On The Air: December 2019

Thankfully, I have never had to respond to those foreboding words from ATC: ...say souls on board. However, I do remember one flight, where I might have had trouble explaining myself if they had requested that information.

Editorial Staff

Thursday, December 05, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

A pilot humorously describes how his family of seven "souls" (including unborn twins) flew in a Cessna 172.
Quakertown, PA (KUKT) airport's RNAV approach features waypoints named after characters and phrases from the sci-fi movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
A Southwest Airlines captain used humor to refer to the flight deck as a "hen house" instead of a cockpit.
A pilot shares a comical, unconventional personal test for determining his limits when landing in a stiff crosswind.

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Thankfully, I have never had to respond to those foreboding words from ATC: “…say souls on board.” However, I do remember one flight, where I might have had trouble explaining myself if they had requested that information.

Several years ago, my family and I went on a scenic flight in a Cessna 172. With my wife and kids on board, and a reduced fuel load, we were still under gross weight. It was a perfect day for all seven of us to enjoy a flight around western Washington. That’s right, seven. How did we manage to stuff seven souls into a C172?