I'm about to start another one:
I do say "runway zero two" in order to lessen confusion: if I say "two", did you hear runway 2, or did you hear only part of "two zero"? "Three" or part of "three four"? "Seven" or part of "one seven"? The whole point of radio communications procedure is to be as clear as possible, and this one seems like the way to do that, to me.
Couple of friends flew a Super Cub around the world, about fifteen years ago. A lot of the third world has no conception of privately-owed, privately-flown small aircraft. But they do know what airline pilots are...so Bob and Diane wore white shirts with captain's and first officer's stripes on the epaulets.
That doesn't mean my mic might not have cut out at just the wrong moment, or someone else pushed the button on a radio nearby and wiped me out, or lots of other circumstances. Radio communications and radio systems aren't perfect.
Such as, say, runway 2/20? That makes a difference... There are also lots of airports with a 18/36 and a 6/24, or a 1/19 and a 11/29, or any number of other similar combinations.
Indeed. Why not add a little bit of redundancy to help in such a situation? One word that takes very little time to say.
If you only hear the zero, then you know something's wrong. If you only hear the two, then you don't know if something's wrong.
Do people saying headings as three digits with leading zero(es) bother you? It's the same principle.
Mexico is about the only place I have ever been addressed as "captain" except when people are teasing, even though the shirt and epaulets are part of the uniform I am required to wear most of the time and "captain" is part of my job title with my employer. Dunno why people are so sensitive about this. Maybe in the airline world people are more possessive of their titles than they are in corporate/charter.
Because FAA Order JO 7110.65S paragraph 2-4-17.g. NUMBERS USAGE directs me to say it that way.
Do you feel the IFR inbound was wrong to use Bryant Field in his self-announce transmission?
I have the same issue with those traffic calls. Every once in a while, I get a call for traffic >10 miles away. At night, that can actually be helpful. During the day, I stand no chance of seeing it. I start looking, but I often just forget where the traffic was after a minute or so, especially when I then get more traffic calls....for the most part, I think controller experience has something to do with this. If I'm in the flight levels, I don't mind the long range traffic calls, but at 10,000', they're not useful.
Great, now I've just used up 6 minutes of my time watching this!
I always thought it was strange that ATC gave traffic calls in the flight levels because everyone is under positive control. I think Adam might be onto something when he says they may be just courtesy calls so you don't get nervous and try to change altitude or course on your own.
I suspect it also helps when you can establish visual contact because it gives them less stringent separation minimums. That way, they don't have to vector you or have you change altitude.
