What do you want to do when you get here?

J

JOhnH

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
May 20, 2009
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15,163
Location
Florida
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Right Seater
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KOMN
My wife was returning home in the Bonanza on an IFR flight plan. Weather was "low marginal" (my term). The active runway was 27 but approach advised her there there was extensive precipitation on the 27 approach and advised using the RNAV 17 and circling to 27. She said that would be fine. Then he transferred her KOMN tower. By this time she saw that 17 looked clear and winds were calm. She advised she was 10 miles out and was flying the 17 approach to circle to 27. The (new) controller asked her "what do you want to do when you get here"? She was already thinking she wanted a straight in on 17, so that is what she said., but the controller responded with "nope". So she said Ok, I'll fly the 17 and circle to 27. He said "That's not what I was asking. Do you want a full stop, T&G, taxi to ramp or what?"

She had a good laugh at herself but was wondering if "what do you want to do when you get here" is proper phraseology. The first answer I though of was "taxi to East Ts (our hangar) but she was focused on just getting down.
 
"Where are you parking?" seems to be the common way of asking around here but I admit a lot pilots don't understand what the controller is asking until they get used to it. Admit I had to get him to say it 3 times the 1st time I was asked (a long time ago). But I see the same thing with new students even after I warn them they are going to be asked, they either ask me or ask the controller to say again.

You probably have the right idea that a lot of pilots aren't thinking that far ahead so it take a bit for it to sink in what the controller is asking.

Brian
 
Given the volume of training traffic in our area, they were likely most interested in whether or not you were landing. Parking was likely a secondary consideration. Daytona approach should have already asked "how will this approach terminate?" and passed that to OMN tower.
 
The part that bugged me was when she said she wanted to do the straight in to 17, his reply was "nope". ? ? ?
 
JOhnH said:
By this time she saw that 17 looked clear and winds were calm.
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Couldn’t she ask for the visual?

But yeah, I also would have interpreted that “nope” as denying 17. :)

JOhnH said:
but was wondering if "what do you want to do when you get here" is proper phraseology.
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I think I've heard "say parking" and "how will this approach terminate?" more often than not.
 
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Controller / tower guy was not helpful. The most time critical, most important things at the moment was from where am I landing, how am I landing, am I going to hit anybody. The fact the controller was concerned first and foremost with parking is odd.

"What do you want to do when you get here" is not something I've heard before. Where you're parking is handled by ground frequency once your safely on the ground. "Nope" is not a clear answer. "Nope" following a request can be assumed to mean "No' to your request. That tower intended it to comment on a question he had never asked would require telepathy to answer what the tower was asking.

I've heard "Say intentions". And... the tower already knew/should have known that you're a full stop, etc. Around here, when you switch to tower, you just say "Acme Tower, Bonanza N1234".
 
I'm not exactly "Mr. Experienced Pilot", but in the ~15 years I've been flying I can't recall ever being asked where I wanted to park until after I was already on the ground at the airport. If I have been asked that, it might have been an explicit question ("Where are you parking?") so that I could be vectored to land on the appropriate parallel runway or something. So I wouldn't have been thinking that's what he meant.

I'd probably have been a little confused (and probably annoyed at having to figure out what he's asking me) being asked such an ambiguous question 10 miles out. ("Is he making chit-chat and asking if I'm visiting relatives or visiting the local attractions or here for business? What answer does he want??") Given enough time and leisure to think about it, I'd have probably guessed he was asking if it was a full-stop or something else, but while I'm focused on getting my plane on the ground I'm not sure how long it'd take me to figure that out.

I've been asked "How will this approach terminate?" plenty of times, and that's unambiguous. If that's what he wanted to know, that's what he should have asked.
 
Jim_R said:
I'm not exactly "Mr. Experienced Pilot", but in the ~15 years I've been flying I can't recall ever being asked where I wanted to park until after I was already on the ground at the airport.
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I've been asked that going into Houston Hobby (KHOU). Depending on the answer they would assign the right or left runway, traffic permitting.
 
Domenick said:
Take a shower, have lunch, and snuggle.
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I was thinking more along the lines of having a beer and taking a nap, but then I am starting to get a little older now.
 
Jim_R said:
I'm not exactly "Mr. Experienced Pilot", but in the ~15 years I've been flying I can't recall ever being asked where I wanted to park until after I was already on the ground at the airport. If I have been asked that, it might have been an explicit question ("Where are you parking?") so that I could be vectored to land on the appropriate parallel runway or something. So I wouldn't have been thinking that's what he meant.

I'd probably have been a little confused (and probably annoyed at having to figure out what he's asking me) being asked such an ambiguous question 10 miles out. ("Is he making chit-chat and asking if I'm visiting relatives or visiting the local attractions or here for business? What answer does he want??") Given enough time and leisure to think about it, I'd have probably guessed he was asking if it was a full-stop or something else, but while I'm focused on getting my plane on the ground I'm not sure how long it'd take me to figure that out.

I've been asked "How will this approach terminate?" plenty of times, and that's unambiguous. If that's what he wanted to know, that's what he should have asked.
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In my experience "where are you parking?" often comes after you land (sometimes before you exit the runway if there are ramps on both sides). But one time, 25 years ago, I remember being pestered with questions and instructions while on a challenging final approach to Telluride. It was a CTAF, not tower, but it was being operated almost like a tower because they had scheduled carriers. The lady on CTAF kept bombarding all arrivals with "what is your expected landing time, and how long would you be staying with us?", and proceeded to give parking instructions while the pilots were still in the air. I rememeber thinking this was completely nuts, because TEX is a difficult airport due to terrain and density altitude, and the last thing I needed was someone trying to sort out taxiing and parking logistics over the radio.
 
I had one that like on an IFR flight plan recently.

I was expecting to overfly the airport, do a reversal and land into the wind on the active runway.

I overflew, still under IFR control. After I passed the airport I was expecting direction to descend or intentions. His question was more like, 'What are you doing? You just overflew the airport.'

I said something like, 'I don't know, I'm on an IFR flight plan going to OLM and waiting for directions.' Then he made it a little more clear that he was asking what would I like to do as far as approach and termination.

I chuckled it off and told him intentions. I must have missed something, but I still don't know what.
 
Parking at my airport is at a premium if not based there. Tower shuts down T&G and practice approaches when busy. They really discourage land and taxi back operations.
It is what it is in busy Florida.
They really are gate keepers.
 
Flyxaos said:
I had one that like on an IFR flight plan recently.

I was expecting to overfly the airport, do a reversal and land into the wind on the active runway.

I overflew, still under IFR control. After I passed the airport I was expecting direction to descend or intentions. His question was more like, 'What are you doing? You just overflew the airport.'

I said something like, 'I don't know, I'm on an IFR flight plan going to OLM and waiting for directions.' Then he made it a little more clear that he was asking what would I like to do as far as approach and termination.

I chuckled it off and told him intentions. I must have missed something, but I still don't know what.
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What Approach were you doing? Does it have Circling minimums? What was said when you got the Approach Clearance?
 
luvflyin said:
What Approach were you doing? Does it have Circling minimums? What was said when you got the Approach Clearance?
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It was the RNAV 35 into KOLM. Yes, has circling min's.

Once I got passed the first little confusion of it, he cleared me for the approach, I did the reversal and headed down on the with the MDA mins.

It was just an odd exchange that I chalk up to I missed a call or something. I am new to IFR flying. If I didn't miss anything, then it was an odd one on his part. No harm though.
 
Flyxaos said:
It was the RNAV 35 into KOLM. Yes, has circling min's.

Once I got passed the first little confusion of it, he cleared me for the approach, I did the reversal and headed down on the with the MDA mins.

It was just an odd exchange that I chalk up to I missed a call or something. I am new to IFR flying. If I didn't miss anything, then it was an odd one on his part. No harm though.
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When you were cleared for the approach were you given circling instructions? If not, you would be expected to go straight in.
 
Jim_R said:
I'm not exactly "Mr. Experienced Pilot", but in the ~15 years I've been flying I can't recall ever being asked where I wanted to park until after I was already on the ground at the airport. If I have been asked that, it might have been an explicit question ("Where are you parking?") so that I could be vectored to land on the appropriate parallel runway or something. So I wouldn't have been thinking that's what he meant.
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It’s more about where you go than your level of experience. I’ve been asked in the air several times when there are multiple runways and multiple FBO choices, particularly when things are busy.

Things like “plan to exit the runway at A4” or “switch to 10L” when that would get you to the right place sooner seems to be a way to move things along efficiently.
 
Flyxaos said:
It was the RNAV 35 into KOLM. Yes, has circling min's.

Once I got passed the first little confusion of it, he cleared me for the approach, I did the reversal and headed down on the with the MDA mins.

It was just an odd exchange that I chalk up to I missed a call or something. I am new to IFR flying. If I didn't miss anything, then it was an odd one on his part. No harm though.
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If you can find the audio on LiveATC, I would. There’s definitely something missing. I haven’t a clue what it might be that would have you overflying the landing airport.
 
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