Page:Report of the Board of Inquiry into the Helderberg air disaster.djvu/17

Rh 14:56:04 the crew communicated with Hong Kong radar and thereafter routine position reports were given to the flight information centres (FICs) at Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Cocos Islands and Mauritius. At 15:55:18 a routine report was made to the Operator's base at Jan Smuts (ZUR). The information given was that the aeroplane had taken off from Taipei at 14:23, was flying at FL 310 and that the arrival time at Mauritius was estimated as 00:35. The ZUR radio operator informed flight SA 295 that the selective calling system (SELCAL) was unserviceable and requested that the next call be at 18:00. SELCAL is a coded system whereby a radio station can call an individual aircraft. The flight crew's attention is drawn to a call by audio and visual means. In fact there was no further contact between ZUR and the aircraft, although the latter continued to have routine communications with the FICs en route. For further details of the omission to call ZUR, see paragraphs 1.9 p and 2.16 p  below.

At about 22:30:00 the pilot called Mauritius FIC, using HF radio on frequency 3476 KHz, and advised that the aircraft had been at position 070° East at 22:29:00 at FL 350 and that the time at position 065° East was estimated as 23:12:00. At 23:13:27 the position report of 065° East at FL 350 was given to Mauritius FIC. The estimated time of arrival (ETA) over position 060° East was given