Short Final: The Briefest Readback

Editorial Staff

Monday, November 30, 2020 at 06:21 PM ET

Verified

Image: redlegsfan21 - CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons

Key Takeaways:

An air taxi company at Bradley International Airport conducted extensive, repetitive ILS approach training for new pilots on mid-shifts.
The routine nature of the training led to boredom for both the air traffic controller and the flight instructor.
The instructor's boredom was humorously reflected in his extremely concise, coded readback of the clearance: "27, 25, 24, 23."

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Some years back at Bradley International Airport, there was a local air taxi company that did a lot of their new pilot training on the mid shift. They would go round and round the same ILS pattern for hours apparently swapping seats as the flight went on.

Often, as the controller on duty, I would issue the same clearance over and over: “Trainer 23, turn left heading 270. Maintain 2500 until established. Cleared ILS 24 approach.”

The equally bored instructor got the prize for the briefest readback on record: “27, 25, 24, 23.”

John Krug

East Falmouth, MA