Widebody; Low Wing; 3 Turbojet Eng
Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Airspace Structure; Chart Or Publication; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Human Factors; Manuals
For this leg we had a Reserve First Officer and I had chosen to take the last rest period for the flight. I was woken up on timing before our planned descent and arrival. I got myself together; cleaned up the crew rest area and made my way up to the flight deck for the descent and arrival. I swapped back into the seat with the Reserve First Officer and when I sat down the Captain seemed to be concerned that we never got handed off to 'Guam Center' ATC facility from San Francisco oceanic (KZAK) even though we were connected to them via CPDLC and HF SELCAL. As he looked back through the received messages log on CPDLC; I had just got settled back into the right seat and started looking through the Jeppesons information on my company iPad to see if we could locate a frequency that we should have been handed off to. I searched for a couple minutes and was unable to find a frequency for Guam Center; and resorted to the approach plate for ILS Runway 6L; that we planned to fly; to locate the Guam Approach frequency; just so we could get in radio contact with someone in Guam. At this point we were about 170 to 190 miles away from PGUM. Also at this time; the Captain had the same idea of getting in touch with approach and had already started tuning in Guam Approach into Comm1 from the same ILS Runway 6L approach plate. The last time I had flown into Guam a couple months ago an almost identical situation happened; where we never received a handoff from KZAK neither via CPDLC nor HF; and Guam Center called us on Comm2; so I looked down to make sure Comm 2 was on Guard; and saw that someone had put in the ATIS frequency for PGUM (119.0) since they do not have digital ATIS. Since; unknown to me; Comm2 was setup that way before I got in the seat; I asked what frequency it was; and why it was there. The Reserve First Officer said he had done it as he was checking for ATIS about the same time we were doing the seat swap.As I was swapping the frequency back over to Guard; the Captain was transmitting on Comm1 Guam Approach frequency to make contact. We could hear Approach and other aircraft talking on the frequency; but allegedly Approach could not hear our transmissions. We were on both Guard and the Approach frequency for 3 to 5 minutes. We heard no calls for us on Guard; and then Approach made a call to us in the blind and gave us the frequency to get in touch with Guam Center. When we made contact with them on Comm1; they indicated that they had been trying to reach us on Guard for 'the last 100 miles'; even though we heard nothing from them on frequency for the preceding 5 minutes. For me; this was the second time in a row flying the PGUM leg; that we did not receive a hand off nor frequency to contact Guam center on; from KZAK oceanic. I was also not able to locate anywhere in the Jeppeson a frequency for Guam Center. In the airport briefing guide for Guam; there is a glancing mention that this scenario might happen; but it does not list there the frequency for Guam Center; it just says to try and get the frequency from San Francisco (KZAK). We never received any communication; frequency; nor positive hand off from KZAK oceanic sector.I think the easiest fix would be to publish the frequency for Guam Center in the airport briefing guide where it warns of this situation. Also; if this is a common pothole that crews are getting swept towards on this particular leg; a note on the FPR (Flight Plan Requirements) somewhere just before or just after the ETPs reminding them of the likelihood of the hand off not happening; and list the Guam Center frequency there as well. Lastly; if there is a way to modify the Jeppeson enroute chart/moving-map view; have an information note or ball note that the crew can click on; saying in the 200 to 250 mile vicinity prior to Guam; that you should be contacting Guam Center; and list the frequencies there as well. Just have it listed multiple places for crews to access easily; so they don't have to go digging for any one/specific/particular document or source. As it stands; when we needed the frequency in the moment there in the airplane; we were unable to locate it anywhere.
MD-11 First Officer reported they were NORDO and no publications had the frequency for the facility airspace they were flying through.