Short Final: Giving Way

Image: Pedro Aragão - CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • At a local airport, airliners are prioritized over general aviation traffic, often leading to GA aircraft giving way.
  • A general aviation pilot (Skyhawk 123) was instructed to give way to an airliner (Airliner 456) despite both having received taxi clearances.
  • The Skyhawk pilot humorously, and perhaps a bit sarcastically, acknowledged the instruction to yield to the "small French Twin" (Airbus 319).
See a mistake? Contact us.

Our local airport has one strip, one departure, and a mix of general aviation and airliner traffic. Airliners often have a fixed wheels-up time and Ground will prioritize their movement over the general aviation traffic. The commercial ramp is between the general aviation ramp and the approach end of the preferred runway. I heard the following exchange one day:

Skyhawk 123: “Ground, Skyhawk 123, tie-downs, taxi with Tango.”

Ground: “Skyhawk 123, taxi Alpha, Bravo, hold short 16.”

Skyhawk 123: “Alpha, Bravo, hold short 16, Skyhawk 123.”

A few minutes later:

Airliner 456: “Ground, Airliner 456, ready for taxi.”

Ground: “Airliner 456, taxi Hotel, Alpha, Bravo, hold short 16.”

Airliner 456: “Hotel, Alpha, Bravo, hold short 16, Airliner 456.”

Ground: “Skyhawk 123, give way to the Airbus 319 at Hotel.”

Skyhawk 123: “Giving way to the small French Twin, Skyhawk 123.”

Anonymous

Sign-up for newsletters & special offers!

Get the latest stories & special offers delivered directly to your inbox

SUBSCRIBE

Please support AVweb.

It looks like you’re using an ad blocker. Ads keep AVweb free and fund our reporting.
Please whitelist AVweb or continue with ads enabled.