Irony Out Of Control

A recent Friday evening found me liberating my airplane from its hangar for a short local flight designed to warm the oil before draining and sampling it. Home plate, the Venice (Fla.) Municipal Airport (VNC), is afflicted with a common ailment: anti-airport activism. Since noise is a common complaint, Runway 22 is preferred in "calm" winds; its even in the AWOSs remarks. On this day, winds were something like eight knots from 290, and two aircraft were in the pattern for Runway 31, which intersects 22. Choosing a safe interval between other traffic, I launched, climbing above the pattern and leaving the area. Since I wasnt really going anywhere, I left the local Unicom frequency active. At this point, a student/instructor combination in a 152 had the airport to themselves.

Key Takeaways:

• A pilot, dubbed "Mr. Cherokee," caused significant disruption and verbal abuse on a non-towered airport's Unicom frequency.
• He belligerently insisted on a specific runway (22) being "active" despite prevailing wind conditions and other aircraft using a different runway (31), verbally attacking anyone who disagreed.
• The incident highlights the critical importance of professional pilot attitude, clear communication, and adherence to established procedures at non-towered airports for safe operations.

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