Flight Forum

Let me first say thanks for putting out such a fine magazine. Even after 15 years of flying GA, military, and airliners I still find new ideas and new ways of looking at old concepts in your articles that easily prove your motto that a "good pilot is always learning." Since you set such a fine example, I am disturbed, however, that you chose to print reader Terry Adair's letter regarding proper CTAF phraseology in the August 2001 issue.

I, too, am frustrated by CTAF frequency congestion, both caused by "wordy" pilots and the close proximity of airfields using the same frequency. The answer, however, is not in teaching students to arbitrarily change procedure with technique. (The Aeronautical Information Manual may not be regulatory, but legal case history suggests that the powers-that-be view it as such.)

As far as the concern that proper CTAF calls will somehow affect future conversations with ATC, I'd like to stress another important difference. A conversation with ATC is just that, a two-way communication, whereas most CTAF self-announcing is made as a one-way transmission. No instructor wants to create a "robot pilot" who only knows one way to accomplish a task.

I want to stress that Adair's letter makes an excellent point: All pilots need to listen before speaking, and, when transmitting, strive to make their calls brief and correct. The format for these and many other radio calls can be found in the AIM, no more, no less.

Unfortunately, the other problems noted can only be corrected by submitting a suggested change to the AIM and/or by contacting the local FAA FSDO to change the designated CTAF frequencies of nearby airports. Let's teach students correct procedure and set the example when flying. It's imperative that they not learn that CFIs can substitute technique for procedure when that procedure goes against their opinion.

Ken Holston
Via the Internet

The Modern Airmet

In the August issue of AOPA Flight Training, "Aviation Speak," you state: "An airmet is a weather advisory issued only to amend the area forecast." This was the original intent more than 30 years ago. The airmet has gone through several major changes since then.

The last major change occurred in 1991 with the implementation of the airmet bulletin. Since then the area forecast only predicts "VFR clouds and weather." Pilots must refer to airmet Sierra for IFR conditions and mountain obscuration, airmet Tango for turbulence, and airmet Zulu for icing.

The most important thing for pilots to understand is that the area forecast is not a standalone product. It must be used with the airmet bulletin to complete the en-route forecast picture.

Terry Lankford, Co-Chair
Aviation Weather Committee Via the Internet

While airmets have evolved during their 30-year history, according to the 2001 Pilot/Controller Glossary, they are still defined as "in-flight weather advisories issued only to amend the area forecast concerning weather phenomena which are of operational interest to all aircraft and potentially hazardous to aircraft having limited capability because of lack of equipment, instrumentation, or pilot qualifications." Some aviation groups have proposed updating this official information source to more accurately reflect the current nature of airmets. At this printing it is not known when such an update might be available.

Editor

Students Stay Under

Budd Davisson's excellent article "Over The Top" (July 2001) lacks a reference to one important regulation that student pilots should always keep in mind. FAR 61.89(a)(7) prohibits student pilots from making a flight without visual reference to the surface, such as over the top. Readers should remember not to fly over the top unless properly certificated. Additionally, FAR 91.507 is contained in Subpart F, and as such is applicable only to large and/or turbojet powered multiengine airplanes. For other airplanes, VFR over the top is perfectly legal with only VFR equipment installed.

Andrew Pietila
Via the Internet

Clarification

In a recent article ("Emergency Maneuver Training: Saving yourself from sticky situations," AOPA Flight Training, August 2001), we identified a coordination exercise involving aileron and rudder inputs as a Dutch roll. While that term is commonly used to identify this maneuver, the term Dutch roll more accurately refers to a phenomenon specific to swept wing aircraft. We regret any confusion this may have caused.

Editor