Non Standard ATC Phraseology

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
news

Okay, that brings up a question that bugs me. KPSM says: "Report left
base." Now, I could go onto that left base five miles out, and it
would take me five minutes to reach the extended centerline.


Prescott (KPRC) did this to me last week. I was easily five miles out when
the tower told me to enter left base for RWY 21L but they didn't say how far
out to call it. They gave me a traffic advisory and when I said I had the
traffic in sight, they just told me to follow that traffic to the runway.


Where does KPSM want me to report? He knows that I will be at 1,000
AGL, but that's all. My own feeling is that I should report at a
45-degree angle, or one mile from the extended centerline if I am
flying a one-mile pattern, two miles if a two-mile pattern. Is that
about right?

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Would they just want you to report at the same location as if you had turned
downwind to base?

This strikes me as being very close in for a base entry!!

Dunno about John Galiban, but I can't remember Chandler ever giving me a
base entry without requesting that I report at "X miles." They have,
however, given me a clearance to land before I've reached the point where
they wanted me to report (eg, I'm cleared to land at 3.5 miles out when they
wanted me to call a 2 mile base...)

Jay Beckman
Chandler, AZ
PP-ASEL