CTAF calls during instrument approach

[MauleSkinner]

A C172 or PA-28 should be down around 65 KIAS (give or take) within one mile final, so it's almost double (more than double groundspeed if there's any headwind). The 90 KIAS instrument approach speed isn't a good reference point.

Citations slow below approach speed as well. Apples to apples.

 

[Llewtrah381]

This is where my $150 tablet running Avare - for free - really shines. Avare lets me show a set of distance rings at 2, 5, and 10NM. I just call “Warrior 123 7 miles north on the RNAV 17, 2700 descending”. Gives distance, altitude, and a rationalization for a long straight-in.

But those distance rings are really handy.

 

[David Megginson]

This is where my $150 tablet running Avare - for free - really shines. Avare lets me show a set of distance rings at 2, 5, and 10NM. I just call “Warrior 123 7 miles north on the RNAV 17, 2700 descending”. Gives distance, altitude, and a rationalization for a long straight-in.

But those distance rings are really handy.

I tried out the distance rings in Garmin Pilot and wasn't too fond of them because of the extra clutter in the display, but I might give them another try.

 

[Llewtrah381]

I tried out the distance rings in Garmin Pilot and wasn't too fond of them because of the extra clutter in the display, but I might give them another try.

I find I use them for several things: distance from traffic, help with telling ATC how far I am from a field I just departed, etc.

 

[PaulS]

I've been coming across a lot of jets lately blasting into the uncontrolled field I sometimes fly out of. They all are very good with their calls, usually starting around 25 miles out. They work pretty hard to not f up the pattern and are pros. This guy sounded like a putz, sometimes you run into them. I'll usually yield to a jet coming in if there is a conflict. It generally only cost me less than a minute to do what I need to do because those things are fast.

 

[David Megginson]

I've been coming across a lot of jets lately blasting into the uncontrolled field I sometimes fly out of. They all are very good with their calls, usually starting around 25 miles out. They work pretty hard to not f up the pattern and are pros. This guy sounded like a putz, sometimes you run into them. I'll usually yield to a jet coming in if there is a conflict. It generally only cost me less than a minute to do what I need to do because those things are fast.

We mix with military traffic at some of the airports around here in Eastern Ontario because of the proximity to CFB Trenton. The RCAF Hercules (C-130) transports are especially interesting because of the potential wake-turbulence issues, but the pilots are always highly professional and communicative.

 

[Palmpilot]

Oh yeah, those guys are just as bad. What's fun is when ATC gives you instructions referencing a land mark that's not on the chart. "Not from around here, got a heading for me?"

I was in the pattern at my home field yesterday when Tower told a pilot behind me to turn base at the amphitheater (which is about a two-mile final). It's very obvious when you're familiar with it, but it's not on the chart. The pilot said she didn't know where it is, so Tower said "I'll call your base." Problem solved.

 

[David Megginson]

I was in the pattern at my home field yesterday when Tower told a pilot behind me to turn base at the amphitheater (which is about a two-mile final). It's very obvious when you're familiar with it, but it's not on the chart. The pilot said she didn't know where it is, so Tower said "I'll call your base." Problem solved.

That's a problem the other way around at uncontrolled airports. Approaching the circuit at my home airport, we'll get calls like "abeam the boathouse", "over the Chelsea dam", "east of of Kettle Island", etc., which are great for local pilots, but absolutely meaningless to most transients. I try to use both, e.g. "Over the Chelsea dam, 4 miles northeast of the airport, at 1,700 feet"