."

637C:
"It's enormous with three lights and it's shining down behind me now."

603:
"Excellent, we've got it as well. Most odd."

637C:
"It's, uh, it looks like C-5 sort of size to me."

603:
"It's much bigger, the lights are actually blinking."

637C:
"Dutch, do you copy that?"

Dutch Mil:
"Yeah, we do copy that, sir."

637C:
"To avoid a collision course [unintelligible] with 637 about a minute ago, we've broken starboard to avoid it."

[Dutch Mil is blocked by 637C, which is transmitting simultaneously for a few seconds.]

637C:
"It's crossing in front of 603, now crossing right to left almost at our level, just slightly high."

637A:
"Dutch, 637 Alpha is airborne from Laarbruch."

Dutch Mil:
"637 Alpha inbound together?"

637A:
"Negative, my Bravo is seven miles south."

Dutch Mil:
"Roger, that's copied, radar contact, climb Flight Level 60 initially."

637A:
"Roger, approaching 60 for further, 637 Alpha."

603:
"603, we turn left, about twelve o'clock, seem to be really tight on this now."

Dutch Mil:
"Roger, we've no traffic at that position."

603:
"Roger."

Dutch Mil:
"603, you have any indication about the distance?"

603:
"It's almost impossible to say because of the uh, the apparent size of it. It looks absolutely enormous and passing about, ooh, a mile or two miles ahead of us. But, uh, it's very difficult to judge."

Dutch Mil:
"Roger."

637C:
"And Dutch, 637 Charlie, possibly it's a B-2? It's difficult to tell the range but it got pretty close to us."

[Audible break in the recording. The maker of the recording stated that the recording was temporarily interrupted.]

Dutch Mil:
"603 Alpha, Dutch Mil."

603:
"Go ahead."

Dutch Mil:
"We have, uh, reports from civil aircraft of the observed traffic at the same position as you do."

603:
"Most strange."

Dutch Mil:
"Might be a formation of Vipers."

603:
"That's a bit what it looked like, but there were no flashing lights, no red or green lights, it's uh, [unintelligible] we've thought most as a very good one."

Dutch Mil:
"Roger. We have no radar tracking on it."

603:
"Weird."

Dutch Mil:
"603 Alpha, Dutch Mil, we just received, uh, reports of a comet sighting."

603:
"Uh, unlikely."

Dutch Mil:
"Roger."

603:
"[unintelligible] high level."

[End of recording]

Download

The audio recording of the communications is available at the download page.

Back to General info
Back to the introduction page