Short Final

I had been holding at Colts Neck VOR in the New York ATC system for about an hour – which was not uncommon in the late ’60s – with others arriving in early evening from the South and the Caribbean. One of the co-pilots in the holding pattern asked us to monitor a discreet frequency, […]

Last fall, while I was in the circuit to land at Toronto Buttonville (CYKZ) airport, I was listening to the tower controller who was giving a running commentary and warning to pilots on final to watch for Canada geese that were flying back and forth over the threshold of the active runway, creating a very […]

While flying southbound IFR in good VMC conditions to Sun ‘n Fun two years ago, we overheard the following conversation: Cessna 1234 (sounding like a student pilot) :“Approach, request flight following.” Approach:“Cessna 1234, what is your location — altitude and destination?” Cessna 1234:“We just departed Salisbury. 1,500 feet.” Approach:“What is your destination?” Cessna 1234:[A few […]

Inbound to Kennedy in the early ’60s. Canarsie approach. Aircraft lined up on the inbound radial to keep 210 knots. Controler:“American 123, what’s your speed?” American 123:“210.” Controller:“Scandinavian 456, what’s your speed?” Scandinavian 456:“210.” Controller:“Air France 789, what’s your speed?” Air France 789:“210.” [Silence for a while. Then …] Controller:“One of you is a #*@! […]

Witnessed by me as an FAA controller at Waterloo (Iowa) in the mid-’80s. The G.A. ramp is next to the terminal ramp, so these two aircraft were parked in close proximity to each other. Here is how the exchange went: Tomahawk 86B:“Waterloo ground: Tomahawk 86 Bravo, ready to taxi.” ATC:“Tomahawk 86 Bravo: Roger, taxi to […]

LH741:“Tower, give me a rough time-check!” Tower:“It’s Tuesday, sir.” Jim Moore (and friends)via e-mail

Many years ago, I had to make a night flight from Cable Airport to Phoenix in a Cessna 150. The weather was clear, and I filed a VFR flight plan for N51139 and departed at 10:30pm. While climbing out over Ontario VOR (now PDZ), I contacted Ontario Approach (now SoCal) for flight following, got a […]

When flying in Northern Australia, Flight Service Brisbane asked a colleague for a “short count.” Without pause, he replied: “Sure! Toulouse Lautrec was a short count.” He told me later he’d been waiting years to say that. (Australians!) Callumvia e-mail

I flew for Air Wisconsin, and O’Hare was an important hub for us. Taxiing out one day, Ground requested a “short count” from us. My co-pilot, who had been a controller there, replied: “One. Is that short enough?” Edward J. Godecvia e-mail

This happened a few weeks ago in Turin, Italy. An Alitalia airliner was kind of delayed behind a small Piper making his landing. Alitalia:“Torino tower, what is the speed of that small thing in long final?” Piper Pilot:“To begin with, this ‘small thing’ is all mine … .” Fiore Ambrogiovia e-mail