Short Final

Several years ago, I was flying my father-in-law back to Portland, Maine. He had been in Connecticut preforming a wedding. We got an early start, and at about 7 a.m., we were overflying the Worster, MA Class Delta. After making contact with the tower, I commented that it was very quiet on their frequency. The […]

Heard on the tower frequency at Oshkosh on Saturday night (while waiting for the night air show): OSH Tower:“Anyone inbound from the Fisk arrival, please identify yourself.” [long pause with no response] OSH Tower:“Anyone inbound from anywhere?“ [another pause with no response] OSH Tower:“Bueller … ? Bueller … ? Bueller … ?” Still no response, […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” The October day when the tables turned in Des Moines, Iowa: Tower:“Citation Two Bravo Charlie: Runway 31, cleared to land.” Citation:“Cleared to land, Two Bravo Charlie.” Tower:“United Eleven Eight Four: Runway 31, cleared for take-off.” There was some delay, and United couldn’t go, so tower rescinded the take-off […]

PHL Approach:“Air Canada 364, PHL airport. 2 o’clock and four miles. Report the field in sight.” Air Canada 364:“Yeah, we have the terminal in sight.” PHL Approach:“Don’t land on the terminal. Cleared the visual 27R, tower on 118.5.” A. Mellovia e-mail

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” One side of the conversation heard last weekend: Norfolk Approach:“Sir, there is no VFR missed approach. The tower will tell you what to do.” Lance Zellersvia e-mail

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” One sunshiny day a couple of years ago, my friend Bill in his Mooney (C-FIHH) and I in my Comanche (C-FLHV) were flying the 142 miles from Great Falls, Montana to Lethbridge, Alberta. We’d taken off one right behind the other, so not surprisingly arrived more or less […]

My home airport is KAVP, which has an active flight school. I heard the following communication between ATC and a student pilot. Student:“Ground, Cherokee 1234. Request staying in the pattern for practice touch-and-goes.” ATC:“Report mid-field and intentions on each pass. Taxi to runway 4.” After the second touch-and-go, the following was heard: Student:“Cherokee 1234. Left-field […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” While cruising through New York’s class B airspace on a busy Friday evening I heard this: Cherokee:“New York departure control, Cherokee One Two Three Four Five off Teterboro: 1,000′ climbing to 3,000′.” New York Departure:“Cherokee One Two Three Four Five, why are you squawking 3012?” [pause] Cherokee:“Umm. I […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” At some now-forgotten backwoods class G airport, I was in the run-up area trying to unfoul a plug by leaning the crap out of my worn-out Lycoming 180hp engine, and, despite my anxiety over an impending $25K overhaul, I managed to catch the following on CTAF: Cherokee 1234:“Cherokee […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” As Denny Cunningham can tell you, Chicago area controllers have a rep for irreverent humor on the air. This latest installment of the Top Twenty Actual Transmissions Heard in the O’Hare Tracon comes courtesy of IntentionallyLeftBlank, the newsletter of O’Hare’s National Air Traffic Controllers Association: Approach:“American Two Twenty: […]