Short Final: For Your Viewing Pleasure

Monday, October 25, 2021 at 04:38 PM ET

Verified

Image: U.S. Air Force/Brett Snow)

Key Takeaways:

An air traffic controller (NorCal Approach) instructed a Cessna pilot to maintain an altitude of at or above three thousand feet.
The controller then alerted the Cessna to a nearby heavy C-5 aircraft at two thousand feet.
The Cessna pilot humorously acknowledged the C-5, referring to it as "my tax dollars at work."

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I overheard this exchange with the local TRACON, NorCal Approach, while flying along California’s central valley:

NorCal Approach: Cessna XXXX maintain at or above three thousand.

Cessna XXXX: Maintain at or above three thousand, Cessna XXXX.

NorCal Approach: Cessna XXXX, for your viewing pleasure, at your two o’clock, a heavy C-5 at two thousand.

Cessna XXXX: Excellent, my tax dollars at work, Cessna XXXX.

Erik Klavon
San Francisco, CA