Short Final

Returning to Palo Alto airport from the East on a short flight through the busy Bay Area airspace, I was admiring Mount Diablo at 4500 feet when NORCAL instructed, “Skylane XYZ hold your current position.” I was extremely tempted to respond “NORCAL, Skylane XYZ commencing ‘Pugachev’s cobra’ maneuver,” but said instead “Skylane XYZ right 360s.” […]

I recently had a long flight from Somerset, New Jersey, to Houston Southwest Texas. I don’t remember which approach controller it was, but when I got handed off to him and I checked in, he acknowledged, “Malibu 7MX, XYZ approach, altimeter James Bond.” I wasn’t sure what I heard so I said, “Say again?” My […]

My wife and I were on a PALS flight (PALS = Patient Airlift Services) and we had an Afghanistan war refugee and her helper-dog, Oscar, whom we took to Columbus, Ohio. Approaching Columbus information Oscar was current on ATIS. I told the controller, “We have Oscar.” After we landed, the lady whom Oscar was helping […]

Several years ago, I was flying into St. Petersburg during the NCAA Final Four. There was quite a bit of traffic and the Goodyear blimp was circling the domed stadium in which the games would be played, about one mile from the field. On the way into Albert Whitted Field, I had the following exchange: […]

I fly a rather obscure aircraft for the Coast Guard: the HC-144, a twin turboprop about the size of a Dash 8. With the Coast Guard call-sign it is also often assumed we are a helicopter, resulting in the following exchanges throughout my time: While at 15,000 feet, 225 TAS: “What type helicopter is that, […]

Many years ago I was flying my Cessna 182 from the San Francisco Bay Area east toward Columbia (O22) in the foothills of the Sierra range. This was right at the time all the various Northern and Central California approach controls were united in a single facility as they are now, all using the name […]

Flying into the Class D Purdue University Airport (home of the Purdue Boilermakers), I heard tower say, “N1234 enter right downwind for Runway 28.” A few minutes later the tower said, “N1234, I know you’re from Bloomington (home of Indiana Hoosiers), but it’s your other right.” Apparently the plane had turned left. Then someone else […]

We were at 7,000 feet, in and out of clouds, destination a VFR-only airport. Thinking it might be hard to get below the clouds as we continued toward our destination, given the controllers’ MVA, and knowing there was a reasonable ceiling beneath the clouds now that we were past the mountains, I cancelled IFR and […]

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 […]

I heard the following around my home airport: Cessna 1234M: “Cessna N1234M, four miles northeast for landing with Echo. Full stop.” Tower: “34M turn right base. Cleared to land 25R.” A few moments later as the Cessna was on short final: Tower: “34M, be aware tractor mowing between 25R and 25L.” Cessna 1234M: “Roger. Too […]