Any traffic in the area please advise!!!!!

[h25b]

Most of the people complaining about this phrase I would bet have absolutely no clue what it's like trying to formulate a plan for entering an uncontrolled traffic pattern in the middle of nowhere while traveling at sometimes 3 times the speed of everyone else in the pattern. Yes, I will typically ask for everyone to advise on where they are and what they are doing around 30-40 miles out. I am trying to estimate how many other aircraft I'll be dealing with when I enter the pattern. For me it's usually not an issue of over communication that's the problem, it's more the idiots that DO NOT communicate that are the true hazards.

 

[FlyingSkip]

90---nice answer. We may not agree on the "Traffic advisory" call, but at least you don't asnwer up with that bogus "looking" call that I hear all the time, and from PPs too! I can't believe that some instructor or DE didn't smack that outta them at some point!

H25b nailed it---when you're coming into someplace unfamiliar and you're going faster than the traffic in the pattern, you want to give them every chance to make everybody's life easier by telling you. Like was said earlier, I'm looking at the TCAS and listening to the freq and (hopefully!) getting a last little lovenote from ATC before I canx, but every little bit helps. I agree that sometimes the freqs are crowded---so make the call quickly and professionally and hope that the replies you get back will be the same.

 

[coloneldan]

Similar to Subject

I used to be based at Muscle Shoals, North West Alabama Regional Airport. (MSL) Most people on the unicom called it Muscle Shoals. There was one instructor on the field who taught his students to say Muscle Shoals, North West Alabama Regional Airport every time they said anything on the radio. And this was when they still had an AFSS there. Along with everybody else within 100 miles, I got tired of hearing it. Nobody could talk this goober into telling his students not to block the radio for 5 minutes with every transmission.

One afternoon, I was departing and this guy and one of his students were in the pattern, making those d*mn calls. I said, "Muscle Shoals, North West Alabama, United States, North America, Northern Hemisphere, Earth, Milky Way, Regional traffic, NXXXXX taxiing for takeoff on runway number XX. Any traffic in the local traffic pattern please advise with your position, altitude, heading, course, type aircraft, number on board, etc......" I kept talking until I had taxied all the way to the runway. When I got to the hold line, I stopped, but said, "Oops, to late. NXXXXX taxiing into position for departure." It worked out pretty good. Goober and his student were on final by then. He grabbed the radio and VERY excitedly told me where he was and asked if I was going to hold short. I said, "Works just fine when you keep you fat mouth shut except for what is necessary, don't it?" For some reason, his students stopped that crap.

 

[mrnolmts]

...but at least you don't asnwer up with that bogus "looking" call that I hear all the time...

"Looking" is a shorter way of saying "Negative Contact". Nothing more. Too often I hear people staying on for a minute when a "Roger" would do just fine, especially in today's world of crowded frequencies.
Regarding the "Any traffic in the area, please advise" call, my personal opinion on the subject is that it's an appropriate call on the initial call, as mentioned by others here. Calling a few miles out, downwind, base and final, is fine with me as well, just keep the calls brief. Too many people seem to want to tell their life story every time they're on frequency...
:beer:

 

[501261]

Operating out of a busy uncontrolled field, I'm not a big fan of "any traffic, please advise." Especially when it's busy and there's 5 or 6 on CTAF all talking and someone checks in with "please advise".

I'll generally never use "any traffic, please advise" on a first call (i.e. "KIMN Traffic, Lear123, 20 west inbound for landing.")

I might use "any traffic, please advise" on a second call, if I haven't heard from anyone on CTAF (i.e. "KIMN traffic, Lear 123, is now 5 west, will be entering a left downwind 36, any traffic please advise")

 

[coloneldan]

h25b, you mentioned calling for advisory 30-40 miles out. I flew Lears out of HKY for several years, back when they had an AFSS. We would call about 30-40 miles out. I'm sure you're aware, that far out, you're probably still doing 300-350 across the ground and decending 2-3000 fpm. You need to know where the traffic is, as much as possible and which runway they are using. You need to know as far in advance as possible so you can plan.

There was one character working at the FSS that would always ask how far out we were. If we were more than 10 miles out he would refuse to tell us anything. He wouldn't even tell us winds or altimeter. I went over and talked to him in person after the second time he pulled that on us. Typical government employee. It was going to take an act of congress to make him change. We started telling him we were 10 miles out, no matter where we were. After about the third or fourth time we pulled this, he started to catch on. Several minutes after he gave us the advisory, he called back and asked how far out we were then. I said, "9.8 miles. He said, "You sure are slow for a Lear." I said, "We're practicing slow flight."

 

[h25b]

h25b, you mentioned calling for advisory 30-40 miles out. I flew Lears out of HKY for several years, back when they had an AFSS. We would call about 30-40 miles out. I'm sure you're aware, that far out, you're probably still doing 300-350 across the ground and decending 2-3000 fpm. You need to know where the traffic is, as much as possible and which runway they are using. You need to know as far in advance as possible so you can plan.

There was one character working at the FSS that would always ask how far out we were. If we were more than 10 miles out he would refuse to tell us anything. He wouldn't even tell us winds or altimeter. I went over and talked to him in person after the second time he pulled that on us. Typical government employee. It was going to take an act of congress to make him change. We started telling him we were 10 miles out, no matter where we were. After about the third or fourth time we pulled this, he started to catch on. Several minutes after he gave us the advisory, he called back and asked how far out we were then. I said, "9.8 miles. He said, "You sure are slow for a Lear." I said, "We're practicing slow flight."

Never been in to Hickory (I assume that's HKY) but it grinds me how people don't understand the importance of figuring out what's going on in the pattern far ahead of time. It gets really busy in a jet...

 

[coloneldan]

Zactly!! And it is Hickory NC.

 

[h25b]

Zactly!! And it is Hickory NC.

We're over in INT ... Haven't flown in to HKY, but bought some furniture there though...

 

[mcjohn]

HKY is where I send my students on their solo X-C. It's also where I go for the night X-C. Nice looking town (from above) surrounded by water. Runway 24 is such a downhill runway that the stop and go night landings are wacky!

 

[Brett Hull]

I used to be based at Muscle Shoals, North West Alabama Regional Airport. (MSL) Most people on the unicom called it Muscle Shoals. There was one instructor on the field who taught his students to say Muscle Shoals, North West Alabama Regional Airport every time they said anything on the radio.

I think I've heard this numbskull. It's kinda along the same lines as the Mesaba guys with their "BFE Traffic, Mesaba 3434, a red Saab,...."

We were on about a 1/4 mile final for 29 at MSL one day when some Richard Cranium in a V Tail took off on 11. We made plenty of position reports. Somehow I don't think if I threw in the "any traffic please advise" he would have answered.

Keep your heads up. Don't rely on some idiot to answer you on the radio.

 

[hoop]

OK guys, help a 100hr wonder out here. I was taught by a mean old timer that you always tell ATC your looking if you don't see the traffic, and keep looking for the traffic until you see it, or ATC says it's not a factor anymore. I try and keep off the radios as much as possible, but what is the preferred response to a traffic advisory? Is the "looking for traffic" comment directed toward only the uncontrolled fields?

 

[eaglepilot6]

proper response is either "Traffic in sight" or "Negative Contact". None of this "umm were uh looking for the guy" or "dont have the beech baron in sight just yet".

Also please DON'T say "with you" or "checking in". That bugs the crap outta me hearing people "Check in" to the approach controller's airspace hotel. If you need to contact approach, tell him/her current and assigned altitudes. "Skyhawk 12345, passing 8 hundred for 3 thousand." Please say altitudes properly as well, theres nothing that says "Hey yall, im a moron" than saying 3 thousand as 3-0-0-0. While I'm on my radio rant, Cessna makes many different types of aircraft, from 150s to citations. So please identify type of a/c on radio calls. IE: Skyhawk, Citation, Centurion, etc. I heard this fool the other day call "Cessna 789, 5 miles out straight in runway 24" So I said to my student, make sure to watch out and listen for this citation coming straight in. Turns out it was a freakin 150.... entering a busy pattern on final.

Good luck with your training, and you have nothing to be scared of on the radios if you know proper phraseology.

 

[Brett Hull]

While I'm on my radio rant, Cessna makes many different types of aircraft, from 150s to citations. So please identify type of a/c on radio calls. IE: Skyhawk, Citation, Centurion, etc. I heard this fool the other day call "Cessna 789, 5 miles out straight in runway 24" So I said to my student, make sure to watch out and listen for this citation coming straight in. Turns out it was a freakin 150.... entering a busy pattern on final.

To throw in $0.02, I think most people associate someone calling in as "Cessna N12345" as something that's not going over 150 kts and has wings over the pilot's heads. Would you know what was coming if someone called in with "Crusader N12345" (heck, a friend when asked by someone if he was flying the Crusader responded "no, I'm in the 303" )? Not many students or Jim Bob who flies his 172 once a month will. Likewise with Centurion or Skylane. Would you expect a Cessna 150 to state his callsign as "Commuter 12345"? I've never heard someone flying a Citation refer to themselves as "Cessna" over the radio.

 

[mcjohn]

No Joy Just kiddin!

I don't see what wrong with saying "with you" if you're handed off to another controller on an instrument flight plan or using flight following. I always assumed it was O.K. to say "with you" if they are expecting you.

Lately I've been trying to use "Skyhawk" but the controllers always revert it back to "Cessna." Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.