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

[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.

 

[Dangerkitty]

Him: Cessna 1234 departing runway 24, any traffic in the area please advise.

Me: Buy low, sell high

Him: Cessna 1234 is turning crosswind runway 24, any traffic in the area please advise.

Me: Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Him: Cessna 1234 is turning left downwind runway 24, any traffic in the area please advise.

Me: Always wash your hands before every meal.

Him: Cessna 1234 is left base runway 24, any traffic in the area please advise.

Me: Experts say to start taking your Social Security monies at 62, not at 65.

Him: Cessna 1234 is final runway 24, any traffic in the area please advise.

Me: Drinking a few glasses of water and having an aspirin before going to bed will help prevent hangovers after a night of heavy drinking.

 

[Dangerkitty]

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.

Ever flown into NYC airspace during a bank coming in or going out? You can hardly get in a word to begin with. Saying things like "With you" only clogs up a radio freq that is over clogged as it is. Why people say "with you" is beyond me. Would you call a controller on a particular frequency to state that you are with someone else?

 

[sleddriver71]

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

First of all eaglepilot6, nobody cares what bugs the crap out of you. I say "with you" under one circumstance. It is when ATC tells me to contact him/her (same person) on another frequency. Tell me why you need to say "negative contact." That's 5 syllables, I like to make my transmissions short and concise and "looking" accomplishes the same thing as "negative contact" with less chatter. Why did you think someone calling "Cessna 789" was a Citation? When ATC calls traffic one thing I think is innappropriate to say is "looking for traffic." If you don't see the traffic, don't use the word "traffic." You're the fool man.

 

[MASH4077]

Stupid Phrase

What happens if you are coming into an uncontrolled field and use that phrase and there is an airplane without a radio in the pattern. How in the sam hill is he supposed to hear you, much less respond??

Personally, I hate the phrase and it is a waste of time. If everyone would just give a position report,this could all be avoided.

I'm sorry guys. But this one is my pet peeve.

 

[mrnolmts]

...and there is an airplane without a radio in the pattern...
...If everyone would just give a position report,this could all be avoided...

And how do you propose the guy without a radio give a position report? Yell out the window?