Pilot Deviation Stinson Field

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Yesterday, I was flying into Stinson field (KSSF) south San Antonio, and a pilot coming in just before me was given a phone number to call the San Antonio tower for a pilot deviation. I'm not interested in finding out anything more than what happened to cause this and what possible ramifications are for this pilot. I imagine i don't have enough information to deduce what his issue was, but if anyone can point to where I might get transcripts or recordings of the ATC at the time of the incident (about 1:30-1:45 pm CST) that would be helpful. I just want to learn what I can from a real world issue to hopefully avoid whatever mistake was made by this other individual. Anyone have any input on this? Should I even care to try and find out what happened? I don't want to be considered nosey, just want to learn what I can from the incidents of others. I believe that is our duty as pilots, such that we don't have to repeat mistakes but rather learn what we can without duplicating them.
 
Until I had my auto accident I thought it not cool to look at auto wrecks. Now that I have had one I think it valuable to look at them to be reminded to be on the alert. By being aware of what gets folks in trouble (like going 200 or more feet off your altitude in a Class C) for example, it hopefully can be safer for you and your fellow pilots and make it less likely that you will get a deviation. A deviation that is close to you such as the one that you are aware of should be easier to remember.
 
There's a lot of military airspace around Stinson, along with the Kelly & Randoph Class Ds and SAT Class C. And TRACON.

Something could have happened in relation to any of those - and if the pilot were operating VFR, he might not have been talking to any of them... so liveATC.net might help, but don't count on it to give you the answer.
 
The easiest/cheapest/least nosey way would be to check in a few weeks in the ASRS database to see if the pilot filed a "NASA" report. Since indentfying information is redacted, it may be a little hard to find, but with a little effort you may stumble across it....IF the pilot in question bothered to make a report.

http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/overview/database.html

Otherwise, you can...

1) find a recording of the incident on liveatc.net. It's likely a time consuming crapshoot too.
2) Call the number yourself and ask the ATC manager what happened. They may or may not provide you any details.
3) File a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Be prepared to spend money to get your answer.
 
thanks for the info/links so far. It's not a big deal to me, don't want to spend any $$ on this but I do have some spare time so I will search thru liveatc etc. Just mostly "morbid curriosity" if you will. Unfortunately I didn't copy the number down as I was doing my best to get down safely myself at the time. Gusty winds, actually caught a good "balloon" gust as I was flaring and had to do some of that pilot sh#t as Goose said.
 
I flew into Stinson a few months ago and on the way out I had a slight issue that caused the plane to make a sudden right hand turn shortly after rotation. It happened very quickly and totally freaked me out. Within about 3 seconds I was off course by about 45 deg so I was headed across an adjoining runway. I got things sorted out but after the tower asked if everything was okay they informed me that what happened could be considered a deviation. There was no other traffic in the area.

I was okay with the remark at the time because I was more worried about what happened during the flight than I was about the controllers remark. Looking back I think it was a bit over reaching. I could be wrong though. I mean if they give you take off clearance without heading instructions could I have actually deviated from anything?
 
No, it wasn't me. In fact, I didn't realize I wasn't logged into my account here when i started the thread, was going to post it with my usual screen name. But, since I started it this way, I'll end it the same. But seriously, it wasn't me. I did go back to the audio files and at 9 mins 40 seconds into the 1:30-2:00 pm CST track for San Antonio you can hear the guy ask to "return to Stinson". No recordings available for Stinson unfortunately. Guess I'll never know, probably just some airspace or altitude issue.

I did fly back outa there on Monday with my little one and my nephew. Was my nephew's first flight that he can remember (besides an airline at age 3). He had a blast!! What a treat to give a kid his first flight.
 
Stinson airport has a tendency to do really **** things to pilots in critical phases of flight. One of the very few times I've had to file a NASA report was at Stinson.
 
furiousphoen1x said:
Stinson airport has a tendency to do really **** things to pilots in critical phases of flight. One of the very few times I've had to file a NASA report was at Stinson.
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Seriously? I taught there for two years and know others who did much longer and most of the stuff that happened was due to student pilots being student pilots... and sometimes having communications problems because English is their second language.

Ryan
 
RyanShort1 said:
Seriously? I taught there for two years and know others who did much longer and most of the stuff that happened was due to student pilots being student pilots... and sometimes having communications problems because English is their second language.

Ryan
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Ryan,

Though I think his statement was a bit exaggerated, I had a couple of situations when I was based at SSF that reminded me that one needs to always be on alert even at a towered field.

One of the more memorable was a day when I was on final for the VOR 32 approach, was cleared to land, and was well inside the VOR when the tower cleared a student (from a school at SAT) for take off on 14. My call to tower was simply "is my landing clearance canceled and do you wish me to go around". Tower canceled the TO clearance to the student, managed to get them clear of the runway, and I proceeded to land less than 60 seconds later.

There was another one situation involving a clearance to me with a T-6 in the pattern that left things uncomfortably close.

Most of the time, the Stinson tower was very good. But I did learn to exercise great caution there. (Full disclosure: I was based at SSF).

Bill
 
dude, if a tower or traffic in a controlled enviroment makes you nervous better stay away at an uncontrolled field. A tower is supposed to make your life way easier. In fact the higher the airspace class the safer I feel. I hate flying at a field with a pattern full of doctors playing maverick.
 
I've had some bizarre traffic avoidance requests and other strange things at Stinson....when I saw this thread I wasn't suprised.
 
Well. SSF is on the tower closure list. So there ya go, problem solved.
 
wsuffa said:
Ryan,

Though I think his statement was a bit exaggerated, I had a couple of situations when I was based at SSF that reminded me that one needs to always be on alert even at a towered field.

One of the more memorable was a day when I was on final for the VOR 32 approach, was cleared to land, and was well inside the VOR when the tower cleared a student (from a school at SAT) for take off on 14. My call to tower was simply "is my landing clearance canceled and do you wish me to go around". Tower canceled the TO clearance to the student, managed to get them clear of the runway, and I proceeded to land less than 60 seconds later.

There was another one situation involving a clearance to me with a T-6 in the pattern that left things uncomfortably close.

Most of the time, the Stinson tower was very good. But I did learn to exercise great caution there. (Full disclosure: I was based at SSF).

Bill
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60 seconds later? KLGB when I was there that would just warrant, "04Y traffic on final cleared for takeoff no delays."
 
Henning said:
60 seconds later? KLGB when I was there that would just warrant, "04Y traffic on final cleared for takeoff no delays."
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If it were an experienced pilot, yes. In this case it was an ESL student that had a hard time with the readback. Remember that he was opposite runway.
 
cirrusmx said:
if they tell you "04Y traffic on final cleared for takeoff no delays." just do as cleared. that aint hard.
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Not "hard" for Bill, who's experienced and English-proficient; perhaps not so much for the student, whose level of skill, presence of mind and communications ability were (by virtue of inexperience and language differences) uncertain.
 
DavidWhite said:
I've had some bizarre traffic avoidance requests and other strange things at Stinson....when I saw this thread I wasn't suprised.
Click to expand...

Likewise. I was there a few years back, called clearance-delivery while still sitting in the FBO parking area, got a pretty strange and circuitous routing, and was told the read-back was correct. I started putting in the multiple fixes into the 430W and the tower calls back to ask if I'm ready to taxi -- not 10 seconds later. I respond, "not yet, still getting that clearance put in and understood". About 30 seconds goes by with, "ready to taxi yet?". Then another "are you ready yet" less than a minute after that... Mind you I'm still in the parking area and not blocking anyone yet he really wanted me to hurry through my review of the clearance. So once I'm clear on what they want me to do (a strange combo of fly to a GPS fix mixed in with radial/distance fixes, then flying to another VOR -- all while /G), I call that I'm ready to leave... There's no one around on the field nor anyone coming in. I taxi out and immediately depart and am literally starting my first turn at 400' AGL, go to departure, and am told "proceed direct destination".... ?????
 
furiousphoen1x said:
Stinson airport has a tendency to do really **** things to pilots in critical phases of flight. One of the very few times I've had to file a NASA report was at Stinson.
Click to expand...

Most of the controllers at Kssf have decades of experience, and are very good, and patient controllers. I wouldn't be surprised if the deviation was from SAT approach, or Kelly class D. Those guys really are pretty forgiving. You would really have to botch something up pretty good to get the "copy this number" call from them. Then even if they did, it would be a little talking to in most cases.
 
cirrusmx said:
dude, if a tower or traffic in a controlled enviroment makes you nervous better stay away at an uncontrolled field. A tower is supposed to make your life way easier. In fact the higher the airspace class the safer I feel. I hate flying at a field with a pattern full of doctors playing maverick.
Click to expand...

I'd say the opposite. While it won't give you the nice traffic separation, a non-towered field isn't going to give you a number to call if you do something silly either... :)
 
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