On the Air

Your recent OTA reminded me of a flight several years ago with my cousins daughter and her husband in the back seat during a scenic flight around the Dallas area. After the flight I asked her if she enjoyed it. Her reply was that the flight was nice and lots of fun, but she was concerned that I had to read the instructions on my kneeboard as I went through checklists during the flight.

We flew N123CT to Dallas to visit friends on New Years Eve. Looking over the en route charts, I noted the MEEOW intersection southwest of Little Rock. As it happened, on New Years Day, we flew from Dallas to Little Rock with four feline-loving passengers aboard for a short day trip. Though off the direct route, it was possible to overfly MEEOW inbound to KLIT. So I requested routing Present position, direct MEEOW, direct.

I periodically fly down to Wings Field in eastern Pennsylvania from my home base in Concord, NH. The direct route takes me through the western portion of New Yorks Class B airspace. I always use flight following for these VFR flights. One time when I was handed off to the controller handling the Newark arrivals this conversation transpired:

I was on an IFR flight taking my daughter out to visit another daughter at Indiana University. Everything was operating normally, as I began preparing for the approach 20 minutes out. As I am working with the charts and calculations I could feel my daughters eyes watching me.

I got the dreaded write down this number to call the FAA last week. We were flying into Lancaster, south of Dallas, for breakfast. After taking off from my local airport in a V-tail Bonanza in VFR conditions, the predicted scattered clouds at Lancaster turned out to be a low overcast. We were on VFR flight following, so I called DFW approach and got a pop up IFR clearance to shoot the GPS 31 approach. About the time we reached the FAF, we got the call to copy down a phone number.

As I was progressing down the GPS 9 approach into Ramona Airport last February I heard the following:Cessna Training Flight: Ramona Tower, ah, on this time around could you, ah flash us?Female Tower Controller with hooting laughter in the background: You want me to do what?Cessna Training Flight: Oh gosh, sorry, no I mean with the light gun. Yes, sorry with light gun signals for landing.

At my airline we have ACARS, a datalink with the ground that we use to get various flight-related information. We also get text versions of weather and ATIS. The ATIS text is the same thing that the controllers program into the automated, synthesized-voice Drunken Dutchman recording that you also hear on VHF. Since the automated voice seems to struggle with the pronunciation of certain words and acronyms, the controllers have gotten adept at programming the text so the voice is more legible over the air. At Seattle then, the audible RNAV GPS becomes RNAV JEEPY ES on the ACARS printout.

This is a true story I witnessed at San Antonio about 35 years ago: I was number 2 for takeoff behind a C-150 at Runway 12R intersection departure. The 150 was cleared into position and hold. After landing traffic cleared, tower told him to turn right 180, cleared for takeoff. So he made a 180 on the runway and took off into the face of landing traffic. Quick tower action sent the short final aircraft on a go-around.

Europes major general aviation show, Aero Friedrichshafen, opened in April with a focus on new technology. Prospective Icon A5 owners have been waiting years for their amphibious LSA, but this spring, many buyers balked at the 40-page contract they were asked to sign. In April, the Senate passed a new FAA funding bill that satisfied many general-aviation advocates, but the bill must still be reconciled with the House bill, which would shift control of ATC to a not-for-profit corporation, with scant support in GA groups.

Were still running out. Dont make us resort to reruns. Please send us your cleverest (or most embarrassing) moment on the radio-or your favorite fix names or airport names-with a subject of OTA, to IFR@BelvoirPubs.com. Be sure to include your full name and location.