Over Lapping Class B

E

evapilotaz

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A pilot is always learning right. I'm still low time pilot and recently current after 10 years hiatus. I'm having to relearn stuff.

As indicated in the attached picture. I take off from KCHD and fly North East to KIWA. A very short hop. Would the KCHD tower hand me off to KIWA before I reach their airspace? Should I get ATIS before contacting KIWA tower. Normally I would at any towered airport with Atis but its such a short distance I might not be able to. What if I'm already in KIWA airspace when Handed off? Would I get in trouble for already being in their airspace. :dunno: I just want to get me head straight before I head over to KIWA for T&G's this weekend.

Thanks.
 

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KIWA is class D, right?

You must be cleared to enter Class B, but Class D requires communication with the ATC facility coordinating traffic in that airspace. That is not necessarily Tower. It may be Approach, or another Tower, or something else entirely.

Let them handle the handoff. They have information you don't, like who is responsible for what part of the airspace. Which can change minute to minute. I recently had a landing at KPAO where I got extended all the way past the KNUQ runways (take a peek at skyvector to see what that airspace is like). I didn't' like it much as there was some nutcase in a Diamond doing steep turns directly over the KNUQ field at pattern altitude, talking to KNUQ Tower, while I went by talking to KPAO Tower. At least he was easy to spot.

For such a short flight, you can get ATIS on the phone before engine start. You can also report in to KIWA with "negative ATIS," and that might be necessary if you've just transitioned the KPHX Class B. I'd reserve that for when it really was necessary just for politeness.
 
Just to clarify. I will be flying from Class D KCHD to Class D KIWA staying out of Class B. I will not be working with any approach control.

Thanks.
 
When you call up Chandler ground tell them you're going to Gateway. Once they switch you to Gateway tower "Seneca 30V contact Gateway tower on 120.6" take a minute and grab the ATIS then. No big deal. Gateway is a stickler about having the current information. When you get a frequency change you don't need to be on the next frequency in 5 seconds or less or anything.
 
Mir Does chandler normally switch you over to gateway before entering Gateway airspace? I have flown into Gateway with CFI once during Flight Review training and that was from Falcon. Sorry if these questions sound basic. Like I said I'm relearning.
 
Wouldn't one tower hand you over the the other tower,since they both overlap?
 
Walboy thanks for the comments. I could depart KCHD airspace to the South/East towards San Tan Mountains and enter KIWA Airspace heading North/East. This will allow me some time to get ATIS and Listen in on the Control tower frequency before calling them up. This will help get my bearings. I think I might do this until I get comfortable working with IWA tower.

I'm a nervous nillie working with towers I haven't dealt with much.
 

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This is actually not that complicated.

I suspect that you could get the Mesa ATIS on the ground at Chandler. Or you could ask Chandler what runways Mesa are using. I am pretty sure they would know.

At any rate, when you take off from Chandler, ask for frequency change to Mesa right away. Do it as soon as possible. You don't have to be out of Chandler's airspace before you change frequencies. Then you can contact Mesa and get things situated.

The key to making this work smoothly is to have Mesa's landing information at hand before you take off from Chandler and to contact Mesa tower as soon as possible after you take off from Chandler.
 
When you taxi up and hold short of 4L for departure at CHD and switch frequency to tower, dial up IWA tower in the radio stby. Have IWA atis on number 2 and monitor it shortly after depart. Once you have the new atis ask for early frequency change and contact tower since you have already listened to atis while climbing out of CHD

First thing you say to iwa is" IWA twr Cessna 91E. " . Most likely they say 91E go ahead. You now have the required 2 way comm to enter the D, Relax, then call them a second time and state your request. Simple stuff.
 
NJP_MAN said:
When you taxi up and hold short of 4L for departure at CHD and switch frequency to tower, dial up IWA tower in the radio stby. Have IWA atis on number 2 and monitor it shortly after depart. Once you have the new atis ask for early frequency change and contact tower since you have already listened to atis while climbing out of CHD

First thing you say to iwa is" IWA twr Cessna 91E. " . Most likely they say 91E go ahead. You now have the required 2 way comm to enter the D, Relax, then call them a second time and state your request. Simple stuff.
Click to expand...

Thank you NJP. Yes I will be flying my beloved 91E. :yes:
 
Easy, get the ATIS before you take off, advise tower of your intended flight and would appreciate an early handoff. Don't sweat it, there's a chance that tower will let them know you're coming anyway.
 
When listen to liveATC for IWA I hear pilots reporting at the GAP when contacting IWA tower. Where is the GAP? Is that between the San Tan mountains?
 
You're making this much harder than it is.

Get ATIS for both airports on the ground with your cell phone. Write it down.

Tell Ground/CD/whatever you usually use that you want a XXX departure to IWA.

Switch to ground for taxi, then tower for takeoff, as you normally do.

Switch frequencies when they tell you to. If you feel you're getting too close, ask for a frequency change. I'd request it fairly early, as soon as I'm out of the local traffic.

That's it.

When you contact IWA Tower, you can report in normally, but it's adequate to say something like "Bugsmasher 123XY at 2000 for the option with X-ray." They know where you are 'cause it's a handoff.
 
Just pay attention to all the instructions at IWA if you haven't been there before. Local procedures differ. That includes the "remarks" part of ATIS.

Mistakes aren't usually a big problem, but they can, in the worst case, result in taxiing without a clearance or some other deviation. For instance, Palo Alto routinely keeps closed traffic on tower frequency until advised of termination, even while taxiing back. Only one taxi clearance is generally given (worded "taxi each time"). Most other towered airports do not look kindly on exiting the runway and then immediately taxiing back to the hold short line without a word.
 
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