Question from a new flight student (whopping 7 hours!)

"Gary G" wrote in message ...
Question from a new flight student (whopping 7 hours!)

I was looking at the AOPA airport info.

ANP and W29 don't list AWOS or ATIS freqs.

An oldie but oh how true: One look at the windsock is worth more than
all the radio reports in ever broadcast.

-Dave Russell
N2S-3 8-)

Dave Russell wrote:

"Gary G" wrote in message ...

Question from a new flight student (whopping 7 hours!)

I was looking at the AOPA airport info.

ANP and W29 don't list AWOS or ATIS freqs.


An oldie but oh how true: One look at the windsock is worth more than
all the radio reports in ever broadcast.

One look out the window to see the crab angle and a peek at the GPS
grounspeed makes ATIS/ASOS/Windsocks superfluous.

One look out the window to see the crab angle and a peek at the GPS
grounspeed makes ATIS/ASOS/Windsocks superfluous.

How true. Sometimes you've got to wonder what people are looking for before
landing.

What I like are the guys who obviously aren't carrying a sectional chart (or
any other airport information) and insist on calling Unicom for an "airport
advisory" -- despite the airport having a published AWOS frequency.

When this occurs, everyone on the freq knows that the incoming guy:

a) Doesn't know the runways, and is hoping that the FBO will tell him the
preferred landing runway before he gets to the pattern.
b) Doesn't have a sectional, and therefore doesn't know the AWOS frequency
to check weather -- which would tell him the preferred runway in 30 seconds.

Our FBO manager loves to play with these guys, telling them stuff like
"winds are variable -- you have your choice of 6 runways..." or he'll simply
give them the AWOS frequency, laconically stating that "our AWOS will give
you the complete weather every 30 seconds...

When you listen to Unicom for 8 hours a day, every day, it's AMAZING the
stuff you hear.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:qI_bd.187839$wV.66243@attbi_s54...
One look out the window to see the crab angle and a peek at the GPS
grounspeed makes ATIS/ASOS/Windsocks superfluous.

How true. Sometimes you've got to wonder what people are looking for
before landing.

What I like are the guys who obviously aren't carrying a sectional chart
(or any other airport information) and insist on calling Unicom for an
"airport advisory" -- despite the airport having a published AWOS
frequency.


AWOS won't necessarily give you the active runway. Many preferred runways
have TAILWINDS, up to certain speeds. Sectionals won't help as they omit
this information.



When this occurs, everyone on the freq knows that the incoming guy:


"Everyone" seems to be uninformed.



a) Doesn't know the runways, and is hoping that the FBO will tell him the
preferred landing runway before he gets to the pattern.
b) Doesn't have a sectional, and therefore doesn't know the AWOS frequency
to check weather -- which would tell him the preferred runway in 30
seconds.


Is there some compelling reason the FBO wants to confuse the pilot? Only the
uninformed would assume that a pilot requesting an airport advisory doesn't
have a sectional. Advisories can and do include much pertanent information
like airport maintenance, bird and animal activity, parachute activity,
glider towing, runway braking condition, and preferred runway, even if it is
the downwind runway, ETC. AWOS gives none of that.


Our FBO manager loves to play with these guys,


No, your FBO manager is an ass.


telling them stuff like "winds are variable -- you have your choice of 6
runways..." or he'll simply give them the AWOS frequency, laconically
stating that "our AWOS will give you the complete weather every 30
seconds...


Again, AWOS will not necessarily give the active runway, which is often a
downwind runway. Nor will a sectional. Sometimes the AF/D provides this
information. Your FBO manager needs to be schooled.


When you listen to Unicom for 8 hours a day, every day, it's AMAZING the
stuff you hear.

Many here need a few years of flying 8-12 hours a day and some remedial
schooling.

--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Karl
"Curator" N185KG

"kage" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:qI_bd.187839$wV.66243@attbi_s54...
One look out the window to see the crab angle and a peek at the GPS
grounspeed makes ATIS/ASOS/Windsocks superfluous.

How true. Sometimes you've got to wonder what people are looking for
before landing.

What I like are the guys who obviously aren't carrying a sectional chart
(or any other airport information) and insist on calling Unicom for an
"airport advisory" -- despite the airport having a published AWOS
frequency.


AWOS won't necessarily give you the active runway.

Far as I know AWOS will never give an active runway. I do believe an active
runway at a non towered airport is any runway a pilot wishes to use. The
most useless radio call is "clear of the active" at a non towered airport.
Well, tied anyway with "traffic in the area please advise" and "airport
advisories."

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:qI_bd.187839$wV.66243@attbi_s54...

Our FBO manager loves to play with these guys, telling them stuff like
"winds are variable -- you have your choice of 6 runways..." or he'll
simply
give them the AWOS frequency, laconically stating that "our AWOS will give
you the complete weather every 30 seconds...

Your FBO manager is a jerk, but he is correct. He should not be directing
traffic into the airport.

Our FBO manager loves to play with these guys, telling them stuff like
"winds are variable -- you have your choice of 6 runways..." or he'll
simply
give them the AWOS frequency, laconically stating that "our AWOS will
give
you the complete weather every 30 seconds...

Your FBO manager is a jerk, but he is correct. He should not be directing
traffic into the airport.

Actually, he's a helluva nice guy. He's just (a) worried about directing
pilots (as you state), and (b) trying to subtlely teach these folks a
lesson.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 01:21:26 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Our FBO manager loves to play with these guys, telling them stuff like
"winds are variable -- you have your choice of 6 runways..." or he'll simply
give them the AWOS frequency, laconically stating that "our AWOS will give
you the complete weather every 30 seconds...

The second is excusable, but I don't think the first is. I know what
the conversation would be in the jury room when they were trying to
assess liability for damages. ("Well, he told the guy to land on any
runway!")


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

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 01:21:26 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Our FBO manager loves to play with these guys, telling them stuff like
"winds are variable -- you have your choice of 6 runways..." or he'll
simply
give them the AWOS frequency, laconically stating that "our AWOS will
give
you the complete weather every 30 seconds...

The second is excusable, but I don't think the first is. I know what
the conversation would be in the jury room when they were trying to
assess liability for damages. ("Well, he told the guy to land on any
runway!")

No he didn't. He said he had his choice of six which is true no matter what
the wind might be. What liability would they be trying to assess?




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

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:qI_bd.187839$wV.66243@attbi_s54...
What I like are the guys who obviously aren't carrying a sectional chart
(or
any other airport information) and insist on calling Unicom for an
"airport
advisory" -- despite the airport having a published AWOS frequency.

What if the wind is between two runways? Of course you're entitled
to use either, or neither, but if there's a temporary lull in the radio, or
non radio aircraft using one particular runway then surely it's better to
be given a heads up on which is the current preferred runway?

For example, at Winter Haven there's a 04-22 and a 11-29. 04-22 is
longer. So if the wind is between the two, usually 04-22 is the one used.
It's not written anywhere, but it's just local knowledge.

If the wind is variable, then one particular runway may be preferred,
maybe for noise reasons, maybe because someone is taxying out to
that runway to take off, or maybe that's the runway everyone else
is headed for while inbound. And it doesn't have to be the FBO that
replies. If no one's behind the desk and there's maybe one plane in
the pattern for a particular runway, not making calls on the radio
because he doesn't see or hear any other traffic, or maybe he's just
inbound and picked a particular runway, this person can tell the
person who asked what that runway is - so they're both singing from
the same song sheet.

Paul