Ed_Wischmeyer
Well Known Member
Lots of controllers at KSAV (Savannah, GA) are really good, but training goes on here, too, and sometimes it’s obvious. Not sure what was going on today…
The first hint that ATC was having a bad hair day was when I called in for taxi and was told to stand by — unusual. Then when I did get to talk to ground, I was told to hold position. Hmm. In recent times, sometimes one overworked controller has worked clearance, ground, tower and approach frequencies, but hey, no problem, I can be patient, and I figured that was what was going on.
I never saw any conflicting taxi traffic and after a while, I got taxi clearance. When I got to the runway, I was surprised to hear a different voice working tower frequency. Before I could call in, a Musketeer on the other side of the runway called in for takeoff. I called in with the magic words “in sequence,” meaning, yeah, I know I’ll have to wait, and the tower replied, “roger.” Sometimes I hear roger instead of hold short, sometimes I call in holding short and am told to hold short, sometimes I’m behind a local flight school pilot who is slowly, slowly doing his runup in the middle of the taxiway, blocking access to the runway for everybody else.
Along the way, somebody had asked the ground controller if he was working all the frequencies but he replied that he was working ground and clearance (not unusual) and helping out a little, too. Another hint.
With ADS-B, I could see the traffic in the vicinity, and although traffic was at most moderate, the tower controller was not one of those highly proficient, get everybody sequenced controllers. For instance, the crossing runway was not being used. And since I’d requested pattern work, I knew that I wasn’t going to be top priority.
After a while, it was obvious that nothing was going to happen anytime soon. I called tower and told the controller than I could go back to hangar if that would help. The tower replied with, “Copy.” What did that mean?
Realizing that it was not going to be a good day for flying with ATC struggling, cumulus clouds a-building and showers starting to develop in the distance, I called ground to taxi back to the hangar. “Roger, make a left or right 360, your choice, taxi to parking via Bravo.” With a perfectly normal voice, no sarcasm, I said that I’d make a 180 and taxi to parking.
“Copy.” “Make a 360.” Showers starting to pop in the distance. A safe decision to call it a day and put the plane back in the hangar.
One ATC issue these days seems to be that staffing is based only on traffic, and often the result is overworked controllers (there have been times at KSAV when one controller was working clearance, ground, tower and approach frequencies), cross-frequency interference and struggling ATC service, as today. I don’t know how dangerous things might get occasionally, but that is a real possibility. Time to put on your big boy pants and pay attention.
Operating the airplane for purposes of flight. 0.3 hours. No takeoff or landing but still loggable as flight time.
The first hint that ATC was having a bad hair day was when I called in for taxi and was told to stand by — unusual. Then when I did get to talk to ground, I was told to hold position. Hmm. In recent times, sometimes one overworked controller has worked clearance, ground, tower and approach frequencies, but hey, no problem, I can be patient, and I figured that was what was going on.
I never saw any conflicting taxi traffic and after a while, I got taxi clearance. When I got to the runway, I was surprised to hear a different voice working tower frequency. Before I could call in, a Musketeer on the other side of the runway called in for takeoff. I called in with the magic words “in sequence,” meaning, yeah, I know I’ll have to wait, and the tower replied, “roger.” Sometimes I hear roger instead of hold short, sometimes I call in holding short and am told to hold short, sometimes I’m behind a local flight school pilot who is slowly, slowly doing his runup in the middle of the taxiway, blocking access to the runway for everybody else.
Along the way, somebody had asked the ground controller if he was working all the frequencies but he replied that he was working ground and clearance (not unusual) and helping out a little, too. Another hint.
With ADS-B, I could see the traffic in the vicinity, and although traffic was at most moderate, the tower controller was not one of those highly proficient, get everybody sequenced controllers. For instance, the crossing runway was not being used. And since I’d requested pattern work, I knew that I wasn’t going to be top priority.
After a while, it was obvious that nothing was going to happen anytime soon. I called tower and told the controller than I could go back to hangar if that would help. The tower replied with, “Copy.” What did that mean?
Realizing that it was not going to be a good day for flying with ATC struggling, cumulus clouds a-building and showers starting to develop in the distance, I called ground to taxi back to the hangar. “Roger, make a left or right 360, your choice, taxi to parking via Bravo.” With a perfectly normal voice, no sarcasm, I said that I’d make a 180 and taxi to parking.
“Copy.” “Make a 360.” Showers starting to pop in the distance. A safe decision to call it a day and put the plane back in the hangar.
One ATC issue these days seems to be that staffing is based only on traffic, and often the result is overworked controllers (there have been times at KSAV when one controller was working clearance, ground, tower and approach frequencies), cross-frequency interference and struggling ATC service, as today. I don’t know how dangerous things might get occasionally, but that is a real possibility. Time to put on your big boy pants and pay attention.
Operating the airplane for purposes of flight. 0.3 hours. No takeoff or landing but still loggable as flight time.