cowman
Final Approach
This one has bugged me for a while and continues to do so when going to an unfamiliar field.
So, the airport I got private at was KEAU which in the sectional and anywhere "official" you'd look is called the "Chippewa Valley Regional Airport". The airport it's self is in Eau Claire, WI. Since "Chippewa Valley Regional" is a mouthfull on the radio we always just called up "Eau Claire Tower" for clearances and such.... as did pretty much everyone else except the occasional out of area pilot who would actually call "Chippewa Valley Regional".
To me, living there at the time, it made more sense to call "Eau Claire Tower" or, after hours "Eau Claire Traffic" because that's just how anyone local referred to the field. But, anyone looking at their sectional who isn't acquainted with the area might hear those radio calls and be confused. At KEAU the Tower would answer to either and have it figured out but what about uncontrolled fields? It's happened to me elsewhere...
I made a fuel stop on the way to FL at KPIM, which on the sectional is "Harris County". I started making my radio calls while inbound for "Harris County". I heard other pilots calling out entering the pattern at "Pine Mountain". I quickly figured out the town next to KPIM is Pine Mountain and we were talking about the same field... I changed my radio calls. No harm, no foul but it's easy to see how things could get confused really fast in a situation like that.
Guess the moral here is know your destination and the name of all the towns by it. However, what is the correct way to refer to airports like these in ATC world? What's on the sectional, or does it just not matter?
So, the airport I got private at was KEAU which in the sectional and anywhere "official" you'd look is called the "Chippewa Valley Regional Airport". The airport it's self is in Eau Claire, WI. Since "Chippewa Valley Regional" is a mouthfull on the radio we always just called up "Eau Claire Tower" for clearances and such.... as did pretty much everyone else except the occasional out of area pilot who would actually call "Chippewa Valley Regional".
To me, living there at the time, it made more sense to call "Eau Claire Tower" or, after hours "Eau Claire Traffic" because that's just how anyone local referred to the field. But, anyone looking at their sectional who isn't acquainted with the area might hear those radio calls and be confused. At KEAU the Tower would answer to either and have it figured out but what about uncontrolled fields? It's happened to me elsewhere...
I made a fuel stop on the way to FL at KPIM, which on the sectional is "Harris County". I started making my radio calls while inbound for "Harris County". I heard other pilots calling out entering the pattern at "Pine Mountain". I quickly figured out the town next to KPIM is Pine Mountain and we were talking about the same field... I changed my radio calls. No harm, no foul but it's easy to see how things could get confused really fast in a situation like that.
Guess the moral here is know your destination and the name of all the towns by it. However, what is the correct way to refer to airports like these in ATC world? What's on the sectional, or does it just not matter?