This redundancy congests already busy frequencies to the point that some pilots will be cut out of the process just because people love to hear themselves talk. With an airport having the same frequency as another airport within a 50-mile radius, some pilots may not be able to make a position report or request an advisory without stepping on others.
With a half-dozen aircraft in the pattern at neighboring airports, I have experienced congested frequencies when descending from altitude on cross-country flights, to the point I was unable to get a fuel report unless I landed. From aloft, there is no way to avoid picking up everyone else on the frequency. There could be a dozen airports on the same frequency within a 75-mile radius of an aircraft aloft trying to receive a fuel advisory. Even though the FBO giving the advisory hears the pilot aloft, the pilot keeps getting stepped on while receiving the FBO transmission. If the pilot was getting low on fuel, it might be more advantageous to remain aloft until locating fuel rather than descending below reception altitude.
Personally, I think pilots are being set up for a bad habit when they enter the ATC system and they are given an excuse for not listening. Hey Radar, This is me, Here I am, This is what I intend to do! Hey Radar.
Let's listen, not be redundant.
Terry Adair
Via the Internet
Keeping The Unicom Informed
AOPA Flight Training recently published one of the best articles I've seen on airport communications ("Safe and Sound: How you can operate safely at any airport," July 2001). As an FBO line manager monitoring the unicom frequency, I have only one suggestion. The first call to a noncontrolled airport should be, "Frederick unicom, Cessna Eight-One-Three-Five Uniform; 10 miles west..." Putting the word unicom on the first call indicates to us that an advisory is requested as opposed to someone just giving traffic position reports. Keep up the good work.
Roy Courtney
Lincolnton, North Carolina
Straight-Out Departures
I just read David Montoya's "Safe and Sound: How you can operate safely at any airport" (AOPA Flight Training, July 2001), and before I can make it required reading for my own students, we need clear up an area of confusion created by the author. When discussing departure procedures from nontowered fields, Montoya states that "while there is no regulation specifically prohibiting straight-out departures or (straight-in arrivals), the FAA strongly discourages pilots from making them for safety reasons."
While the author is correct regarding straight-in arrivals, I'm not aware that the FAA strongly discourages making straight-out departures. In fact, the Aeronautical Information Manual, Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, and the FAA Aviation News reprint booklet Operations at Nontowered Airports all state that departures from the traffic pattern may be made either with a 45-degree turn, or straight out, after reaching pattern altitude. Furthermore, none of these FAA publications suggest any bias toward one departure procedure or the other.
Fred I. Stahl
West Bloomfield, Michigan
More Than A PTS Requirement
I like the technique for getting turns around a point just right as explained in "Crabbing Around a Point" (AOPA Flight Training, June 2001). And for a checkride, I think it would work great.
However, I believe CFIs should use the building block method of teaching as much as possible. I look at the maneuver not just as "one more PTS thing to do," but as an aid to making a student a pilot. In other words by "guessing" what the rate, radius, and crab for the turn should be, the student can get a better feel for the airplane. In the case of ground reference maneuvers, trial and error are part and parcel of developing an understanding of the effects of wind and ground speed. The corrections needed to get it right are what I'm looking for from my students when there's a nice crosswind and it counts.
I love the magazine and especially the Instructor Report. Please keep up the great work!
Matt Rubenstein
Via the Internet
Hope There's No Wind
I have no argument with the crosswind entry described in the article "Crabbing Around a Point" (AOPA Flight Training, June 2001). However, the method, as described, would work perfectly only in a no-wind condition.
When correctly performing a turn about a point on a windy day, one can clearly see that the "point 2" described in the article must lead the ground reference point when the crosswind is from the aircraft's right and must lag the ground reference point when the crosswind is from the left. As the aircraft is passing through the downwind and upwind quadrants, point 2 will overlap the ground reference point.
Jack Almagor
Miami, Florida
That Sinking Feeling Saved Me
I can't believe I missed "That Sinking Feeling" by Margo McCombs in the May 2001 issue of AOPA Flight Training the first time through. She could not have described my flight training scenario better if she had been my instructor. Thirty hours of experience and still not even close to making good, consistent landings.
But after reading McComb's article, I had a new excitement about landings. My CFI was on vacation the week I read the story, so I went up with Steve, another CFI at my school. Wow! Not a hard landing in the lot. I was able to flare at just the right time - every time.
Please extend my gratitude to McCombs. Her article gave me that missing piece of the puzzle. Boy, is my regular CFI going to be pleasantly surprised when he comes back from vacation! Thanks again, and keep up producing a great magazine for prospective pilots like me.
Rich Messal
Orlando, Florida
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