Short Final

My first piloting experience was as an Air Force Academy cadet, soaring at the Academy’s airfield (6576 feet MSL). This great summer program offered a checkout and 25 hours in Schweizer two‑ and single‑seat gliders. There were more winch tows than tow ships, so the opportunities to venture far for lift were limited. My big […]

Recently overheard on Washington Center frequency on an afternoon with plenty of thunderstorms in the vicinity: Center: “All you guys going into Raleigh, there will be a short delay. They’ve evacuated the tower. I’ll keep you posted. … I’d rather be in an airplane than a tower today.” Reid Ashe Winston‑Salem, North Carolina

I have flown Lears for many years for a company whose callsign is Coyote. One day when we had been vectored towards the airport and then handed off to Tower: Tower: “Coyote 123, cleared for the visual Runway xx.” Me: “Cleared visual Runway xx. Coyote 123.” Second aircraft: “Tower, N12345 has runway in sight.” Tower: […]

I do flights in my Cessna Cardinal for PALS, Patient Airlift Services, such as flying people with cancer to their medical appointments in another city. On one recent flight, I decided to let my passenger/patient put a headset on so she could hear me talking to the controllers. Well, we were taking off from Hudson […]

I’m from Massachusetts (the North) and in the mid-1960s, flying cross‑country from Daytona Beach to an airport near Tampa Florida (the South), I passed by the Orlando airport and tuned the frequency for a brand‑new reporting system named ATIS. I caught the recorded transmission about halfway and heard the following: “Temperature 28. Dew point 10. […]

Heard somewhere over Kansas: Center: “American 745, contact Kansas City on 118.12.” American 745: “Was that eighteen twelve for American 745?” Center: “American 745, yes, eighteen twelve, as in ‘The War Of.’” Elliott Cox Clover, South Carolina

Last summer, I was flying around the western edge of the New York Class B talking to NY Approach. He called out business jet traffic arriving at Teterboro to me first and then: Approach: BizJet123, traffic 12 o’clock, 3 miles, a helicopter at 3500. BizJet: Not in sight, looking for the traffic. Me: I’m not […]

During one very long day when I was a full time instructor, I ended up with five students in a row all early in the PPL syllabus so I did all the radio calls at our busy, towered airport. On flight five, I called clearance with my call sign and got a casual “Same as […]

One flight recently, I had an interesting exchange with Jacksonville Approach, south of Jacksonville at 9000 feet. Approach: “N1234, be advised traffic 11 o’clock 10 miles at 9500 can exhibit abrupt changes in altitude and position.” Me: “Will observe. That a military aircraft?” Approach: “I’m not really allowed to say. Just watch out.” That’s a […]

Many years ago and right after I had gotten my private ticket, I decided it would be “fun” to pick up one of my customers at Midway Airport. Of course I had been to towered fields before but not with heavy commercial traffic where the dreaded “Keep your speed up you’re being followed by a […]