Here you can hear the conversations between the ATC at Schiphol and the crew of flight NW55 (Northwest Airlines) on October 21st 1999 recorded on my scanner PLUS a picture of the Boeing 747-200 during take off taken on that same day.

	"...(unintelligible) Northwest 55 to Minneapolis ... flightlevel 210 with Oscar at echo 8." Flight NW55 calls in with Schiphol Delivery and asks clearance for Minneapolis with initial altitude of 21000 ft adding he has ATIS information with oscar and is parked at gate E-8. (ATIS stands for "Automatic Terminal Information Service" which gives them info about the wind and runways in use at that particular moment indicated by the NATO alfabet)
	"Northwest 55 ... good afternoon, you're cleared to Minneapolis on Bergie-departure; runway 01L, squawk 0176" Flight NW55 is told by Schiphol Delivery they are cleared to Minneapolis on Bergie-departure (Bergen aan Zee) via runway 01L. And they have to set their transponder to code 0176.
	"Cleared to Minneapolis ... Bergie-departure, 01L, squawk 0176 Northwest 55." Flight NW55 repeats the message in acknowledgement.
	"Northwest 55, that's correct and report ready on this." Schiphol Delivery affirms the instructions and tells flight NW55 to call in on this frequency when they're ready for departure.
	"Roger. Northwest 55. Flight NW55 affirms the message.
	"Northwest 55, startup approved at echo 8 and for pushback contact Ground 121 decimal 8." Flight NW55 is told by Schiphol Delivery that startup is approved at gate E-8 and they're also told they should change to Ground Control frequency at 121.8 Mhz to request pushback.

There was an affirmative message from flight NW55 between these two,
but I switched too early to the ground control frequency so I missed that.

	"Ground ... Northwest 55 request pushback at echo 8 with oscar." Flight NW55 calls in on ground control to request pushback clearance. Again he says his gate and ATIS info.
	"Northwest 55, oscar changing to papa, you have to stand by for pushback." Ground Control tells flight NW55 that their ATIS information has now changed to papa and that they have to wait until they're next in line for pushback.
	"Stand by. Northwest 55." Flight NW55 repeats the message in acknowledgement.
	"Northwest 55...?" Ground Control calls flight NW55.
	"Go ahead ground. Northwest 55." Flight NW55 tells ground control they're listening.
	"Traffic clear behind. Tell groundcrew to make pushback straight backwards into delta apron ... being delta 4 ..eh.. 51." Ground Control tells flight NW55 that there's no traffic behind them and instructs them to tell the groundcrew to make the pushback straight backwards into the delta apron at gate D-51.
	"Delta 51 on pushback. Traffic clear. Northwest 55." Again flight NW55 repeats the message in acknowledgement.
	"Correct." Ground Control affirms the message.
	"Hi Northwest 55, you may start and disconnect from apron." Ground Control tells flight NW55 that they have permission to start up and disconnect from the apron to taxi to the runway.
	"Northwest 55...?" Flight NW55 doesn't respond so ground control calls them again.
	"Northwest 55. Go ahead." Flight NW55 tells ground they're listening.
	Ground: "You may start and disconnect from the apron." NW55: "OK." Ground Control repeats the message and flight NW55 affirms it.
	"Ground... Northwest 55, taxi with papa." Flight NW55 asks for taxi clearance and again he mentions the ATIS info.
	"Northwest 55, taxi outer north to 01L." Ground Control tells flight NW55 to taxi to runway 01L via the outer track of the route via the north.
	"Via north to 01L. Northwest 55." Flight NW55 affirms the message by repeating it.
	"Ground... Northwest 55. And just to confirm: do you want to come with outer to 01L on the north track? Flight NW55 doublechecks if he has to take the outer track to 01L.
	"Affirmed. Take the second left to outer track." Ground Control affirms the message.
	"Northwest 55, you're in sequence behind Air France coming from the left. Tower 118 decimal 1." Ground Control informs flight NW55 that they're in line behind the Air France coming from the south over the bridge. He adds the frequency to contact the tower, which is 118.1 MHz.
	"118 decimal 1, behind Air France. Northwest 55." Flight NW55 summarizes the message in acknowledgement.

There was a message from flight NW55 calling in at the tower frequency,
but I missed that part, because of a powercut.

	"Northwest 55, line up in sequence." Tower instructs flight NW55 to take its place in the queue.
	"Line up in sequence. Northwest 55." Flight NW55 repeats the message in acknowledgement.
	"Northwest 55, wind 080, 20. You are cleared for take off 01L." Tower gives flight NW55 information about the wind coming from 80 degrees (90 degrees is directly East) with a speed of 20 knots, which is about 35 km/h.
	"Cleared take off 01L. Northwest 55." Flight NW55 affirms its take off clearance.

Here's the actual picture of the Boeing 747-200 taking off

View in 800 x 550 View in 1200 x 800

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