Be clear on the radio about what you are doing

[ScottM]

Yesterday as I was heading to Fort Wayne I was getting FF from South Bend Approach. I heard a pilot request direct Knox and a climb up to 9000. ATC cleared him without delay.

A few minuted later ATC called him and told him that he was cleared direct Knox anytime he wanted to turn. The pilot thanked ATC.

So far nothing was really meaning anything to me. I was just heading past OXI aka the Knox VOR myself and thinking that this guy was going to be heading towards me, but higher than I was flying.

A few minuted later ATC calls him again and this times when he will go direct to Knox as he is on a heading of 120 and the Knox VOR is to his rear at a heading of 300.

The pilot responds the he is direct Knox, and then gets a little huffy stating "Knoxville, TN KTYS"

DOH!

ATC then lets him know there is a Knox VOR, it is nearby then, deftly, lets him know that if he had wanted KTYS he should have asked for it.

We are sometimes our own worse enemy, using shorthand like that could of lead to a loss of seperation. Luckily it was a good VMC day and there was little traffic. But this situation was just poor communication by the pilot.

 

[Kelvin]

Great lesson there...I have heard similar more than once...

 

[jxdrl]

I havent checked the Lessons Learned forum in awhile but, I was also flying that day and heard this exchange. A little humorous when you think about it, but it easily had the potential for a dangerous situation. What were you in?

 

[ScottM]

I havent checked the Lessons Learned forum in awhile but, I was also flying that day and heard this exchange. A little humorous when you think about it, but it easily had the potential for a dangerous situation. What were you in?

I was in my Cherokee doodling along VFR to KSMD.

 

[TMetzinger]

Knox, Knox, who's there?

 

[EppyGA]

Knox, Knox, who's there?

Okay Tim, that's semi-funny

 

[Bill]

Knox, Knox, who's there?

Phillip Fulmer

 

[EdFred]

Phillip Fulmer

Not anymore.

 

[Bill]

Not anymore.

Ed Ed Ed, you were supposed to say Phillip Fulmer who???

Damn, another straight line wasted....

 

[TknoFlyer]

We are sometimes our own worse enemy, using shorthand like that could of lead to a loss of seperation. Luckily it was a good VMC day and there was little traffic. But this situation was just poor communication by the pilot.

Here's a video with audio capture of a couple similar situations:

In one, the Lear pilot mumbles his calls repeatedly. The second one is a pilot asking for "something closer than Nashville" and ATC interprets it as "go to Asheville". It was unclear to me why the pilot wanted to divert, but it was clear he was not prepared to go to KAVL.

Both are cases where clear communication was not in evidence.

 

[ApacheBob]

Oh, Knox it off!

 

[ApacheBob]

Here's a video with audio capture of a couple similar situations:

The second one is a pilot asking for "something closer than Nashville" and ATC interprets it as "go to Asheville". It was unclear to me why the pilot wanted to divert, but it was clear he was not prepared to go to KAVL.

I agree. He did not sound calm. Perhaps he was anxious about the weather?

 

[TknoFlyer]

He did not sound calm. Perhaps he was anxious about the weather?

That was my thought. There were several lines of thunderstorms all along the eastern states that day.

 

[rottydaddy]

Pretty weird... the pilot requests "someplace besides Nashville"... ATC reads it back as a specific request to divert to Asheville and issues clearance to Ashville... pilot then reads it back as Asheville.

I guess it just worked out that time (Asheville made sense for him as an alternate?), but that was pretty sloppy stuff on both ends o the conversation.
I don't think he sounded worried- I think he sounded a little "out of it". He was right when he said "I think I need a break."

I think it would have all gone smoother if he'd come up with a plan first, then called ATC with a specific diversion in mind... instead of just "anywhere but where I'm filed", so to speak.

 

[TknoFlyer]

I think it would have all gone smoother if he'd come up with a plan first, then called ATC with a specific diversion in mind... instead of just "anywhere but where I'm filed", so to speak

Exactly.

 

[jshawley]

Occasionally I hear a couple of FedEx drivers talking to SGF approach: "Churf, shaof, chuaff, shlupp, shlaoouapp, ch/shlppfttbfft."

Seriously, that's what he sounds like! All others I can, with little effort, make out that they are FedEx, WaterSki, American Eagle, &c, and what their intentions, and replies are--but not this guy.

Of course, there was the time last Thanksgiving, I decided to give a PIREP to Memphis Flight Watch, just before I decided there wasn't enough horizon or stars (it was solid overcast at ~4500') or lights on the ground to continue VFR from Corinth, MS (CRX) to Bolivar (M17). I was over Jackson, TN, and while the 6:00pm visibility was good, there wasn't enough light for my personal limits, so I decided to sleep it off back at CRX. Get on the horn, talk about how Jackson is clear, good visibility, but ceiling appeared to be xx feet agl. and I was turning back south to go to CRX.

He kept insisting I needed to go north to get to Corinth, and be sure to avoid the thunderbumpers that were moving in between Jackson and CRX. I could just about see Corinth out my window, and there was absolutely no lightning! Then it hit me: "D'Oh!" Flightwatch was thinking Jackson, MS! I on the other hand, was thinking (and was over) MKL, Jackson TN. What a maroon and nim-cow-poop I was. Sheesh!