HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 39 July | August 2019 pilot than is already in place… Remember how easy it is for you to become task-loaded in the cockpit. Here is a different example: If an air ambulance is trying to make a straight in approach in a gas guzzling twin, and you are in a slower, fuel efficient, single-engined aircraft, it is usually no problem to make a call to say that you will extend your downwind leg to allow the ambulance to land first. I know, you are already in the circuit, and legally have the right to land first, but does it hurt to be in the air an extra few minutes? I think not, in most circumstances. The communication will be well received, possibly even thanked, and in an extreme scenario you may even be responsible for saving some stranger’s life. Of course, there are always pilots who just assume they should always have right of way, and they deserve a precise, clear, polite call from you, announcing that you are, “Turning base for a full stop on Runway XYZ. Number One!” , to make the cowboy complete a circuit. Another call that causes comments is, “Clear all runways.” Do you know the Holding Point – two yellow solid lines and two yellow broken lines painted on a taxiway to show when you are really past the boundary markers that delineate the edge of all runways? As you cross these lines is when you make a correct ‘Clear all runways’ call. Watch and listen to all the variations, and note how much you can trust all pilot radio calls to be accurate! I know that some airfields believe they have special rules for radio calls. This is not the case, unless they comply with CAAPs 166-1 and CAAPs 166-2 which can be found on the CASA website. Something that always confuses me is the fact that, at an uncontrolled aerodrome, the only mandatory call to make is one to avoid a collision. This is all well and good, but imagine this: It is early morning and a pilot takes off for a local area flight, not making a call because the radio has been quiet, indicating that no-one else is sharing the air. Another pilot from another aerodrome has done the same, heading for the aerodrome used by the first pilot. Radio silence. All is good. But then the first pilot saw a tiny dot moving across his vision while just looking around, enjoying his flight. This prompted him to make a radio call regarding his position, altitude and intended direction, which was immediately followed by a similar call from the second pilot. All remained good, but this could have had a very different outcome if altitudes and directions had been a little different, for as we all know, aircraft heading directly towards each other are very hard to see until they are quite (may I say, dangerously) close, and these pilots had no expectation of other traffic in their airspace. Neither pilot was at fault. Nothing happened. Lucky? Yet a single, mandatory call from each would have alerted both to the fact that they were not alone up there. Another radio issue has caused great embarrassment to a couple of pilots I know. So, if you are in an aircraft cockpit with an intercom system, firstly, don’t say anything that you wouldn’t be happy to read on the front page of a newspaper, and secondly, if you must share inappropriate chit chat with your passengers, at least check that your radio is not transmitting your foolishness or nastiness. Many ears, in many places, all over the countryside may be listening. Congratulations! Remember that aviation has a very close-knit community. No matter how good or bad your radio equipment transmits, the three biggest favours you can do for your own radio communications are: ➲ ➲ Practise your call in your head before you broadcast it over the airwaves. ➲ ➲ Count a full second after you press the transmit button (to avoid cutting off the first part of your message). ➲ ➲ Speak a little slower than you normally would. Speaking quickly doesn’t make you sound more confident and professional. It may actually make your accurate transmission sound unintelligible to other pilots with good or bad radio equipment. ➲ ➲ I have one more comment, and this one is for instructors. If your BFR pilot or student stands uncorrected when they make an incorrect radio call, how can they be expected to step up and be professional about this skill? Normalisation of deviancy will continue to reign supreme without you making the pilot in command repeat the radio call in the correct manner! Ignoring it, or brushing over the calls in a de-brief, will not fix the radio calls of the future. As I have previously stated, there is no radio police, but, as you see, radio work really does matter! It's now the weekend, and, just occasionally, there are no students at YFT. Although students are my livelihood, it is nice to have a day to ourselves every now and then. When we get one, it’s great. Past students who are now good friends, come up and we go flying for fun. We may do formation flying, as ‘Shadow Flight’, or we may fly to another aerodrome for breakfast, or just go for a flight around the local area. It doesn't matter, we are all just having fun in the sky, and that's why we all became pilots. Never forget that... You came to someone like me, with the aim of flying for fun or business. After all the hard work you put into your training, (and you may remember those days when you said to yourself, ‘I am never going to get this!’)… you did get it,… and now you are, like me, a pilot! Holding Point, one runway Holding Point, two runways Approaching Holding Point Stop before Holding Point Holding Point