Short Final

Editorial Staff

Monday, December 23, 2013 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

During their first night cross-country flight, a pilot mistakenly broadcast a personal goodnight message to their wife over the air traffic control frequency.
An air traffic controller, "Bart," humorously responded to the pilot's personal message, reminding them to stay awake.
The incident occurred because the pilot failed to switch to the correct air-to-air frequency, much to the amusement of their flight instructor.

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First night XC with instructor.

The route was going to take us over my home at 11:00pm, so I turned on my aviation scanner in my home for my wife so I could tell her goodnight. As we passed over my home at 6,500′, I had failed to push the flip-flop to the air-to-air frequency and was still on approach.

Me:
“Goodnight, Susan. I hope you sleep well.”

What I can only envision as a large, hairy-armed controller:
“The name is Bart, and they like it a lot better if we stay awake.”

I apologized and changed to the air-to-air freq with my CFI laughing.

Ed Bandy
via e-mail