A few years ago, I was flying to Henderson, Nevada, in our Cessna T206H with my wife, two daughters and one of their friends. During the evening descent, my passengers were talking excitedly about the Colorado River rafting trip we were to embark on the next day and pointing out the sights and brightening lights of Las Vegas in the distance. We were about 10 miles south of Henderson and I was talking to Las Vegas Approach.
Me: “Las Vegas Approach, Stationair N615KE 6000 descending 5000 for Henderson with information Delta.”
Las Vegas Approach: “Stationair 5KE, expect visual approach 17R. Airport at your 11 o’clock 10 miles.”
Me: “5KE has airport in sight.”
Las Vegas Approach: “Stationair 5KE, cleared visual approach 17R Henderson Airport, contact tower on 125.1.”
It was time for pre-landing passenger announcements. “Okay, ladies, it’s time to settle down. No more yapping until I get this airplane on the ground. Talk only if you see something I might hit, like a bird or another airplane. Sit up straight, tighten your seatbelts, and put all your stuff away. ”
As I reached for the radio flip-flop button to switch to tower, Las Vegas Approach came back on.
Las Vegas Approach: “Very direct briefing 5KE. Not all of us are ladies here in Approach, but I must say you got all of us to pay attention, sit up straight, and shove “stuff” under our desks (laughing heard in the background). Have a great night with your “ladies” in Vegas! Contact Henderson Tower 125.1.”
Obviously, I had been mashing the transmit button during my announcement. Argh!
—Mark Donnelly, San Jose, California
Years ago while getting my clearance at Meigs in Chicago for takeoff in zero/zero conditions I mixed up my call sign twice because of weather anxiety.
After my second transmission the tower responded, “Don’t worry we will read it off the plane when you taxi past the tower.”
—Walter Kahn, Rumson, New Jersey
With three flight schools on the field and several jet centers, Denver Centennial (KAPA) is one of the busiest class D fields in the U.S. The usual traffic flow is to land the jets on 17L/35R while spinning 172s in the pattern on the parallel runway.
Last summer the parallel 35L was under construction for a couple months, which meant Tower frequently had to deny pattern work, putting stress on all the surrounding airports. I was returning from a week-long trip the day after the paving had been finished and was cleared to land 35L. Mildly surprised, I queried the tower:
N43161: “Just confirming that 35L is open again?”
Tower: “Affirmative, finished yesterday.”
Unidentified voice: “Thank the Lord!”
—David Chandler, Parker, Colorado
One day I headed out to do a few approaches under VFR conditions at Lebanon, New Hampshire, airport. I’d recently re-watched the movie “Sully,” where Tom Hanks lands a U.S. Air flight in the Hudson after bird strikes. Watching the movie as a pilot gave me a new perspective.
I was on the RNAV 18 approach at about 2000 feet. Tower was advising traffic that there were turkey vultures at the approach end of the runway.
Tower: “Arrow 970, cleared to land Runway 18.”
I continued my descent a bit, and thought about it. This was practice, I didn’t need to land or even go low. Then as I descended through 1300 feet I said, “Tower, Arrow 970 is pulling up and going around. I just watched the movie “Sully,” and I want to stay far away from those turkey vultures.”
Tower (After a couple seconds to process): “Roger 970, I understand.”
—John Daley, Londonderry, New Hampshire
I was preflighting my Cessna 172. Next to me was a bizjet. The pilot was also doing his preflight. We met at our wingtips. I said, “Want to trade?”
He paused for quite a while. To this day, I wonder if he wanted to say, “Yes.”
—Stanley Quayle, Pickerington, Ohio
