Who to contact?

[Chad Vienna 1195499]

A fellow pilot asked me this question and I couldn't give him a definitive answer;

 

"I was flying from North Tampa (KBKV) up to Atlanta (KATL) and JAC_CEN was off-line. As I was getting close to ATL_CEN, there were 4 controllers covering Atlanta Center. How do I find out which controller to contact? What I did was listen to each frequency until I found a controller talking to an aircraft that was approaching from the south also."

 

My response: "Your question is a very good one, as I've experienced the same "who to contact" thing on more than one occasion. I would do as you did, or contacted any one of the CTR controllers prior to entering the active ARTCC airspace and ask them if they're "working south arrivals". That's a opinion not a answer".

 

I personally didn't fly the event, so I have no idea if ZTL posted a NOTAM regarding arrival and departure frequencies.

 

Is there a definitive or better answer?

 

Thanks

[Bradley Grafelman]

I'd probably glance through their controller info briefly to see if they give any clues. If not, I'd pick one (probably at random), check in with a position report and altitude, and either be greeted with "radar contact" or the correct frequency. No sense wasting more time and energy than that, IMHO.

[Chad Vienna 1195499]

Your opinion is ALWAYS welcome and respected Brad.

 

Thanks

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

id do same. pick one, if its the wrong one the worst youll hear is which frequency to call. if they simply respond "wrong frequency" then id leave feedback with the ARTCC about it as they should at the very least be able to tell you which sector to call, not have you then try and figure it out yourself after attempting to call.

 

normally they should be including what sectors they are covering in their controller info, but lately it seems less and less are actually doing this for whatever reason. just having "covering expecto patronos sector" means absolutely nothing to the pilot trying to figure it out on the blind. where as something more descriptive will be much more informative. "covering arrivals via XYZ" for example tells much more

[Bradley Grafelman]

My opinion is that he already sounds like a pilot I would enjoy having in my airspace since his first thought wasn't "Well I'll just blindly charge forward until I hear the tones from my pilot client indicating I have a 'contactme' private message!"

[William Podolak 1323102]

Hey everyone

I am the pilot with the question Chad has posted for me. I want to say thanks for your advice everyone. Lucky, I had another pilot flying just ahead of me (saw him on Vatastic) whom was already in controlled airspace. Like Chad said, I listened to each freq until I heard him talking. I was well out of ATL_CEN airspace, so I had the time. If I had no luck, I was going to choose a controller and make the initial call. It was a very busy event and I wanted to choose the right first if I could, just to make it easier on the controllers. But I did look at all the controllers info to find a clue, but there was none. Anyway, thanks for the help!!!

Bill

[William Lewis]

At vZTL you will not normally find any identifying items to determine on your own who has what. The only chance would be to find the freq on the en route chart, but that only really applies to low aircraft. At vZTL we are not going to expect you to initial call up on the right freq unless handed off by an adjacent center. Call one with your position and altitude and they will be happy to get to to where you need to be.

[Dhruv Kalra]

Echo what all my fellow controllers have said here. We don't expect you to know our sector stratification. Call any of us, tell us where you are, and we'll you pointed to the correct controller. Help us help you .