Radio Pet Peeves

[avbug]

I think it's Ben Stein, moonlighting as an air traffic controller. (Next time you hear him, think of the Clear Eyes commercial).

 

[FL000]

That reminds me of another pet peeve, perhaps my biggest of all. When in ATL, do not refer to the fellow who says, "Grrrrrrrreat day, sir" by his name. He doesn't know you, you don't know him, and you aren't cool because you know his name. We all do...thanks to dorks like you.

 

[Rizer]

Although this has been an interesting and sometimes humorous thread, I think you have to step back and put things in perspective. Major airlines are in bankrupcy, thousands of pilots are furloughed, wackos are shooting missiles at airlines. Who cares if some guy a mile below you says "with you" or "checkin in" or how some guy pronounces "niner". There are more important issues to worry about. Keep things in perspective.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Although this has been an interesting and sometimes humorous thread, I think you have to step back and put things in perspective. Major airlines are in bankrupcy, thousands of pilots are furloughed, wackos are shooting missiles at airlines. Who cares if some guy a mile below you says "with you" or "checkin in" or how some guy pronounces "niner". There are more important issues to worry about. Keep things in perspective.

Point taken, but I gotta be honest, I'm tired of hearing this. Yeah there are people on furlough. There are also people starving in Ethiopia. There are hundreds of children in my state with no parents. There's a guy down the street with bone cancer. There is tragedy everywhere.

Does that mean we're never allowed to complain about anything? Do we have to spend twenty hours a day on our knees being thankful for the things we have? No one's allowed to be trite because there are people on furlough?

You post a message like that, then tell me to lighten up?

 

[AirportRat]

I'm a Police Officer and heard this one on the frequency. After a shift we have to call in the amount of fuel we pumped.
Headquarters: "Car 45, did you get any gas?"
Car 45: " a little from the coffee but I'm OK" As far as aviation pet peeves, after the 25th time around the pattern do we still need to say the name of the airport? How about, " Cessna 23Q midfield downwind"

 

[Clownpilot]

Ridiculous

There's a simple answer. GA aircraft should be banned as the program exists now. That means that if you want to leave the ground you must have an operable radio and transponder with mode C no matter what or where you are flying.

Anything heavier than an ultra light simply doesn't take off without those two items. Oh, I know that the screaming is about to start about how unfair that is and how impossible it is to afford fancy equipment like that. Yet hand held GPS units go for less than $300.

Why not on an ultra light? Because I might never see you, never know you are there, run into you head on, turn you into dog meat, and I doubt I'll ever even know I hit you. I'll just have the scuff buffed out after I land.

You're right. Many ag airplanes don't have radios (most do), and often not a lot of radio calls get made. When I'm in one, I don't do a lot of yapping...I look out the window and admire all the other pretty airplanes, flowers, big rocks, and towers. Just like I do in the jet.

So for those of us flitting around with no radios, don't get too alarmed if we don't answer you right away. There's a new movement afoot to fly around rocking our wings a lot to compensate for the lack of verbose harmony. That, and we're all going to paint our airplanes bright orange, just in case some joker plans his traffic on what he hears on request...instead of what he sees. [/B]

 

[reaperman]

after the 25th time around the pattern do we still need to say the name of the airport?

So, what's different about the 25th time around the pattern, other than your own boredom? I fly out af an uncontrolled airport eighty miles from another one with the same CTAF frequency and the same runway headings. You can hear the calls from both airports loud and clear.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Re: Proof

...if you don't know why a sequence call is a good idea you haven't done any commercial flying.

Sequence and wind checks don't bother me. What does bother me is this:

Delta 821: "What's the sequence?"

DFW Tower: "Eagle 621, Eagle 606, Delta 821, Candler 455, and Delta 1120."

Two minutes later...

Delta 1120: "What's the sequence?"

This is not a joke: I wish they could put some sort of monitor out at the end of the runway that had the current sequence on it. Just a repeater of what strips the guy on local has in front of him. Those of you who don't understand how important the sequence is haven't been sitting there with one engine shut down and three hundred pounds of gas to go until you have to go back to the gate!

Now, as much as I think many of you think Clownpilot is a...well...clown, I think he makes some valid points about GA. In fact, I'm surprised that transponders ddin't become mandatory after September 11th.

 

[RJFlyer]

As for "vacating," when I was a new-hire, I'd say "leaving FL240" and had several captains jump on me each time saying "you should say 'vacating,' not 'leaving.' It's proper phraseology." So now I've got that burned into my head, and it's what I say.

I guess you just can't please everyone, can you?

 

[DJS]

Airport name...

after the 25th time around the pattern do we still need to say the name of the airport?

I fly out of an uncontrolled airport (Crest-S36) 35 miles from one(Harvey-S43) and 50 miles from another (Jefferson-0S9) all on the same frequency. Broadcasts from the other two airports are easy to hear when in the pattern, sometimes even on the ground.

It is crucial that planes call the airport name at the end of their transmission.

...Dave

 

[172driver]

How about these two:

1. We've got 4244 in the box

2. ATC: N4971F, standby

Pilot: N4971F standing by


And the 'with you' thing is extremely irritating...

 

[Ty Webb]

Of course, nobody mentioned the "windcheck", "what's our sequence" and "how long's the final" transmissions we hear so much in Atlanta.

Sorry, Food, but "how long's the final" and what's our sequence?" are both very valid questions in ATL, perhaps you just don;t understand WHY we need to know these things. Just because it isn't info that you need in your airplane (t-prop or draggy, straight-wing jet) doesn't mean it isn't important info in mine (slippery sucker that doesn;t like to come down).

"How long's the final?" When you are entering the downwind turn at 12,000 or 10,000 feet and are given 7,000, it is important to me to know whether I need to come down at 1500' ft/min or 3000'/min . . . 2 different configurations and plans. Re-configuring after the fact is sloppy and wastes fuel. Don;t get down quickly enough, and you may find some other guys vectored in between you and your turn to final; get down too fast and waste fuel slogging along for a 20-mile downwind- that's not the way we liek to operate.

"Who's our sequence?" Again- something I need to know. Usually, they'll tell you, but once in a while they get busy and forget. If I have an engine shut down and it has a five-minute warm-up restriction prior to takeoff, you bet I need to know who I am following out of there.

 

[MetroSheriff]

My toppers:

1. With you

2. Checking on (we know, we can hear you)

3. In the box (we know where the code goes)

4. In the window (we know where the altimeter setting goes)

5. Squawking and talking (we know what 19.3 and 5621 are)

6. On the hold

7. Here we go (we know that cleared for takeoff means you will start moving)

8. Flashing (it's an ident button not a Kodak Instamatic)

9. Instrumnets to XYZ (no foolin)

10. Decimal (we know that "point" is short for, there is no need to remind us)

Typhoon, I told you this we be a good thread. Thanks. It was nice to have a funny thread to read.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Oh, and if I never again hear a TCAS called "the fish-finder," it'll be too soon!

 

[Ty Webb]

2000Flyer,
You don't get 10 pilots to check in with you because you weren't listening as you approached the airport. If you base you approach to the pattern on the lack of responses you get, you will be mighty surprised to find all that traffic. Keep you eyes open, listen on the unicom, and look for the guys without radios. sure, I can believe youmight alert someone every now and then that has been lazy with his radio calls, but for the most part, your request is ignored.

Sorry, Anne, this may not be a necessary call for you in your airplane, but as a pilot who operated a jet based at an uncontrolled field for three years, I can tell you that it was a necessary call.


Sure, if all I had to do was monitor one frequency, and navigate visually at 120 KTS, yeah, that call might be unnecessary, but we're not all doing the same thing out here.

When you are 20 or 30 miles out, in a jet, that means you are only five to seven minutes from entering the pattern, yet you are picking up airplanes on overlapping CTAF frequencies for perhaps a 100-150 mile radius, so it's not always clear who is who/where/what.

When we are talking with approach, reading checklists, trying to get an airport advisory, briefing and setting up for the approach, trying to monitor CTAF and doing everyhting else that we are doing at that time, we may miss a call from Skyhawk #2 or number #3 as they announce their position. Therefore, I ALWAYS say, "Any aircraft in the area, please advise". Sometimes, I get a call from an aiplane I was not aware was in the area . . . and that's why I do it.

If you think it is unecessary, well, sorry, but I don't do it to please you, I do it to keep you out of my airplane, literally.