Short Final: Left Turn
I recently heard this at Detroit Metropolitan Airport: Tower: “Airliner 123, left turn to heading 185. Cleared for takeoff 21R.” Pilot: “Right turn 185, cleared for...
Short Final: Mind Reading
On a recent trip from the West Coast to the Midwest, I’d just checked in with Center after a couple sectors in NorCal. A...
Short Final: Job Hunting
I work at a TRACON with a busy satellite airport nearby. Over the years it’s gotten rather tedious to get asked for higher so...
Short Final: Destination Direct
Tooling along from Florida to Massachusetts one sunny afternoon, apparently ATC had some sort of computer hiccup. Atlanta Center: “American 123, Atlanta Center; our system...
Short Final: Hold Short
I was flying into Dulles a couple of years ago with my single-engine Comanche. Traffic was landing to the north and I touched down...
Short Final: Pugachev’s Cobra
Returning to Palo Alto airport from the East on a short flight through the busy Bay Area airspace, I was admiring Mount Diablo at...
Short Final: 007
I recently had a long flight from Somerset, New Jersey, to Houston Southwest Texas. I don’t remember which approach controller it was, but when...
Short Final: We Have Oscar
My wife and I were on a PALS flight (PALS = Patient Airlift Services) and we had an Afghanistan war refugee and her helper-dog,...
Short Final: Blimp Traffic
Several years ago, I was flying into St. Petersburg during the NCAA Final Four. There was quite a bit of traffic and the Goodyear...
Short Final: Mistaken Identity
I fly a rather obscure aircraft for the Coast Guard: the HC-144, a twin turboprop about the size of a Dash 8. With the...