Cub Driver wrote:
Now, I was calling the runway as 02, like in "....33Xray, turning left base,
runway Zero-Two, Inyokern." Over the radio comes a voice to admonish me
that, "...there is no zero in front of the two." Never wanting to rankle a
fellow pilot, I dropped the zero -- well, most of the time, anyway.
Thirty-year-old habits are hard to break.

Does it matter? Is there a protocol for this?

Note that Zero Two is a particular case, since the reciprocal is Two
Zero. The locals may have found (as I find) that there's a tendency to
confuse these two.

My home aport is 02/20, and I have learned to say Runway Two when
landing to the north, and Two Zero when landing to the south. I find
it's a great help.


My home airport (KUZA.. Rock Hill, SC) has runway 02/20 also. I have always
prefaced runway two with the zero. Not only that, I include the name of the
place twice in a transmission. ("Rock Hill traffic, Cessna 417 entering a left
downwind for runway zero two, Rock Hill.") I know the purists don't approve,
but i think of how many times I've listened to an announcement on the radio
where the location name was lost in transmission... either stepped on or I
wasn't paying attention. Besides, what's an addition two words in the interest
of clarity?



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE