• If You Are Having Trouble Logging In with Your Old Username and Password, Please use this Forgot Your Password link to get re-established.
  • Hey! Be sure to login or register!

Taxiway Blocked?

….. I have to listen to "upwind", "downwind", "crosswind", "base", "final", "traffic advisories", "what is the active" …...

Lets not forget "clear of the active", "taxiing to parking", "at café / fuel pumps, taxiing to active", and the ever popular "overhead at 5,000 feet, northbound".
Makes me envy the NORDO guys.
 
It is the instructors' fault. A companion thread delves into callups and readbacks in controlled airspace. One of my favorites:

Montgomery Tower, this is Cessna1234, over here ready to go, holding short, actually going straight out.

At least she gave the local her direction - he had to ask which runway.

Another, when the tower had to beg for direction of departure:

Yeah, Montgomery Tower, this is Cessna 1234, we are just going to fly to the coast, then turn north for a tour of the beach before proceeding to Long Beach around the restricted area and through LA via the Coliseum route, to San Luis Obispo, Cessna 1234, still holding short.
 
Had a guy come over to me at the fuel pumps asking me if I had a radio in the stearman. Said yeah, you didn’t hear me key the mic and hear wind noise? I flew a pattern and he was upset I wasn’t using the radio for his 10 mile straight in. I asked him if he had one of those things... what’s it called, most airplanes have them... oh yeah. A windshield? He looked dumbfounded. I said maybe if you flew a pattern and looked out it, you would see a giant yellow 4 wing plane flying the correct pattern. He stormed away unhappy. I fly tight patterns in the stearman. Guess that’s not for everyone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I get alot of joy while flying around and hear someone 50 miles away say " straight in for ........" . I will say something like " I just left that airport and there was a nordo champ with a new pilot practicing landings, "

Glenn
 
I get alot of joy while flying around and hear someone 50 miles away say " straight in for ........" . I will say something like " I just left that airport and there was a nordo champ with a new pilot practicing landings, "

Glenn
I hear "any traffic in the area please advise" and I key the mic and tell them there are 3 Cubs in the pattern. [emoji13]

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using SuperCub.Org mobile app
 
Had a guy come over to me at the fuel pumps asking me if I had a radio in the stearman. Said yeah, you didn’t hear me key the mic and hear wind noise? I flew a pattern and he was upset I wasn’t using the radio for his 10 mile straight in. I asked him if he had one of those things... what’s it called, most airplanes have them... oh yeah. A windshield? He looked dumbfounded. I said maybe if you flew a pattern and looked out it, you would see a giant yellow 4 wing plane flying the correct pattern. He stormed away unhappy. I fly tight patterns in the stearman. Guess that’s not for everyone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thought you were used to unhappy folks stomping up to you, did you ask if he was by chance the son of an Idaho rancher?
 
I am different. I will ask that, and I will respond. I will not call ten miles out, and I don't make mindless transmissions at airports without other traffic. My initial call is:

"Yellow Cub four miles southwest for left traffic 25 Hemet." If nobody responds to that I assume nobody else is there, but I still look for Stearmans.
 
Bob, same as you, except I believe it's best to precede with the airport name because at least around here, there are multiple airports on a given CTAF. If I hear a call for an airport 30 miles away, I can ignore the content. Concluding with the airport name is a tidy confirmation. I do not ask about traffic in the area though - I prefer to just listen from 5 or 10 miles out, knowing the probable runway from the AWOS.
 
I often ask "anybody in the pattern at Hemet?" An answer or lack of one is semi-useful info.

As for repeating the airport name twice, I would rather hear it once, clearly. I recall a Cub trip just south of Chicago - two of us listening on a relevant frequency. Three very busy uncontrolled airports, lots of students all making AIM-approved calls.

We both listened carefully - we were down low where such traffic was of interest. All were native English speakers, rushing through all the AIM calls every segment, including leaving the active and taxiing to the ramp.

We never did figure out the airport names.

Say it once, slowly. Then folks can figure out where you are. If you are the only aircraft in the pattern, be polite and cut it back to one downwind and one short approach call.

"Yellow Cub, left downwind 25, HHemmett!"

Non-standard opinion.
 
Last edited:
I prefer the location name at both ends of the call, it’s an extra word or two and it makes a difference especially when the goober calling clips the half of the first word.
 
In my book, it's situational, and some cases need different calls than others.

I really like the airport name at the beginning and end when a) it's a goober on the radio, or b) when several airports share the same CTAF or runway orientation.

Most times I'll call "Taxiing to [runway number]" because it alerts inbound traffic and lets them know the active. If a plane is inbound within five miles or so they should respond (although the traffic farther out sometimes responds, too).

On climb out I'll announce that I'm "Off [airport name] for [airport name or direction of travel]" and may mention "Climbing to X,XXX"

Inbound I'll typically make a call at ten miles, five miles, and entering the pattern. It would be something like "[Airport name] Navajo 10 southwest, planning overhead left traffic for [runway number]. Three calls allow for planes that are cranking up and taxiing with haste. It's probably not needed at a busy airport, but definitely helps at slower airports where people might be accustomed to cranking up, taxiing for just a moment or two, and going out on the runway without really listening to the radio.

I add or subtract (mostly subtract) according to the situation. But I hate the "any traffic please advise" or its variants.
 
A lot of folks hate that. I cannot figure out why. I agree that it would be better if folks just answered your initial call.

I guess if I were flying a Navajo maybe a ten mile call would be appropriate, but in the Cub it is better to just listen until you are maybe five minutes out. Opinion.
 
I am different. I will ask that, and I will respond. I will not call ten miles out, and I don't make mindless transmissions at airports without other traffic. My initial call is:

"Yellow Cub four miles southwest for left traffic 25 Hemet." If nobody responds to that I assume nobody else is there, but I still look for Stearmans.

Why would anyone RESPOND to a call like that? The call is fine, but the call is to let OTHER traffic know where YOU are, not a solicitation for every one else to yak up a storm on the freq. So, if I hear a call like that, I keep my mouth shut and watch for you. That’s what an “advisory call” is intended to do...inform, not generate a bunch of tongue wagging.

MTV
 
I'm with Bob. I fly slow airplanes and make only a 5 mile call. The last fly in at KCBE some gal in a C150 started making 5 mile calls from 50 miles out.
 
I disagree with MTV. The unicom frequency is intended to prevent collisions. One way to efficiently use that frequency is to coordinate. Once everybody knows where everybody else is, you are safer.

If I am in the pattern at Hemet and some person calls 4 miles out on the 45, I am going to respond:

"Yeah, look for a yellow Cub in the pattern and a no radio Pietenpol behind."

just me, but I shall keep on doing that, and keep hoping that others will let me know where they are when I call inbound.
 
You should try to get a word in on 122.8 in Texas on a sunny Sunday afternoon. "Bweeeeee traffic, Cessna bweeeeee taxiing bweeeeee any traffic bweeeeeeeeeeeeeee twenty six mile straight in."

Less is more.
 
Last edited:
A lot of folks hate that. I cannot figure out why. I agree that it would be better if folks just answered your initial call.

Consider two scenarios. If one makes the “please advise” call, then God and Everybody is prompted to respond. But if you’re planning to stay in the pattern you don’t need to hear from that guy who is five miles out. And you don’t need to hear from the two other planes in the pattern because you can see them. You can pull up to the hold short line and visually check for traffic on final, base, and downwind. If you don’t see anybody on final you can announce your intentions, make a second visual check, and depart. If someone listening thinks you’re announced intentions are going to cause a conflict, then they’re definitely going to say something, and you can change your plans accordingly. And that guy who was five miles out will know to look for you as he gets closer.

Let’s say you’re going to depart the pattern. The planes approaching from the direction opposite your planned departure direction don’t need to let you know they are inbound because you’ll be flying away from them. You typically don’t need to know about that inbound guy who is five miles south if you’re heading north, right, because you’ll be long gone by the time he enters the pattern. So if one pulls up to the hold short line and visually checks the pattern, then announces “[airport name] traffic, Cub XYZ taking runway XX, downwind departure to the north,” the traffic that’s approaching the airport from the south won’t need to make a radio call. But if one uses the “please advise” call instead, nobody knows your intentions and therefore Everybody approaching the airport is prompted to make a call, and the frequency gets jammed up.

I believe these are some of the reasons the AIM explicitly discourages making the “please advise” call.

I guess if I were flying a Navajo maybe a ten mile call would be appropriate, but in the Cub it is better to just listen until you are maybe five minutes out. Opinion.

Absolutely agree. It’s definitely situational. And it’s probably why the Canadians give time to the airport instead of distance to the airport in their position reports.
 
......If someone listening thinks you’re announced intentions are going to cause a conflict, then they’re definitely going to say something, and you can change your plans accordingly......

In a perfect world, yes.
But IMHO less and less people these days are staying aware of the "big picture".
AKA situational awareness.
The other day, I was riding with a friend, he made a "6 miles west" call.
Just as we're entering about a 2-1/2 mile 45, we hear a "on the 45" call from someone,
and there he is--
perfectly set up to conflict with our entry.
No big deal, we maneuvered a bit to compensate--
but if he'd responded to our 6 west call it could have been coordinated a lot more smoothly.
Seen the same thing with people doing touch-and-go's--
in spite of others reporting on the 45 or whatever,
they turn crosswind & then downwind at the same place as they always do and cause a conflict.
When simply extending their upwind leg by about 30 seconds would have allowed everything to happen smoothly.
 
I agree with that. The problem is we are teaching perfunctory callouts and no responses. Same in the practice areas on 122.75 - these folks do not actually hear each other - they just announce inaccurate position reports every minute or so.

I asked an aero student who held fixed wing and helo CFIs - "so where is that guy who just reported?" - no idea.
 
Back to the blocked taxiway:

No longer blocked. Landlord told the flight school to stay off the taxiway unless they were moving.

I rarely prevail when fighting city hall - I bet a huge part of this was due to you guys helping with the rules.
 
Back to the blocked taxiway:

No longer blocked. Landlord told the flight school to stay off the taxiway unless they were moving.

I rarely prevail when fighting city hall - I bet a huge part of this was due to you guys helping with the rules.
Yay! That's great news, Bob!

Sent from my Pixel using SuperCub.Org mobile app
 
Back
Top