good santa???

Jim, glad to hear that the flight worked out well and you had a good
time... I noticed the weather Christmas Eve and again in the morning
and wondered about your flight...
Chicago is a big TRACON with lots of controllers that come and go, but
I wonder if that lady is the same one I bumped into a few years back
when I needed an IFR file to cross Lake Michigan... We were departing
IFR from an uncontrolled field with a flight plan and a squawk code
from center... Center advised we would have to climb VFR to 2000 feet
to make radio contact with Chicago from there... I stated that we had
1500 foot overcast and would have to penetrate the cloud layer before
making contact with Chicago... Center said to call back on the phone
right at departure... I did that, was given clearance to depart at a
specific time five minutes later, a squawk, a heading to fly, and a
clearance to climb to 4000 until I could contact Chicago... Center was
right on the money and by the time I got to 2000 Chicago was loud and
clear... I called, and called, and called, all the way to my 4000 foot
clearance... Finally the lady answers my tenth (or whatever) call with
a snarled order to remain vfr and stay clear of her airspace... I
replied with UNABLE, and she went right on talking to airliners and
refused to answer me again... Once I realized that this shield maiden
from hell was not going to answer I turned west to stay out of the
Chicago B, found a small hole in the cloud deck and spiraled down... It
was a long, long ride around the south end of Lake Michigan, avoiding
Chicago airspace, to get back to Michigan... I remember her in my
prayers, still...

denny

She provided some additional entertainment along the route. Several times
her supervisor stepped in to correct her mistakes. My wife (who usually
sleeps in flight) even found it amusing.

Oh, well, everybody has to learn sometime, I'm sure she felt she was under
the gun because her commands to the airliners were coming out faster than a
Browning .50 cal.

Jim

"Denny" wrote in message
ups.com...
Jim, glad to hear that the flight worked out well and you had a good
time... I noticed the weather Christmas Eve and again in the morning
and wondered about your flight...
Chicago is a big TRACON with lots of controllers that come and go, but
I wonder if that lady is the same one I bumped into a few years back
when I needed an IFR file to cross Lake Michigan... We were departing
IFR from an uncontrolled field with a flight plan and a squawk code
from center... Center advised we would have to climb VFR to 2000 feet
to make radio contact with Chicago from there... I stated that we had
1500 foot overcast and would have to penetrate the cloud layer before
making contact with Chicago... Center said to call back on the phone
right at departure... I did that, was given clearance to depart at a
specific time five minutes later, a squawk, a heading to fly, and a
clearance to climb to 4000 until I could contact Chicago... Center was
right on the money and by the time I got to 2000 Chicago was loud and
clear... I called, and called, and called, all the way to my 4000 foot
clearance... Finally the lady answers my tenth (or whatever) call with
a snarled order to remain vfr and stay clear of her airspace... I
replied with UNABLE, and she went right on talking to airliners and
refused to answer me again... Once I realized that this shield maiden
from hell was not going to answer I turned west to stay out of the
Chicago B, found a small hole in the cloud deck and spiraled down... It
was a long, long ride around the south end of Lake Michigan, avoiding
Chicago airspace, to get back to Michigan... I remember her in my
prayers, still...

denny

Denny wrote:
Jim, glad to hear that the flight worked out well and you had a good
time... I noticed the weather Christmas Eve and again in the morning
and wondered about your flight...
Chicago is a big TRACON with lots of controllers that come and go, but
I wonder if that lady is the same one I bumped into a few years back
when I needed an IFR file to cross Lake Michigan... We were departing
IFR from an uncontrolled field with a flight plan and a squawk code
from center... Center advised we would have to climb VFR to 2000 feet
to make radio contact with Chicago from there... I stated that we had
1500 foot overcast and would have to penetrate the cloud layer before
making contact with Chicago... Center said to call back on the phone
right at departure... I did that, was given clearance to depart at a
specific time five minutes later, a squawk, a heading to fly, and a
clearance to climb to 4000 until I could contact Chicago... Center was
right on the money and by the time I got to 2000 Chicago was loud and
clear... I called, and called, and called, all the way to my 4000 foot
clearance... Finally the lady answers my tenth (or whatever) call with
a snarled order to remain vfr and stay clear of her airspace... I
replied with UNABLE, and she went right on talking to airliners and
refused to answer me again... Once I realized that this shield maiden
from hell was not going to answer I turned west to stay out of the
Chicago B, found a small hole in the cloud deck and spiraled down... It
was a long, long ride around the south end of Lake Michigan, avoiding
Chicago airspace, to get back to Michigan... I remember her in my
prayers, still...

denny

Denny;
This sounds like a lost comms issue. Why did you not continue on your
last clearance and follow your filed flight plan? You were on a IFR
flight plan from the moment you rolled off the runway with your void
time clearance and she should have had your strip in her stack. Did you
contact the center afterwards to ask about this?

Yup, I know all those things... It was not a lost comms situation, she
answered my call (finally) with an order to remain clear of her
airspace... And for about 10 milliseconds I considered squawking 7700
to force her hand, but decided against it as I knew I could slip down
through the cloud deck without major risk... All the way around Lake
Michigan I was picturing the various tortures of the damned for her and
relishing my revenge... It was late night by the time we got home and
the next day was back to running my business after being gone and by
the time I got the deck cleared there I had cooled down... No one was
endangered - because I made appropriate decisions... So, I made one
final decision to just drop it...

If it had been night, or I was solid IFR in thick stuff, I would have
hit the 7700 button and let the cards fall where they might...
Cheers ... Denny