Short Final

During the peak of last summer’s pandemic there was not a lot of air traffic or radio traffic with commercial travel being at a near standstill. I was flying into Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was talking with Albuquerque Center when I heard another pilot call in. Pilot: “Albuquerque Center, N1234. It looks like my […]

Pre-pandemic, a group of Windsor Flying Club members based at CYQG made an annual excursion to the Bahama Islands from Canada. Our experience with the U.S. controllers is that the further south you go the more trouble the controllers have with our Canadian call signs: more letters than they are used to. We fly VFR […]

With the easing of pandemic travel restrictions commercial flights have increased, seemingly often with crews not necessarily familiar with local procedures. Case in point: Delta 575, from Albany, NY, to Atlanta, departing Runway 19 last June: DL 575: “Albany Departure, Delta 575 climbing through 1500, runway heading.” Albany Departure: “Delta 575, turn right heading 340, […]

We were flying in our Cessna Cardinal RG from Poughkeepsie, NY, to Norwood, MA. On board were my wife, me, and our cat, Amie. The weather was clear but windy. The local forecast for the Boston (Norwood) area was winds 30 blowing to 60 MPH. Approaching Norwood, I tuned in the tower and checked in. […]

Scanner chatter heard near Wisconsin Dells: “Madison Approach, Cirrus one-niner-niner-Echo-Echo checking in at 5,000.” [Scanner can’t pick up Approach, but controller apparently gave the altimeter setting at the Dells.] Cirrus pilot says with a straight face, or so it would seem: “Two-niner-niner-niner for niner-niner-Echo-Echo.” Tom Enwright

Early on a quiet morning, as I was taxiing, a rather over‑eager student pilot called ground control. A young voice, with textbook radio language, and a perfectly articulated request to taxi from the flight school ramp. The seasoned controller just could not resist: “Cessna 123 alpha bravo, you will have to hold for about 30 […]

Many moons ago I was flying into Denver’s Centennial airport when tower asked me if I could make a short approach. As full of confidence as a low-time pilot could be, I replied, “Certainly, you want Oshkosh short?” Tower answered, “Sure, show me some of that Oshkosh stuff!” I turned base to final a little […]

I was driving to my hangar at Manchester Airport one really nasty, windy and turbulent day. I had no plans to actually fly. I overheard, and coincidentally was able to watch, a Mitsubishi MU‑2 land on Runway 35. You could see him wrestling with the wind all the way in. I was listening to Live […]

I rarely clog the radio frequency with unimportant chatter, but this was a very special day. It was March 19, 2015, when I completed my IFR checkride successfully. I was filled with excitement and gratitude as I reflected on hours of study and flight training with a fantastic instructor who, in the process, became a […]

I recently heard the following on the air. N1234: “Wilkes‑Barre approach, November 1234 is canceling flight following.” Wilkes‑Barre Approach: “Was it something I said?” N1234: “No. It’s what you’re wearing. Those pants are terrible!” Wilkes‑Barre Approach: “Now you just sound like my wife. Squawk 1200. Frequency change approved.” Ben Younger Narrowsburg, NY