Non-Towered Operations Part 1: Communications

[SGTSnakeUSMC]

Thanks for highlighting the redundancy of "Any traffic advise." It is easy enough to simply announce your position and intentions. The other traffic will do the same in response automatically, no need to beg. Also, hearing nothing after asking for "advisement" doesn't mean there isn't aircraft out there without radios or on the wrong freq. While on the subject, unless you fly something that shoots things, nobody needs to know that you are 20 miles out either. End of rant. Good video.

[dsinha]

We recently had a near accident when a plane came straight in for final on a non-towered airport where another aircraft was working the pattern. It's pretty easy to misjudge how far and fast a plane on the long straight in final is, leaving it to other traffic to decide whether to turn base or extend downwind. That's leaving too much life threatening decision-making to someone else in my opinion.
It may not be a cardinal rule, but anytime I hear any traffic in the pattern, I prefer maneuvering overhead to join downwind and following the pattern in for the landing.

[bjornmclir]

Great video. I see every one of these mistakes and improper procedures on a daily basis at PAAQ, the FAA has been informed of this year after year by multiple operators on the feild and does nothing, its almost like they are waiting for someone to die before theyll step in and try to change anything.

[fbr]

I hope this starts a trend for ending the ‘any traffic in the pattern please advise’ transmissions. How about we also stop making ‘last call’ declarations.

[jimjernigan]

Nice, but I disagree that there's never an appropriate time to ask for others in the pattern to speak up. If I'm inbound and I announce my intentions, then wait some time and hear nobody on the radio, I should not assume there is nobody in the pattern. What phraseology do you use to get people talking when they are in the pattern and being too quiet? What if I know there's somebody there from my ADSB-in but they aren't talking? Getting people talking even with the 'banned' phrase is safer than just calling out your positions and hoping for the best. I do agree the phrase is over-used, but 'never' is a strong word.

[SteichenFamily]

I fly a 737 into uncontrolled fields regularly, and we are positioned by ATC for non-standard pattern entries (straight in approaches) most of the time, and are handed off to advisory (CTAF) often as little as 3 minutes to touchdown. While we attempt to monitor CTAF on the second radio earlier than that, we are busy with checklists and talking to ATC, and are mostly unable to build a mental picture of the patern traffic until late in the game. I have definitely asked for traffic to advise, because if a little guy doing 50 kts ground speed called turning a 3 mile final just before I switched over, I'm going to run him over, and I want him to repeat himself before I see him flairing when I'm 1/2 a mile out.

[abthepilot]

As a 31 year pilot, I completely disagree with not recommending “Any traffic in the area, please advise”. It gets everyone talking and able to coordinate a good flow of traffic, and helps the pilot new to the pattern to know who all is up and where they are. This is especially important if the aircraft has a different performance profile.

[russellbynum]

Asking "Any traffic in the area, please advise" is smart. I've had multiple times where I've been announcing my position as I come into a non-towered field and nobody is talking...even though I can see an aircraft in the pattern on ADS-B. When I ask "any traffic, please advise", those people respond the majority of the time. There is no downside to asking. In the video, there is an explanation for each thing was bad and what to do instead. There was no attempt to explain why asking is bad because the only reason is "If everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing, you won't need to ask." In a perfect world, that's true. We do not live in a perfect world. The Baron should have talked to the Skyhawk to negotiate pattern entry. The Skyhawk took the initiative and announced he was extending downwind which was smart, but the Baron pilot should have opened that conversation earlier. Otherwise this was good.

[kcflyer]

I've been using the "any traffic in the pattern, please advise" for over 30 years. I will continue to do so. I have found it to be a good tool to elicit input from radio averse aviators. Now if I could get folks to start using tail numbers again. Hearing many pilots using make or model only can be frustrating. Do these pilots not understand and piper and cessna made more than one airplane, and that more than one might be on frequency/in the pattern and the same time?

[Pooua]

I'm new to the radio lingo, so I haven't heard or thought of the wrong way to say these things, yet. I'd rather not have those memes stuck in my head. I need to hear the correct way of talking over the radio. In this video, I actually had an easier time understanding what was happening with the wrong method; I had a lot of difficulty keeping up with what was said using the correct method.

[ItsAllAboutGuitar]

ADS-B In/Out should just be required for all aircraft since no one at untowered airports can follow these rules. The tech is darn near good enough to even have it for skydivers.

[jimallen]

Is flying complex? If so then there’s no such thing as best practice. See Cynefin.