Sequester Consequences- Non Towered Airports/Uncontrolled Fields

I fly in and around uncontrolled fields all the time. I frequently use Montgomery Orange County (KMGJ) with Instrument candidates and IPC customers. It’s a great local airport.  The congeniality of the approach controllers working in that sector is unparalleled for the metro NYC area. The folks at 132.75 will usually provide VFR advisories and sequencing for a working flight instructor who knows how to ask for it professionally and politely.  And when those same controllers are overworked Orange County is still a great airport to provide vectors to a pilot over the intercom and perhaps get in three different approaches in during a two-hour session. The inopportune part is when you change to the Unicom frequency and try to fit a long final straight in approach into a pattern full of trainers in close traffic. It’s helpful to report position relative to the end of the runway you are flying the approach to because most non-instrument pilots won’t understand a call relative to a fix on the approach.

Rather than saying  “Orange County Traffic Mooney is over DIYAD for the ILS 3 Approach Orange County” saying “Orange County Traffic Mooney is four mile final runway three” will let everyone know your position regardless of whether they are novices or seasoned space shuttle captains. 

I don’t imagine the FAA will change the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency when our Delta’s become Echo’s so working in and around an airport with a discrete frequency will be more orderly than working at a Unicom airport where many airports are sharing the same.

It is key to remember that when communicating in the blind at a non-towered airport that shares a frequency with other non-towered airports that you must start and end your transmission with the name of the airport you are operating at. 

An example would be “Orange County Traffic Mooney is ten miles south east inbound for left downwind runway 21 orange county”. Note the lack of a call sign in my sample transmission. When we’re not dealing with air traffic controllers who identify and separate us by our call sign it is not necessary to clog up a busy frequency identifying the specific registration number of your plane. 

A pet peeve of mine is when pilots do is call out with “any traffic please advise” as in “Orange County Traffic Cherokee 12345 is 17 northwest inbound for the left downwind runway 3 any traffic in the area please advise”.  Asking for an airport advisory is usually not necessary on an airport that has an ASOS machine. Listening up on the frequency, paying attention to others and keeping your head on a swivel is the best way to prevent any close encounters with other pilots.

My mother used to say “its not the child’s fault” whenever we saw a kid misbehaving or being rude and I try to remember that idea when I hear pilots exhibiting the aforementioned bad habits and I blame one of the pilot’s instructors for some of these bad habits.