A VFR Saturday morning this past December was a good time to exercise my Mooney 201. I decided to visit York, Pennsylvania, (KTHV) since it was close to my home base and I never had the pleasure of visiting there before. About 10 miles out I made my first call.
Me: “York, Mooney 10 miles to the northeast, inbound for landing. Request airport advisory.”
Unicom: “Airport is still here where it’s always been.”
Unknown Pilot (giggling): “Hey, you really got him good.”
He was obviously a local, who was in the pattern.
After a few moments I heard:
Lady Pilot: “They’re using Runway 35.”
Me: “Thank you, ma’am.”
Tom Stackhouse
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
That’s the problem with AWOS on a calm day. You pick the runway to use. Sometimes for convenience the same piece of asphalt is used in the opposite direction.
I have seen this when one direction is left pattern and the opposite direction is right pattern on a calm day.