ATC Humor

[foka4]

I hopped in the Cessna 140 this morning for a "quick" flight from KAMW to KLNK and back. (Sorry for not calling the local POAers). Winds aloft were brutal, netting a groundspeed of 50 - 55 kts enroute to Lincoln.

Somewhere southwest of Omaha, still in the Charlie, the Approach controller contacted me:

Approach: Cessna 70N, what's your aircraft type? Is it a 150 or something?

Me: 70N is type C140/u.

Approach (sarcastically): Oh. I just wondered if you were getting passed by bicycles on the ground.

Me (dryly): Duly noted. 70N.

After handoff to KLNK approach, the controller made a similar jab, asking about passing traffic on I-80.

On the way home, I guess I really showed them. After hearing an inbound commercial jet report favorable winds at 5500, I requested that altitude and was rewarded with groundspeed to 124 kts, or about 2.5x my outbound groundspeed! KLNK to KAMW on 6 gallons of fuel. Top that in your Honda.

 

[tonycondon]

cool Matt, glad you had a good flight. should've offered those smartass controllers a ride in your slow airplane, bet they would've taken you up on it!

 

[jason]

Hey, Matt. Glad to see you made it to our neck of the woods. Let us know next time and lunch is on me.

Funny thing is, Lincoln ATC said pretty much the same thing to me 14 years ago when I was a student pilot. I was in a C152 bucking a 40 knot headwind at altitude.

 

[foka4]

Time to launch a rebellion! After returning to Ames and dropping Flight Following, I decided to play with the wind a little and see how low I could get the groundspeed indication on the GPS. I didn't want to climb all the way back up to 5000, but at 3000 and full flaps, I could keep it between 8 and 9 kts groundspeed for as long as I wanted.

Imagine a bunch of 140s and 150s swarming into KLNK on a windy day and slowing down to 8kts in the pattern.

 

[RotaryWingBob]

Time to launch a rebellion! After returning to Ames and dropping Flight Following, I decided to play with the wind a little and see how low I could get the groundspeed indication on the GPS. I didn't want to climb all the way back up to 5000, but at 3000 and full flaps, I could keep it between 8 and 9 kts groundspeed for as long as I wanted.

Imagine a bunch of 140s and 150s swarming into KLNK on a windy day and slowing down to 8kts in the pattern.

When I was a fixed-wind student we got a Warrior to go backwards with a 10 kt GS showing on the LORAN. It was kind of eerie to see the ground moving by the wing the wrong way...

 

[tonycondon]

oh i figured youd insert some helicopter joke bob

only time i ever flew backwards was this fall in the Schweizer 2-22 glider with my grandma/great uncles in the front seat. made for an interesting flight with a negative glide ratio! we weren't going very fast, maybe 5 knots, but it was easily perceptible even to my legally blind granny.

 

[gprellwitz]

I've been able to fly backwards in a 172 in slow flight and a good headwind. It's definitely a weird feeling!

 

[RotaryWingBob]

oh i figured youd insert some helicopter joke bob

Moi?

Forwards, backwards, sideways, straight up, straight down. All the same to me, Tony. Although visibility to the rear when going backwards is somewhat limited, and there's no rear view mirror

 

[foka4]

made for an interesting flight with a negative glide ratio!

Reichmann and McCready never really addressed that case as far as I know, but I suspect the calculations would have told you to point the nose straight at the ground. Good thing gliders don't have autopilots connected to the McCready speed director.

M

 

[mikea]

...
only time i ever flew backwards was this fall in the Schweizer 2-22 glider with my grandma/great uncles in the front seat. made for an interesting flight with a negative glide ratio! ...

Reichmann and McCready never really addressed that case as far as I know, but I suspect the calculations would have told you to point the nose straight at the ground. Good thing gliders don't have autopilots connected to the McCready speed director.

Dick Collins would tell you that you need twice the airspeed.

 

[tonycondon]

Reichmann and McCready never really addressed that case as far as I know, but I suspect the calculations would have told you to point the nose straight at the ground. Good thing gliders don't have autopilots connected to the McCready speed director.

M

:rofl: