Short Final: The Briefest Readback

Editorial Staff

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

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

Key Takeaways:

An air traffic controller at Bradley Airport frequently issued identical clearances to an air taxi company's new pilots practicing repetitive ILS approaches for hours.
These training sessions, conducted on the mid-shift, involved continuous practice of the same pattern, leading to monotony for both controller and pilots.
Due to the routine nature of the clearances, the instructor developed an exceptionally brief, numerical readback ("27, 25, 24, 23") that concisely confirmed the repeated instructions.

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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