"Fly Baby, you violated Class B Airspace"

There I was, flying along fat dumb and happy. I punch the mike button: "Auburn
Traffic, Fly Baby 848 turning downwind for touch-and-go."

A voice comes up: "Fly Baby, you violated Class B Airspace!"

It took me a bit aback. My home field is ~2-3 miles away from a ground-level
extension of the Sea-Tac Class B, so one has to be a bit careful. But I've been
flying from this airport for over 20 years; I've been careful.

I key the mike: "I'm only a quarter-mile from the airport!"

"You flew over Redondo!"

Anyone flying over Redondo *would* be in Class B, all right. But that was four
miles away.

And I had just taken off! I had returned to the airport environs about ten
minutes earlier (taking the careful route past the Class B) and had been
shooting touch-and-goes since then.

My guess is the guy saw someone in the distance go over Redondo, then tuned in
to the CTAF at Auburn (S50). Since I was the next guy to call about entering
the downwind, he assumed I had been the plane he'd seen. As I flew downwind, I
noticed a red-and-white Cessna 180/185 go past about 500 feet pass overhead,
flying to the Southeast. That's about the right heading for Redondo to Auburn,
so I figured it was the plane the other guy had spotted.

One interesting aspect: The guy making the accusation never gave his aircraft's
call sign. Wonder if it was the guy *in* the Cessna, trying to find someone
else to take the rap? :-)

Ron Wanttaja

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote:

you violated Class B Airspace!"

That's towards the top of the list of Things a Pilot Hates to Hear.


My guess is the guy saw someone in the distance go over Redondo, then tuned
in
to the CTAF at Auburn (S50). Since I was the next guy to call about
entering
the downwind, he assumed I had been the plane he'd seen.

Who cares what he thought he saw? He's not the FAA - screw him.

One interesting aspect: The guy making the accusation never gave his
aircraft's call sign.

That figures.

--
Dan

"You were pretty hard on the Beaver last night, Ward."
-June Cleaver

In a previous article, said:
There I was, flying along fat dumb and happy. I punch the mike button: "Auburn
Traffic, Fly Baby 848 turning downwind for touch-and-go."

A voice comes up: "Fly Baby, you violated Class B Airspace!"

File an ASRS *right* *now*.


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
The biggest problem with democracy is that it is, in effect, the rule
by the whim of the moment.
-- Keith Glass

I think that the lesson to be learned here is that you should never -
ever - respond to anonymous transmissions (for anything short of an
imminent midair). Just ignore 'em

David Johnson

"Paul Tomblin" wrote

File an ASRS *right* *now*.

You think so? If he is really 100% positive it was not him, then that
should not be necessary. They would have to be able to prove it with radar
tracks, right?

I'm still not clear as to who it was that made the "you just violated..."
call. If it was ATC, then a call to the supervisor might be in order, but
otherwise, it didn't exist, IMHO.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote:
I'm still not clear as to who it was that made the "you just violated..."
call. If it was ATC, then a call to the supervisor might be in order, but
otherwise, it didn't exist, IMHO.

In this neck o' the woods, if someone violates Class B airspace and ATC
knows who it is, they don't reprimand on the radio, they give a phone
number to call when you're on the ground. It isn't up to you to decide
what to do if you've gone into Class B airspace without the clearance.

In article ,
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

In a previous article, said:
There I was, flying along fat dumb and happy. I punch the mike button:
"Auburn
Traffic, Fly Baby 848 turning downwind for touch-and-go."

A voice comes up: "Fly Baby, you violated Class B Airspace!"

File an ASRS *right* *now*.

I second the motion! An ASRS report will protect you in case things get
nasty.

Ron Wanttaja writes:

One interesting aspect: The guy making the accusation never gave his aircraft's
call sign. Wonder if it was the guy *in* the Cessna, trying to find someone
else to take the rap? :-)

He's not ATC, so there's no rap to take.

Orval Fairbairn writes:

I second the motion! An ASRS report will protect you in case things get
nasty.

How can things get nasty? Another pilot is not ATC.

On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:51:46 +0200, Mxsmanic wrote:

Ron Wanttaja writes:

One interesting aspect: The guy making the accusation never gave his aircraft's
call sign. Wonder if it was the guy *in* the Cessna, trying to find someone
else to take the rap? :-)

He's not ATC, so there's no rap to take.

Dozens of pilots on 122.8 heard someone say that a Fly Baby violated the Class B
at the south end of Sea-Tac Class B. If ATC *did* notice someone cutting across
the airspace and the FAA started an investigation, no doubt someone might tell
them, "I heard it was a Fly Baby." If the guy making the radio call had been
the guy who cut across, he's just misdirected the investigators.

Ron Wanttaja