July 9, 2012 Short Final

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Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK elevation: 303 feet) with a long-standing glider club on the field recently began tower operations. After the tower had been operating for about a week, on a relatively busy Saturday afternoon, I heard this exchange:

Glider:
"Frederick Tower, Glider XXX at 1,600 feet inbound for a right downwind for landing runway 12 with information Sierra ... ."

Tower:
"Glider XXX, Frederick Tower. Hold your altitude. I have a few ahead of you."

Glider:
"Frederick Tower, I'm a glider."

Tower:
"Glider XXX, cleared to land, runway 12."

Lance Nuckolls
via e-mail