Narrative:

I was on my split break period during the incident time. I left for break shortly before entering manila airspace for my last 2 hour break. The flying captain (PIC) and flying first officer had returned from their long 7+ hour break. I'm writing this up because I've had similar issues and not written [a report] as soon as possible; [and] I just watched [a] training [video] and am immediately motivated to provide needed feedback regarding flying in manila's airspace. As I was debriefed when I returned to the cockpit; [the first officer] made 30 or 31 calls to manila on various HF and possibly VHF frequencies. There was no reply. This is very common; especially at night; when transiting manila. [It is] not as common during the day; but many times our routes are different on the return (more north and west of the country). Many times we fly directly over their main island and do not get contact until within VHF range of manila/clark airfield. Very rarely do we get them on HF range. I started the habit of trying to log on their cpdlc even before it was published; and sending position reports. Usually it works and it looks as though they received. I felt much safer when having to deviate for weather; which is often. I have asked repeatedly of our fleet that we need a programmed satellite number to call for manila [ATC] for this reason. This has not yet occurred. I have been told our airplane does not support dialed satellite phone numbers. [The first officer] and the captain did not have to deviate around weather buildups through their airspace; which is unusual. They heard other airplanes deviating on air-to-air; announcing their intentions that [they] also could not communicate with manila. To transit another nation's airspace for an hour and 20 minutes talking to no-one is not an emergency; but clearly uncomfortable and not best practice. I again would like to say this is an isolated incident; but it is not.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B787 international First Officer reported they frequently have difficulties communicating with Manila ATC while transiting their airspace.

Narrative: I was on my split break period during the incident time. I left for break shortly before entering Manila Airspace for my last 2 hour break. The flying Captain (PIC) and flying First Officer had returned from their long 7+ hour break. I'm writing this up because I've had similar issues and not written [a report] as soon as possible; [and] I just watched [a] training [video] and am immediately motivated to provide needed feedback regarding flying in Manila's airspace. As I was debriefed when I returned to the cockpit; [the First Officer] made 30 or 31 calls to Manila on various HF and possibly VHF frequencies. There was no reply. This is very common; especially at night; when transiting Manila. [It is] not as common during the day; but many times our routes are different on the return (more north and west of the country). Many times we fly directly over their main island and do not get contact until within VHF range of Manila/Clark Airfield. Very rarely do we get them on HF range. I started the habit of trying to log on their CPDLC even before it was published; and sending position reports. Usually it works and it looks as though they received. I felt much safer when having to deviate for weather; which is often. I have asked repeatedly of our fleet that we need a programmed satellite number to call for Manila [ATC] for this reason. This has not yet occurred. I have been told our airplane does not support dialed satellite phone numbers. [The First Officer] and the Captain did not have to deviate around weather buildups through their airspace; which is unusual. They heard other airplanes deviating on air-to-air; announcing their intentions that [they] also could not communicate with Manila. To transit another nation's airspace for an hour and 20 minutes talking to no-one is not an emergency; but clearly uncomfortable and not best practice. I again would like to say this is an isolated incident; but it is not.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.