"Icebound" wrote in message
...

Well, yes, the case is easy to make.

If everybody used the leading zero all the time, then you KNOW FOR SURE
anytime you hear less than two digits, then you have missed something.


How do I know the digits haven't been transposed? If I hear, "Podunk
traffic, Waco niner eight zero one victor, entering downwind runway zero
two, stop-and-go, Podunk", how do I know the pilot didn't mean to say,
"Podunk traffic, Waco niner eight zero one victor, entering downwind runway
two zero, stop-and-go, Podunk." Podunk does have a runway two zero, but it
has no runway designated zero two.



If the leading zero is NOT used and you hear only ONE digit, then you have
no way of knowing whether you missed something, or not.


What might I have missed if I hear,"Podunk traffic, Waco niner eight zero
one victor, entering downwind runway two, stop-and-go, Podunk."



Shortening a direction-based entity in this way is unnatural and causes
confusion. Even the FAA's own NACO chart-selection web site, uses the
leading zeros in the index, and then omits them on the charts..


That may be only a software requirement.