Narrative:

While on right base to runway 36R; heading 270 assigned vector by approach control; we began flying through extended center line of rwys 36R/36C. Attempted to contact approach several times for clearance to final with no response. Contacted tower on 119.7 and was given vector back to airport and clearance for visual approach to 36R. Tower then said to switch back to approach as 'he wants to talk to you.' we switched back to 125.8 and approach gave us a clearance for visual approach to 36R. When we asked if there had been a problem with the transmitter; explaining that that is why we contacted tower; the response was 'you shouldn't have done that; we were in a briefing.' we were then instructed to contact tower again. There was no conflict with any other air traffic during this incident.unknown cause. We only know that we attempted to contact approach on 125.8 with no response; then later approach implied that there was never a problem with their communications.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported of flying through the approach course; attempting to contact Approach. No response; so they changed to Tower frequency and got vectored back on to final. Approach Controller told pilots they should not have switched to Tower frequency. Controllers stated they were in a briefing.

Narrative: While on right base to Runway 36R; heading 270 assigned vector by Approach Control; we began flying through extended center line of RWYs 36R/36C. Attempted to contact Approach several times for clearance to final with no response. Contacted Tower on 119.7 and was given vector back to airport and clearance for visual approach to 36R. Tower then said to switch back to Approach as 'he wants to talk to you.' We switched back to 125.8 and Approach gave us a clearance for visual approach to 36R. When we asked if there had been a problem with the transmitter; explaining that that is why we contacted Tower; the response was 'you shouldn't have done that; we were in a briefing.' We were then instructed to contact Tower again. There was no conflict with any other air traffic during this incident.Unknown cause. We only know that we attempted to contact Approach on 125.8 with no response; then later Approach implied that there was never a problem with their communications.

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.