Short Final

A commercial 747 was taxiing for take-off when a deer darted in front of the plane and was hit. The captain immediately called his wife to explain he would be arriving late as the plane had hit a deer. His wife asked, “What altitude was that deer at?” Nick Goodrichvia e-mail

I heard this exchange between Boston approach and someone doing an approach into Nashua, New Hampshire. It seems the ground speed of the aircraft was less than Boston expected, and someone finally said: Boston:“62B, are you a helicopter?” 62B:“Errrr, no – but I’m flying one.” Larry Levinvia e-mail

I was holding short of runway 9L waiting for an arriving jet to clear the runway. As he was clearing, he asked:“What’s ground control?” The tower answered:“They are the people you talk to when you want to drive around on the airport.” [slight pause] “I always wanted to say that!” The jet pilot replied:“You just […]

Recently, an airliner checked in with Boston Center at FL340. Pilot:“Boston Center, good morning. Airliner 123 at FL340. Light chop.” ATC:“Airliner 123, good morning. That light chop has been there for the last 29 years.” Luigie Martinezvia e-mail

I was picking up my Cherokee 160 at the Charlotte County (Florida) airport after IFR/weight-and-balance certifications. As I was preparing to taxi out, I heard another pilot report there was a turtle that was “taxiing” toward runway 22. Not too long after this report, I heard yet another taxiing pilot ask the question, “What type […]

Back near Christmas of 1979, I was on my first solo ferry flight to Europe in a Cessna 206. I was filed from Bangor, Maine, direct to Shannon, Ireland, to negate the need for the required inspection in Moncton for single-engine crossings. I passed a position report mid-Atlantic through a passing airliner on 121.5. After […]

When approaching (and departing) an airport, I turn on my strobes and landing light to be more easily seen by others. Several weeks ago, I was about five miles south of the field when a Bonanza pilot came on CTAS to announce his take-off and departure. Bonanza:“Bonanza 12345 taking runway 30 for take-off with a […]

Over the North Pacific in the middle of the night, we were catching up to a slower aircraft below us as we were coming up to a position-report waypoint. We listened out on the HF, and it was a MAC flight. He was obviously listening out as we gave our position report, and, shortly after, […]

Years ago, working in the Delta radio shop, I had a VHF receiver tuned to an ATL tower frequency. Tower had an Eastern DC-9 go around twice. The second time, the DC-9 responded: “We can do this all afternoon if you like, but in a little while we are going to have to land and […]

On a recent flight north of Florida, a Pilatus checked in with Jacksonville Centre: Pilatus:“Jack Centre, Pilatus N1234. FL 250, smooth ride, outside air temp -24 degrees Celsius.” Jacksonville Centre:“Pilatus N1234, Jacksonville Centre. Roger. Recommend not rolling down your windows.” Pilatus (after a short pause):“Say again for N1234.” Centre:“It was an attempt at a joke.” […]