Short Final

Editorial Staff

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

Verified

Key Takeaways:

During his first night cross-country flight, a pilot attempted to send a goodnight message to his wife via an aviation scanner.
He mistakenly broadcasted the personal message on the air traffic control (approach) frequency instead of the intended air-to-air frequency.
An air traffic controller humorously responded to the pilot's message, leading to an amusing and embarrassing moment.

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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