My instructor and I were flying around today (July 8, 2009) and had an interesting exchange with ATC. I don’t know if you’ll include it in the “Short Final,” but we got a chuckle out of it.
We were doing maneuvers under the hood in a BE-76 Duchess. My instructor had failed my left engine, and I was just getting ready to restart when Whiteman Approach came on and told a Columbia that they had traffic to their 10 o’clock. (That traffic was us.)
ATC then came on and told us, “Mule Flight 106, traffic is 1 o’clock, a Columbia a couple miles out.” (I can’t remember how many for sure.)
My instructor replied that we were looking for traffic and then decided that we should make a turn to the west. On the radio, he told Whiteman approach of our impending turn.
Whiteman came back, advising, “Mule Flight 106, keep an eye out for that traffic. They are moving about double your rate of speed.” (Vyse is 85 kts on a Duchess.)
My instructor came back and said, “We’re a little slow because we’re running on one engine right now.”
Whiteman came back with, “We thought something was going on. We just saw a car on highway 50 going faster than you are.”
Stephan Kollitz
via e-mail
