Short Final

I was flying with a non‑pilot friend who had never been in a small plane. We were listening in on Key West International’s tower frequency. It was early on a Saturday morning and not much was happening. A regular inbound flight checked in and the pilot and controller obviously knew one another and began talking […]

I was preparing for some instrument and maneuvering practice with my instructor, Andy. Sitting in the apron area in a Cessna 172 with the engine running, I made my initial call to Texarkana Ground as follows: Me: “Texarkana Ground, Skyhawk 62689, Texarkana Flying Club; ready for departure with information Delta.” Texarkana Ground (in a completely […]

One morning on departure from Peoria International Airport: Peoria Approach: “I bet you didn’t think you were going to get this type of workout when you asked for the clearance into the Class Charlie, did you?” Cessna: “Peoria Approach, student pilot here. I enjoy the workout.” Peoria Approach: “Roger that.” Unknown aircraft: “If he’s a […]

My wife and I departed Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix in our Cessna 177RG. Before departing we received a complicated taxi clearance to what looked like a parking lot at the end the active runway. Deer Valley calls itself “the busiest general aviation airport in the country” with lots of flight training. The “parking lot” […]

We have a home in the Bahamas and fly into Eleuthera. On one of our flights, we heard the following on the CTAF as we were about 25 miles out from our destination: “Rock Sound Traffic, Rock Sound Traffic. Bahamas Air flight 12345 going around. Horse on the runway.” William Coates Cocoa, FL

I was approaching Gainesville, Florida the week after the Florida Gators were destroyed by the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a bowl game and I listened to the ATIS. The code was Gator. When I called the tower I thought I would be cute so I said I had Cornhusker. The tower controller got me real good […]

The Naval Air Station at Belle Chase regularly uses New Iberia, LA (KARA) as a refueling stop. I was flying my Piper PA‑32 into KARA to get fuel for myself and contacted the Tower. Tower: “Piper Three Five Eight One Whiskey, enter a left base for Runway 34. You are following two F‑18s on a […]

My student and I were nearing the Class C airspace at Palm Beach International airport (KPBI). We asked for clearance. Palm Beach Approach: “Cessna Five Tango Papa, squawk 1454.” This was odd since local squawks always start with 02. But we set what we were given. Approach (about 30 seconds later): “Cessna Five Tango Pop, […]

Toward the end of my flight, I had the following exchange with air traffic control: Approach Control: “N1234, expect visual approach Runway 32.” Me: “Any chance we can get the ILS 32?” Approach Control: “Well, there’s always a chance …” Me: “Well, capitalizing on that chance, we’d like to request the ILS 32.” Approach Control: […]

I heard the following somewhere over Kentucky: Approach: “Cirrus 123, contact Center on 124.125.” Cirrus: “Cirrus 123 uhhh, switching to 124.2.” Approach: “Cirrus 123 the frequency is 124.125, twenty‑four, twelve, five.” Cirrus: “Uhhh, was that 122.12?” Approach: “No, 124‑decimal‑125.” Cirrus: “Roger, ahh 124.25” Approach: “Cirrus, the frequency is One. Two. Four. Point. One. Two. Fife.” […]