Do you make radio calls even if you are the only one in the traffic pattern?

[ccsmith51]

There are times that this can actually be an advantage. If you are flying into a non-towered airport with no AWOS you won't know which runway to use. If your transmission to the FBO for an airport advisory is unanswered, and no one is reporting their position in the pattern, then "Any traffic in the pattern, please advise" might get someone to respond with a position and the runway that is being used.

I always report crosswind, downwind, base, final, and clearing the runway, even if I (think) I am the only one in the pattern. I start and end with the airport name. I state full stop or touch-and-go. And even then, if I hear "Any traffic in the pattern, please advise" I will respond again.

If all that is too much information for some people, then so be it. In my mind it's all about safety. The better the chance of someone knowing where I am, the better the chance I won't end up in a pile of metal on the ground from a mid-air in the pattern...

[gasman]

If you really want to contribute to safety around an airport............

Turn on your landing light at least 10 miles out. And listen on the radio 30+ miles out.
Say you are an RV and give only the last two digits. Or your color. And, yes... the airport name again at the end.

If you still don't know the active by now, then ask (blind) for "airport advisory please". This is the polite way to arrive at a non towered airport...... of which there are about to be many more.

LANDING LIGHTS ON!!!!!

[RV6_flyer]

Originally Posted by ccsmith51

There are times that this can actually be an advantage. If you are flying into a non-towered airport with no AWOS you won't know which runway to use. If your transmission to the FBO for an airport advisory is unanswered, and no one is reporting their position in the pattern, then "Any traffic in the pattern, please advise" might get someone to respond with a position and the runway that is being used.

I always report crosswind, downwind, base, final, and clearing the runway, even if I (think) I am the only one in the pattern. I start and end with the airport name. I state full stop or touch-and-go. And even then, if I hear "Any traffic in the pattern, please advise" I will respond again.

If all that is too much information for some people, then so be it. In my mind it's all about safety. The better the chance of someone knowing where I am, the better the chance I won't end up in a pile of metal on the ground from a mid-air in the pattern...

There are airplanes flying that do not have radios. There are also aircraft that are on an incorrect frequency or that have the radio volume turned down or too low to hear. You are in a visual environment and separation is required to be by visual clues. The radio is only a tool to help you find the other aircraft. The other guy could have an electrical failure with no radio.

The FAA says that you should not use the phrase in the AIM. It is pretty much SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to report position when someone else reports position without having to ask.

Yes it is a big irritation to me hearing people make the call "...any traffic please advise." It is also a big irritant hearing people say "...taking the active." I have bitten my tongue more than once and not asked "Where are you taking it?"

[AX-O]

Originally Posted by rvmills

So Axel...here it is Monday. Are you going to reveal the Easter Egg?

Cheers,
Bob

Patience grass hopper. Per original post, Monday afternoon. I just briefed it during our monthly safety stand-down.

[Stockmanreef]

I Announce 5-10 miles out, entering DW, base, final, and clear of RW. The latter if someone is actually around.

I fly out of a class E airport and I was taught to use the phrase "xxx traffic please advise" and also to start and finish with airport name. xxx, Cessna N12345, departing 18, xxx traffic please advise, xxx. 95 % of the time no one is listening.

I have only been flying for 3yrs and I thought that once I started flying I would leave all the idiots on the ground in cars, but nope they are in planes as well. People flying backwards in the pattern, not using radios (or not having a radio, I know this is legal), flying over the airport at pattern alt but not landing at the airport, and the list goes on and on. I am particularly concerned on no winds days. Supposed to TO/land 18, but who knows. Or someone practicing landings to a full stop, then turning around on the RW and doing a short field Take off in the opposite direction and not talking.

So I guess I will keep irritating some people, but hopefully it will keep me from being killed one day.

[Sam Buchanan]

Originally Posted by Stockmanreef

I Announce 5-10 miles out, entering DW, base, final, and clear of RW. The latter if someone is actually around.

I fly out of a class E airport and I was taught to use the phrase "xxx traffic please advise" and also to start and finish with airport name. xxx, Cessna N12345, departing 18, xxx traffic please advise, xxx. 95 % of the time no one is listening.

I have only been flying for 3yrs and I thought that once I started flying I would leave all the idiots on the ground in cars, but nope they are in planes as well. People flying backwards in the pattern, not using radios (or not having a radio, I know this is legal), flying over the airport at pattern alt but not landing at the airport, and the list goes on and on. I am particularly concerned on no winds days. Supposed to TO/land 18, but who knows. Or someone practicing landings to a full stop, then turning around on the RW and doing a short field Take off in the opposite direction and not talking.

So I guess I will keep irritating some people, but hopefully it will keep me from being killed one day.

Around my part of the country if somebody calls "traffic please advise" it is taken to mean "y'all git out of the way, here I come".

Makes you sound like a dork, and I don't reply until it's time for my normal radio call unless there is the real chance of traffic conflict with the dork.

[RV8R999]

Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan

Around my part of the country if somebody calls "traffic please advise" it is taken to mean "y'all git out of the way, here I come".

Makes you sound like a dork, and I don't reply until it's time for my normal radio call unless there is the real chance of traffic conflict with the dork.

Tisk, tisk... no name calling. Setting a bad example.

[RV6_flyer]

Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan

Around my part of the country if somebody calls "traffic please advise" it is taken to mean "y'all git out of the way, here I come".

Makes you sound like a dork, and I don't reply until it's time for my normal radio call unless there is the real chance of traffic conflict with the dork.

Sam:

I think Great Minds Think alike. Thank you for being more polite than I would have been.

[pitts flyer]

I fly a lot at an non-towered airport where I tow gliders, and there is a very busy skydiving operation, as well as a fair amount of other traffic on weekends. The skydive plane regularly asks for "traffic please advise" for safety reasons, and because he usually has just switched frequencies from ATC to the airport unicom, as he is diving down into the pattern. He also asks also (and waits for either a response or no) before departing, usually on the opposite runway from the regular active (since they are located at the north end). This practice creates a much safer operations for everyone, and while, as you say, it does mean "y'all git out the way, here I come" I would rather have that than him not asking!!

Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan

Around my part of the country if somebody calls "traffic please advise" it is taken to mean "y'all git out of the way, here I come".

Makes you sound like a dork, and I don't reply until it's time for my normal radio call unless there is the real chance of traffic conflict with the dork.

[rv7boy]

Originally Posted by jjconstant

...I also agree with the request that VFR position reports are not made in "IFR speak". When I was a student, the tower (not my home field) called traffic "at the missed". That is about the most useless position report for a VFR pilot ever, student or not and I let the tower know I had no idea where to look for the traffic.

At our non-towered, but quite busy airport we used to hear "Cessna XYZ, practice VOR approach." And that was all. And I heard it several times on several different days.

Before my Instrument Student days, I thought, "What in the world does that mean?"

Still, for even an Instrument pilot without approach charts for our airport, one could only guess where that pilot was.

It would have been much better for the pilot to say, "Cessna XYZ, practice VOR approach Runway one-eight, 5 miles north, descending from 2,400, with low pass and departure to the south." Or something like that. [Don't beat me up, I never finished the instrument ticket and it's been over 15 years since I've flown an instrument approach.]