Reamed out by Approach

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
I really wished that I could have pointed out that if he'd been a bit more
careful with his pronounciation, I would have acknowledged his first call
immediately, since I heard very clearly his final call about whether or
not
I was still with him.


OK, here's my 2 cents:

A lot could be going on here, most of it probably not your fault. He could
be having a bad day, he could have a bad microphone that garbled his words,
he could be overloaded. What you want to do is give the facility the
information that might help fix the problem, while protecting yourself.

So, before going over to the tower, I would ask approach for his initials.
Every controller has working initials that identify him at that facility and
he is required to give them to you if you request them.

After you land, write down the time and frequency that it occurred so you
don't forget it, along with a few reminders of what happened so your memory
remains fresh. The next business day, call the facility and ask to speak to
the facility chief (NOT the controller). Explain the situation, making sure
that you remain constructive rather than trying to trash the controller. You
should sound calm, professional, understanding, and concerned about aviation
safety. You will almost certainly find that the chief is interested in the
same things. By giving him the scenario, he can look into the problem and
maybe fix it or at least alleviate it some. If it's a problem of not enough
controllers and his budget is maxed out he may not be able to do much but at
least he can talk to the controller and you may give him some ammunition to
put behind a budget increase request.

If you give the chief the time and the frequency and the controller's
initials he can listen to the tapes, which may help him analyze the problem.
You should also give the chief your phone number and be willing to accept a
call from him with some constructive criticism of you. As long as there is
no enforcement action (and unless a separation error resulted from something
you did, that's extremely unlikely), everybody learns and everybody wins.

Jon