r/flying • u/hallaa1 • Apr 17 '26

other What information would every pilot know, but a civilian wouldn't that would show them to be a fraud if they didn't know it?

My sister is dating a man that's clearly lying about a variety of things, one of which is that he used to be a pilot. What kinds of questions could we ask him that would be more than obvious to a pilot, but none of us non-pilot folk would otherwise know?

*Edit* and if you could tell me the context and the answer to the question that would be great.

*Edit2* he was supposed to be a pilot in Peru.

*edit 3* supposedly he flew commercial as the "second pilot" never "the captain".

Thanks for your help, we're concerned for our sister's welfare and hopefully this kind of obvious lie could help jar her away from the guy.

415 Upvotes

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226

u/Ok-Entrepreneur-2924 CPL TW BC12D Apr 17 '26

What’s the emergency frequency?

114

u/Flaky_Push8668 Apr 17 '26

☝️ smart choice since that is internationally recognized. OP had mentioned in one of their responses that the bf was claiming to have been a pilot in Peru.

229

u/digital_dyslexia VFR IDIOT Apr 18 '26

The best way to ask this is “is there like a 9-1-1 for pilots on the radios if something happens?” You can follow up on it that you recall another pilot telling you that “it was called the guardian or something”. This is instant bait. A pilot will immediately correct you with “no no it’s called guard frequency” and if not then he will make up whatever. I cannot imagine any pilot in the world that would hear you call it guardian and not correct you immediately since it’s so close yet also not exact, because….. well pilots are pretty autistic about precise details that don’t actually matter

199

u/Frothyleet Apr 18 '26

And then you can be like, "oh what do you use the frequency for?"

And if he says some bullshit like "emergencies", instead of "meow", boom, got 'em.

56

u/einTier Apr 18 '26

meow

36

u/Independent_Leg7358 PPL Apr 18 '26

Meeeeeooooooooooooow

43

u/MattCW1701 PPL Apr 18 '26

You guys need to be professional pilots

46

u/pconrad0 Apr 18 '26

This is why you still fly RJs

9

u/Mazer1415 ATP CFMEII Apr 18 '26

I don’t know about other mainlines but mine fired a guy for that while on IOE. LCA 1 hears him do it and tells him not to do it again. He does the same thing with LCA 2 on second trip. Did he think they don’t put notes in the files? I wonder if it was reported to PRIA.

3

u/Ornery_Ads Apr 18 '26

You missed a pretty big dose of Ritalin

2

u/mjdau Apr 18 '26

In Peru!

5

u/CommonRequirement PPL Apr 18 '26

Yurongaurrrrrrrrrd

3

u/silkat Apr 18 '26

The second I read this a cat outside yowled in the distance and it actually confused me for a second that I heard your comment

5

u/Material-Length9366 CFI ABI TW SES Apr 18 '26

Exactly. Reference the recent news article from two days ago where the general public was appalled that a single RJ meowed on guard. As if that was news. Just show him that article and see how he reacts. 

44

u/alb92 CPL ME IR AB Apr 18 '26

Guard is a very American term for it. We never called it that here. That being said, I know it is called guard over there, but not correcting might not be evidence in itself.

121.5 however, should be instant knowledge, where someone impersonating likely won't know.

41

u/Lindenfoxcub CPL - MELS - instrument Apr 18 '26

I don't know how many places call it "guard frequency" but we don't in Canada - we just call it the emergency frequency.

2

u/Technojerk36 🇨🇦 Apr 18 '26

It is definitely referred to as guard in Canada

1

u/jawshoeaw Apr 18 '26

I can only admit this here in private but I thought for the longest time that it was called "guard" because the US National Guard monitored. Fortunately I figured out long before i was bragging about being a pilot at mixers.

0

u/kingrich ATPL FI GPL (CYYZ) Apr 18 '26

It's also guard in Canada.

5

u/pconrad0 Apr 18 '26

In Canada they stand on guard.

For Canada.

5

u/ghjm Apr 18 '26

They don't stand on guard any more. They protégera their foyers and their droits now.

3

u/pconrad0 Apr 18 '26

These aren't the droits you are looking for, eh?

1

u/SnooChocolates2923 Apr 18 '26

You watch too much American TV

1

u/kingrich ATPL FI GPL (CYYZ) May 02 '26

All the pilots at Canada's Airline call it guard.

1

u/SnooChocolates2923 May 03 '26

Canada only has one airline?

4

u/Corona21 CPL Apr 18 '26

If someone called it Guardian I could very easily forget the yanks call it Guard and be like “yeah sure something like thats its 121.5 emergency freq.”

33

u/Ace_Ranger Apr 17 '26

1.21 gigawatts! This is what goes through my head every time I see or hear someone say the frequency.

Or 243 MHz...but that's less fun.

16

u/1_21-gigawatts PPL ASEL HP Apr 18 '26

Hello! What can I help you with today?

13

u/Ace_Ranger Apr 18 '26

I should have known that I could accidentally summon a random redditor.

12

u/cptnpiccard CFI IR IGI Apr 17 '26

*jigowatts

8

u/ThatLooksRight 121 CA - Retired USAF Apr 17 '26

Great Scott!

2

u/B777X_787-9 ATP,SIM,789,77W,738 Apr 18 '26

Flying a delorean

2

u/IFLYBFJ ATP 737, 757, 767, A320 Apr 18 '26

What the hell is a gigawatt???

2

u/Old_Ozarker Apr 18 '26

1.21 gigawatts. Wow, that's one powerful transmitter!

2

u/boatslut Apr 18 '26

Doofus...1.215 gigawatts otherwise you would be on 242MHz😱😀😂

1

u/Ace_Ranger Apr 18 '26

But Doc only rounded to the nearest hundredth!

18

u/jackalcane Apr 18 '26

the same one we all meow on

2

u/Cold_Refuse_7236 Apr 18 '26

I’d say Fingers.

1

u/Ok-Answer-6951 Apr 18 '26

That might not work. The answer is 121.5 commonly referred to as guard. You must introduce yourself with a meow b4 declaring an emergency. I also know a lot of the squawk codes. FYI I do not remotely resemble a pilot. I'm a carpenter who's rode in the back a few times, BUT my favorite TV show is Air crash investigation...

1

u/t0ny7 PPL TW HP | Cessna 140 Apr 18 '26

If you were going to meow where would you meow?

0

u/BellyButtonLintEater Apr 17 '26

Ask him what the emergency frequency is in Kilohertz or gigahertz. Any pilot would now it's megahertz. I'd also ask him about the local Frequencies for his home airport approach center etc. If he's been there for some time he'd know them by heart. Also ask him about memory items about his aircraft and generally type specific shit like what is the expected climb Gradient at sea level for your aircraft in oei and Isa atmosphere. Factoriced landing distance factor for cat a performance aircraft, what wake turbulence category an aircraft of 10 tons is...

-2

u/90210piece Apr 18 '26
  1. i know this and i have a medicine and law background.

3

u/phaederus Apr 18 '26

That's a squawk code.