Short Final: Who’s There?

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • A private pilot student amusingly mistook "information Mike" (referring to ATIS) for "Mathew" during a radio call to the tower.
  • The air traffic controller humorously corrected the student, reminding them to use the proper ATIS identifier.
  • The anecdote highlights common, often endearing, communication errors made by student pilots during their training.
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From AVweb reader Bob Wood:

Recently, my private pilot student and I were returning to Aurora State Airport (KUAO) in Oregon, from a lesson. At the 10-nm mark, he properly contacted the tower with “KUAO Tower, [N-tail number], 10 miles northwest, with Mathew.”
Tower responded, “[N-tail number], I’m sure Mathew is very nice, but information Mike is current.” To steal a phrase from years past, “Students say the darndest things.”

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