Somewhere over the Sierra Nevadas (I was near Lake Tahoe, but it’s a big sector):
Delta 123: (Extremely indignant tone) “Oakland Center, Delta 123, we’re getting continuous chop here at 320.”
Oakland Center: (Offering the obvious suggestion) “Delta 123, roger. Would you like to try 340?”
Delta 123: “No, we’re limited to 320 because of a maintenance deferral.”
Oakland Center: (Totally professional tone despite Delta’s passivity) “Delta 123, roger, would you like to try 300 or 280?”
Delta 123: “Well… are we going there just for fun or is it actually better down there?”
Oakland Center: (Again without any sass, which would have been entirely appropriate) “I don’t have any ride reports down there. “
This precipitated our own cockpit conversation about whether that was even a real pilot on the radio or whether a passenger had broken into the cockpit to demand that ATC fix the turbulence.
—Geoff Rapoport, Denver, Colorado
Enroute to the Piper Comanche convention we passed through the Fort Campbell AAF (HOP) airspace. It was quiet on the frequency so I asked Approach if I could tell a story. They replied, “Sure.”
Me: “So my last trip over this area was 45 years ago on my long cross-country solo. I was flying from Mayfield, Kentucky, to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and knew the north winds were strong. I radioed the tower and asked if I might be encroaching into their airspace. The controller asked me to look down. Sure enough I was directly overhead. So I asked for a vector and they sent me on my way.”
Approach replied, “Great story. If you had asked earlier I would have given you direct to the tower.”
—Gary Gray, Simpsonville, South Carolina
I flew from Salt Lake City to Buena Vista, Colorado, (AEI) in early fall last year to pick up a pilot friend of mine for our continuing trip into Dallas Texas.
During the flight, although predicted to be VFR, I encountered clouds and entered an unexpected rain storm requiring filing IFR with Denver Center as soon as I noticed the clouds. Entering the clouds, I quickly noted the outside air temperature to be below freezing and about the same time my windshield iced up and I noticed icing on the struts of my Turbo 182. At about the same time I lost communication with Denver Center. Finally I noticed the plane yawing to the right and I thought to myself, “I am in trouble and need to get out of this rain and icing very soon.”
I started the RNAV 33 into AEJ and quickly broke out of the clouds into a warm and sunny environment, the ice that had accumulated on my airplane quickly cleared from the windshield and the struts, and I landed uneventfully at Buena Vista.
I met my pilot friend and his wife at the fuel tanks and his wife brought food and drinks to the airplane for our long trip to Dallas. While handing me the food and drinks I, still a little shaken from the icing experience, commented, “I picked up some ice on my way into Buena Vista.”
She looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked “You picked up ice on your way here?!”
Of course she and I had a different concept of “picking up ice.” I was describing ice accumulation on the airplane and she was thinking about the drinks that she just handed me. After a quick chuckle about the “picking up ice” we continued our flight into Dallas with her pilot husband.
—Denis Burns, Dallas, Texas
On a recent airline flight from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, we hit unexpected heavy turbulence during the beverage service. The seat belt light came on immediately, and some passengers screamed. The turbulence lasted about five minutes. While deplaning at Logan Airport, the Captain acknowledged the unexpected convective activity. I mentioned that some passengers in steerage were screaming, and he said, “Oh, it was actually us in the flight deck screaming!”
We both laughed.
—Luca Bencini-Tibo, Weston, Florida
Our supply is hitting bottom again. Reruns next month, unless … send us your cleverest or most embarrassing moment on the radio—or your favorite fix names or airport names—with a subject of “OTA,” to [email protected]. Be sure to include your full name and location.
