atc

About once a week I'll hear someone contact my tower (class D) with a radio call like this: [PART 1] "Pilot: DuPage Tower, RV 123AB" "Tower: RV 123AB, DuPage Tower" <Crickets for 5+ seconds> [PART 2] After long, awkward silence on the channel... "Tower: RV 123AB, DuPage Tower, say request"...

On my flight back from Michigan tonight I was on flight following and near Midway I was treated to an interesting exchange btw chi-approach and a 172 pilot. The pilot decided that of all times to do a joy ride touch-and-go into MDW, he would do it near peak traffic times for the airport. The...

Had a variety of controller interactions today. The morning controllers seemed in good spirits despite having to work the holiday. There were a lot of “Happy New Year”s exchanged between pilots and controllers. The evening controllers were not so cheerful. I don’t blame them, but the...

Has anyone else experienced this? Back in Dec timeframe, was practicing in my instructor's C172 at RHV and we were hearing what sounded like a radio station or something similar bleeding over onto tower's freq. Fast forward to a few days ago, and I hear the same thing on my handheld in my...

This is meant as a polite safety recommendation. If you were not at the FAASTeam Wings event this evening at Clow (1C5) regarding the ATC ops at KLOT, please get up to speed on the situation there before venturing into the KLOT Delta. There is no radar, no FDIO, and no current plans to add any...

Where can we find information regarding the altitude variance allowances for ATC? thanks

"Two Volaris aircraft encountered a near miss at Mexico City International Airport after the air traffic controller improperly cleared the arriving aircraft for landing."...

Any particular memory of a plane/flight that made you lose your ****e?

Flying into Bradley International (KBDL) last night, JetBlue was coming in to the same runway, so the controller advised that I'd have to do a little maneuvering because of the JB's descent rate/airspeed being significantly greater than my measly 172. No problem, not the first time. So he says...

I’ve been wondering how to talk to atc while heading to land at a private strip (not on vfr sectionals). If I am on flight following do I just cancel advisories when the field is in sight? How does it work with descending below vfr minimums to land? Is there any extra steps I need in order to...

Busy pattern at French Valley to deliver the 1 year old Ruger for his surgery. Ruger is an awesome Springer Spaniel who was run over by a car and abandoned with a broken pelvis. While our DA40 awaits a new propeller from Germany, I continue to be provided with right-seat opportunities from...

I overheard a guy at my local flight school talking about how on a recent flight he accidentally breached bravo for about a minute and by only about 200 feet. He was also just on the common 121.5 frequency. He quickly descended out of it and then about 20 minutes later picked up flight...

I've been trying to understand how this works, I know that some class D airports have radar, others don't, for those who don't have it, the only thing I can think of is looking through binoculars but that sounds like a long shot. In some D airports I land at (VFR) which I am fairly sure don't...

I have a Grumman Traveler which is a Grumman AA5. When giving my aircraft type to ATC would I say "Grumman Alpha Alpha Fife" or would I just say "Grumman AA5"... or would it be G AA5 ... or Golf Alpha Alpha Fife? Thanks

Who else is impacted by the towers time reductions? It was so weird flying into KMMU (Morristown, NJ) yesterday and calling out my locations and discussing separation strategies with other pilots. https://www.faa.gov/coronavirus/regulatory_updates/media/Control_Tower_Hour_Adjustment_list.pdf

I flew down to San Diego in my Tiger for a tour of this ATC facility and learned some interesting facts like... -They have no idea how they are going to handle to ADS-B 2020 mandate!!!!!

Hi. I spent a few hours flying around Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey this past week. The controllers were great (the guy at Atlantic City approach is amazing, I recognize his voice , style and catch phrase every time I'm down that way). Thank you to all you who worked on this...

i am a little confused about ATC and cold weather adjustments. I understand the concept of how your altitude is lower than indicated when in colder than ISA but... in the Instrument Flying Handbook they explain that if you apply adjustments for cold weather you should let ATC know you are doing...

(From my website. The full article is here.) As you can read about here and here, I'm going back to flight school as I re-transition back into the cockpit. My session yesterday in my Sportys ground school course was how to talk to the control tower. Control towers aren't found at every...

Let me start by saying !!!! THIS IS NOT POLITICAL !!!!!!!! In October the Multi-Year FAA re-authorization Bill was signed that fund the FAA for 5 years (90 billion). So why is the ATC not getting a pay check...