Short Final

A few months ago, I was with Atlanta Center when I heard the controller and a pilot doing parachute jumping operations. Once the pilot announced the jumpers were away I heard the controller come on and say, “Attention all aircraft. Look out for falling people.” J. P. Engelbrecht Evansville, IN

I was piloting N7304Y, a Miller Twin Comanche (a veritable “hot rod”) from San Antonio’s Stinson Airport to Houston Hobby Airport early in the morning. Houston Center passed me to Approach and then to the final controller for Hobby. Approach: “Say your indicated airspeed.” 04Y: “Indicating 140 knots on the dial.” Approach: “Maintain 140.” 04Y: […]

Best radio call I ever got to make: I was a student pilot in the USAF, on my T‑38 cross country. Our final leg was a short hop from ABQ to home at Reese AFB (Lubbock, Texas). Of course, all surplus gas would be consumed with approach and landing practice. Departing ABQ, the TRACON asked […]

I was on descent into a congested metropolitan area when I had this exchange with the center controller. Center: “N12345, contact Approach on 124.4.” Me: “124.4 for N12345, thanks.” Center: “No, N12345, I’m sorry but I got that wrong. You should go to Approach on 128.75.” Me: “Got it, 128.75 for N12345, have a good […]

A few years ago I was flying into my home field in my Columbia 400. Descending, I was doing a bit over 210 knots 10 miles out, number two for landing. Ahead of me was a regional jet. As I approached the field I had the following conversation: Tower: “999TJ, reduce speed for landing traffic.” […]

Recently during the government shutdown, Atlanta Center had a hard time communicating with a Citation who seemed to be out of range. They asked me to call up the Citation and tell him that he needed to go to another frequency. We reached the Citation and relayed the message. We reported this back to the […]

A few months ago, we heard this on Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Approach as we were flying through the area: Controller: “Cessna 123, traffic three o’clock, two miles.” Cessna 123: “Looking.” After a couple of minutes the controller came back with: “Cessna 123, disregard traffic advisory; that was a truck.” As I’m doubled over in laughter, the […]

I was flying home late one night into my home base which is a non-towered airport near a Class C airport. Approach asked me to “call the field” when I had it in sight. It was the end of a long day and I didn’t respond with a cancellation as usual. Instead I replied, “Field […]

In August my wife won three free tickets to an NFL pre‑season game. We live a few hours away from the stadium, so we decided to fly there. Any excuse to fly, right? I got to the airport earlier in the day (about a half‑hour drive from our house) to preflight, and my wife drove […]

I was flying with a student in SoCal. Before taxi, she got an appropriate VFR clearance as required per ATIS. However, she was a little confused and despite talking to approach with a distinct transponder code, was unsure if we had flight following. She asked me if she could confirm with ATC and against my […]