Question on runway turn off

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kujo806

Pre-takeoff checklist
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kujo806
I don't know if I handled the end of my last flight correctly or not. After landing at my class C home field (CID), the tower did not come back with instructions of where to turn off and whether or not to switch to ground. I did my PPL training at CID, and I was under the impression that you can't turn off whenever you want without tower consent/instruction, so I kept rolling down the runway. There was other traffic in the pattern, and tower was giving them permission to land on the same runway, but never came back to me. When I could get a transmission in (toward the end of the runway), I reminded tower that I was not clear of the active and asked if I could back taxi. At that point, tower gave me a negative on the back taxi, and had me take a different taxiway around the airport to the hangar. Should I have just turned off at the first exit without tower instruction? Should I have stopped on the active until I could get a transmission in? This is the first time this has happened in my several hundred landings at a class C airport. Thanks in advance.
 
I would have turned off at the first available taxi way unless told otherwise.
 
You do NOT need clearance to exit the runway. Use the first available turn off to get out of the way, unless you have been instructed otherwise.
 
kujo806 said:
I don't know if I handled the end of my last flight correctly or not. After landing at my class C home field (CID), the tower did not come back with instructions of where to turn off and whether or not to switch to ground. I did my PPL training at CID, and I was under the impression that you can't turn off whenever you want without tower consent/instruction, so I kept rolling down the runway. There was other traffic in the pattern, and tower was giving them permission to land on the same runway, but never came back to me. When I could get a transmission in (toward the end of the runway), I reminded tower that I was not clear of the active and asked if I could back taxi. At that point, tower gave me a negative on the back taxi, and had me take a different taxiway around the airport to the hangar. Should I have just turned off at the first exit without tower instruction?
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Yes. The procedure is to exit the runway without delay at the first available taxiway or as instructed by ATC. See AIM paragraph 4−3−20. Exiting the Runway After Landing.

Should I have stopped on the active until I could get a transmission in?
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Never without explicit instructions from the tower.
 
I turn off when able but will not switch to ground until told to. If not told to switch by the time I am clear and stopped then I call the tower and report clear Runway XX at XX.
 
kujo806 said:
Thanks. I feel stupid, but I'll get it right next time!
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You aren't stupid! I made the same mistakes at a towered airport while training a small uncontrolled class g airport. One of the smartest moves I made during primary was moving from that little airport (following my instructor) over to a busy class D. It made my radio work improve astronomically and made me more comfortable with flight following, and all towered airspace. Best of luck!
 
Just don't turn onto an intersecting runway unless instructed to by tower.
 
Or cross a hold-short line onto an active runway without clearance to do so. Occasionally, there are some pretty close parallel runways.

There is enough space here for a spam can, but not something much larger: http://goo.gl/maps/oEsYg
Generally, both those runways are active when the tower is open.
 
EdFred said:
You're like the Forrest Gump of aviation. You've been everywhere, but are as dumb as a stick.
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Witty. Come up with that all by yourself?

The OP asked a question and I'm just adding to the answer. It's in the AIM.
 
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kujo806 said:
the tower did not come back with instructions of where to turn off and whether or not to switch to ground.
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I'm not sure about the bigger Class C airports, but at a lot of the Class D's, the same person is both tower and ground. At my home field, it's about 50/50 whether they have you switch to ground or not after landing. All depends on how busy it is.
 
ScottK said:
I'm not sure about the bigger Class C airports, but at a lot of the Class D's, the same person is both tower and ground. At my home field, it's about 50/50 whether they have you switch to ground or not after landing. All depends on how busy it is.
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The division of Class D into Ground, Tower and Clearance Delivery frequencies is really only a matter of convenience and workload. For example, busier Class D airports have a CD station because they are busier Class D airports. And even very busy Class Ds will have quieter periods where they will combine services.

That can also be true of Class C. I recall one night when we had an Angel Flight wing meeting at KCOS. When departing, the same controller was handling CD, Ground, Tower and Approach/Departure. Unfortunately (for him) he did not also announce on ATIS that he was combining all services on one frequency and ended up with an interesting juggling act.
 
I'm not so sure that's unusual. Right as the tower opens at PAO, often the same person services ground and tower. They almost always use the ground frequency on ATIS. So you contact ground, get taxi clearance, do a run up, then talk to Tower and listen to the same voice. On arrival, they tell you to taxi to parking on Tower frequency, sometimes with a "monitor ground," but not usually.

I haven't flown into COS as PIC yet, but I've flown right seat. I think PAO is busier (and airnav's stats bear this out -- the difference is about 20%), though the largest aircraft we see are King Airs; the runway isn't long enough for CRJs and 737s.

PAO doesn't have a CD frequency. COS does.
 
kujo806 said:
Thanks. I feel stupid, but I'll get it right next time!
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Do not feel stupid. You did not know you asked. This was the smart thing to do. Plus next time you will not know.
 
I do ask for permission if not doing what was stated above: I.e. landing long, turnoff to the right when there's a closer taxiway left for instance. It's all about working together so tower can facilitate traffic flow while allowing reasonable requests when possible.

Best,

Dave
 
You can also prime the pump. If you know where your destination is, tell the tower when you first call up. Same with departure. If you know you want a right turn on reaching altitude, just let them know before you line up and wait.
 
Any time, for any reason, on the ground or in the air, if you are uncomfortable with something, talk to the tower.
The only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked.
 
silver-eagle said:
You can also prime the pump. If you know where your destination is, tell the tower when you first call up. Same with departure. If you know you want a right turn on reaching altitude, just let them know before you line up and wait.
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I've done that before, on initial call-up, "Cessna xxxxx, 10 miles-north, full stop, parking main ramp"...then when, I turn off the runway they say something like, "taxi main ramp, monitor ground". It cuts out the "where ya going" part w/ground.
 
alfadog said:
I turn off when able but will not switch to ground until told to. If not told to switch by the time I am clear and stopped then I call the tower and report clear Runway XX at XX.
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Am I misremembering that? Mentally I'm thinking that you get off the runway, then tower doesn't need you anymore and you automatically switch to ground to get taxi clearance. Am I doing it wrong?

I'm also vaguely remembering instructions like "cross 5L, contact ground .9".

I don't fly class-C a lot and have a lot of other things going on so I might be not remembering it right.
 
bflynn said:
Am I misremembering that? Mentally I'm thinking that you get off the runway, then tower doesn't need you anymore and you automatically switch to ground to get taxi clearance. Am I doing it wrong?
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Affirmative.
 
bflynn said:
Am I misremembering that? Mentally I'm thinking that you get off the runway, then tower doesn't need you anymore and you automatically switch to ground to get taxi clearance. Am I doing it wrong?

I'm also vaguely remembering instructions like "cross 5L, contact ground .9".

I don't fly class-C a lot and have a lot of other things going on so I might be not remembering it right.
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If tower tells you to "contact ground", then you call up on the ground frequency and get your taxi instructions.

If tower gives you taxi instructions and tells you to "monitor ground", then switch to the ground frequency and start taxiing, but don't say anything unless further communication is required.

If tower just gives you taxi instructions, then stay on that frequency.
 
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