Narrative:

Approximately three hours in the flight; at xc:30; at cruise altitude of FL430 and at some point after checking in with the next center; I must have missed a frequency change radio call. It was at this time we lost contact with ATC. Communications with ATC was reestablished at zd:19; which is when we were advised that we were off line for 40 minutes. We only realized we were offline after receiving a message from a company aircraft telling us to contact ATC. Missing the frequency change call was a mistake on my part; and some distractions with arrival tasking may have been the cause; I am not absolutely sure. It was around this time I was starting to think about our arrival; so I was looking up FBO; ATIS and ILS frequencies; and at the same time updating weather for the destination airport. The conversation in the flight deck was not excessive; minimal in fact; and I do recall chatter on the radio. This could have been my initial distraction which made me miss the radio call. Also during the time we were off line we did receive 3 phone calls in the flight deck; we were unable to answer the calls. After the first call; the PIC called the flight manager to check if they or dispatch was trying to contact us; but they were not. After the second call; I tried to call back the last number in the phones memory and reached company security; they did not call us either. Frustrated; we ignored the third call. I think I had become so distracted by the phone calls that I didn't realize the frequency had gone silent. It can be easy to lose concentration and focus for the tasks at hand sometimes during a long flight. With that; distractions during this period; can be significantly more dangerous because of the tendency to tunnel vision. I should have recognized this possibility and re-focused on priorities required at that time and place; which is to 'aviate; navigate; and communicate'. Incoming phone calls in the flight deck is an unusual event; and I did not recognize or acknowledge after the first phone call that this was becoming another distraction; which in turn increased our time out of communications with ATC.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CE750 Fractional Pilot reported missing an ATC frequency change and being NORDO for 40 minutes. The distractions at about the time of the missed call were related to arrival preparations.

Narrative: Approximately three hours in the flight; at XC:30; at cruise altitude of FL430 and at some point after checking in with the next Center; I must have missed a frequency change radio call. It was at this time we lost contact with ATC. Communications with ATC was reestablished at ZD:19; which is when we were advised that we were off line for 40 minutes. We only realized we were offline after receiving a message from a Company aircraft telling us to contact ATC. Missing the frequency change call was a mistake on my part; and some distractions with arrival tasking may have been the cause; I am not absolutely sure. It was around this time I was starting to think about our arrival; so I was looking up FBO; ATIS and ILS frequencies; and at the same time updating weather for the destination airport. The conversation in the flight deck was not excessive; minimal in fact; and I do recall chatter on the radio. This could have been my initial distraction which made me miss the radio call. Also during the time we were off line we did receive 3 phone calls in the flight deck; we were unable to answer the calls. After the first call; the PIC called the Flight Manager to check if they or Dispatch was trying to contact us; but they were not. After the second call; I tried to call back the last number in the phones memory and reached Company Security; they did not call us either. Frustrated; we ignored the third call. I think I had become so distracted by the phone calls that I didn't realize the frequency had gone silent. It can be easy to lose concentration and focus for the tasks at hand sometimes during a long flight. With that; distractions during this period; can be significantly more dangerous because of the tendency to tunnel vision. I should have recognized this possibility and re-focused on priorities required at that time and place; which is to 'Aviate; Navigate; and Communicate'. Incoming phone calls in the flight deck is an unusual event; and I did not recognize or acknowledge after the first phone call that this was becoming another distraction; which in turn increased our time out of communications with ATC.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.