Another go-around story

[BigBadLou]

I made the call to go around last weekend due to another aircraft on final as I was turning from base to final at our uncontrolled home 'drome. Don't want to bore you with details.
After we made an extra lap in the pattern and landed safely, I went to talk to the pilot of the other airplane.

The pilot was very nice and to my inquiry whether she heard my announcements or even call for her specific aircraft she replied "no". I know my radio worked because I asked for a radio check on unicom so we checked her radio and found out that she was on the wrong frequency.
She apologized and I could see that she felt bad but I told her not to feel too bad because the good ol' system of "see & avoid" worked as expected. Fun tidbit, she is local and flies out of a neighboring airport (15 miles away).

Lessons learned from this experience:

• check the frequency you input into your radio - I always read it out loud and have the co-pilot verify (even if I am by myself) when I dial it in the standby window and then verify again after flipping it into the active window (sometimes segments in the 7-segment display might be dead and you would be in for a surprise)
• if you don't hear anybody on the frequency, check your radio - it turns out mine was fine
• keep scanning for other traffic because somebody else might have a radio problem - glad I always look because it saved my bacon for sure
• if another pilot does something wrong, don't assume it was malice, go talk to them and be nice, they might have just made a silly mistake or their fancy $10,000 radio might have just taken a dump and they wouldn't know unless you tell them
• know frequencies of your local airports by heart, it eliminates the need to stare at the chart at low altitudes when you're making a quick local hop (and helps if you have an emergency and need to land in a hurry) - I remember frequencies of all airports in a 25-mile radius (not that I had to make any special effort, I simply remember them from flying there)

Now go up there and commit aviation.

 

[poadeleted20]

I'd kind of like to hear the details, since an aircraft on final has right of way over an aircraft in base, which means the other pilot already on final was not doing anything wrong. I'd hate to think you turned in front of that other aircraft already on final.

 

[BigBadLou]

Yes, the other aircraft was on short final when I started turning base to final and that's when I noticed it. The aircraft was closer to the runway and lower so it did have right of way, absolutely. Hence my go-around.

I did NOT mean to imply the other aircraft did anything wrong.
But since it didn't look like a NORDO plane, I wanted to make sure their radio was working. Afterall, if my radio didn't work, I'd want somebody to tell me too. (if I had not already found out by myself)

Finding other aircraft in the sky is not easy, especially during daytime when their beacon/strobes are not as visible as they are at night. I wish strobes were much more pronounced to help us see and avoid better.

 

[steingar]

No rule says you have to use the radio unless you're at an ATC controlled field. A good idea to be certain, but not a requirement. I find someone somewhere I don't expect them to be and its my bad, radio or no. The only lesson I see here is to keep your Mark II's peeled for traffic, especially around pilot-controlled airfields. Nothing says anyone will be on the radio.

 

[kgruber]

You can't fly a radio.

 

[ollopa]

I'm glad she was nice about it. It sounds like some of the other people on the board would have lectured you about how they don't need no stinkin' radio anyhow.

I think you did the right thing, though. You didn't act like the self-appointed Airport Police and just wanted to find out if the lack of radio use was intentional or not. I know I'd appreciate someone casually stopping by and asking as long as they weren't being hostile about it.

I flew in the pattern for a while with a guy who was receiving on the right frequency but transmitting on the wrong one. I pointed it out to him but he just insisted the radio was fine and then flew off to another field.

 

[tiger]

You can't fly a radio.

Nor can you reliably see-and-avoid, unfortunately.

 

[danhagan]

Nor can you reliably see-and-avoid, unfortunately.

Yeah see and avoid works GREAT if they're higher than you are ... try picking them out of the ground clutter is another story.

 

[pigpenracing]

I have to see and avoid all the time. My damn Cub has no radio in it

 

[MAKG1]

Yeah see and avoid works GREAT if they're higher than you are ... try picking them out of the ground clutter is another story.

There are few things I hate more than a traffic call at 3 o'clock 500 feet above and close in in a 172 or 182. No way I can see that.

 

[danhagan]

There are few things I hate more than a traffic call at 3 o'clock 500 feet above and close in in a 172 or 182. No way I can see that.

We get military and CBP choppers that like to fly low in my area, I can rarely pick them up

 

[JamesDoolittle]

The amount of times I had a frequency wrong during controlled airspace operations...

Crosschecking with the guy next to you solved so many.

Funny when you're with an irritated controller

-Fly123, can you just confirm the frequency?
-Controller: ONE - ONE - NINER, THREE - SEVEN - FIVE
-One one niner, three seven five, ciao

 

[woodchucker]

What's almost worse is when they try to communicate but communicate the wrong info. I was up with a cfi last month in Colorado, doing some short field tune-up practice, and some guy called up saying altitude, position, and westbound. He would have been about 5-8 miles in front of us, at the same altitude and direction. Both of us had our eyes looking in that general direction for him. A minute later he crossed in front of our windscreen right to left, easily less than 2 miles distance and closing, headed eastbound. Grrrrrrrrr.

 

[BigBadLou]

True.
I remember one of the members here almost had a head-on on his way to a PPL checkride when a pilot incorrectly reported which downwind he was on. Quick reaction and an immediate turn right saved his hiney.

 

[Jimmy cooper]

Nor can you reliably see-and-avoid, unfortunately.

Thank you! You need both to watch carefully AND have a Radio regardless of what your flying! Common sense. Some years ago , a cub and my t craft collided in the pattern in western ny state. Cub had no radio. The taylor craft made it to the ground , the cub did not , killing the pilot. Real stupid flying without a radio....and using it! Many instances where one is unable to see another aircraft close by. A cub is a classic example. Very difficult to see from the back seat in many instances.