Who goes first?
- Thread starter ppragman
- Start date
NJA_Capt
Well-Known Member
The same reason we say "SE of the field" instead of SSE or 119.8 degrees.
It is a general direction/heading, not targeting coordinates.
Sometimes the freq is busy and frankly it is considered poor airmanship to state distance to the decimal point. One aircraft may be giving you slant range DME and the other straight line GPS...Neither one may correspond with your range scale.
Even if we did, by the time we say it and you respond, we are no longer in that place....Hence we are approx/about that distance.
Why does ATC give alt changes in 1000' increments to planes climbing at 5000+ fpm?
Barty
Well-Known Member
I guess the terminal radar guys range/bearing readout has greater precision than ours does in the center. We only get a readout down to the tenth of a mile.
I don't think comical is the proper way to describe those people. Most of them that give such precise distances are just that way all the time.
Guy
Well-Known Member
You need to read the posts higher up in the thread. I didn't suggest reporting distances in tenths. I was responding to someone who suggested that the reason pilots do that is because they don't have an FMS that reads distances to the tenth of a mile.
The question is what value does saying "about" add to the transmission. That is the question nobody has yet addressed. If it adds value, then let's send a recommendation to the folks who write the AIM and get them to add that to the book since they are missing that in their section on communications. Perhaps the pilots who say "about" are concerned that if they say "7 miles north" that the controller will not be able to correlate the fact that the blip that is 6.5 miles north with no other blips around for miles is actually the aircraft to which they are communicating.
BrewMaster
Well-Known Member
Guy
Well-Known Member
It doesn't take anything away from my transmission because I don't use it. What it does do when used is needlessly add length to a message, just like starting transmissions with "and" or putting the words "this is" in front of a call sign, or many other imprecise colloquialisms.
BrewMaster
Well-Known Member
Bumblebee
Commodore
I say good day, good morning, appreciate y'all...take it easy and all kind of other stuff that only makes for a more relaxed and comfortable work environment.
When I make a call and say I'm about, approximately or just passin' or approaching 10 miles SE of KXYZ, that is actually making my report more accurate.
As one of my favorite captains said, If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!:beer:
When I make a call and say I'm about, approximately or just passin' or approaching 10 miles SE of KXYZ, that is actually making my report more accurate.
As one of my favorite captains said, If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!:beer:
Guy
Well-Known Member
Yes, really.
Guy
Well-Known Member
No, just correct. The folks who think they are "cool" are the ones with the self styled but incorrect transmissions.
Guy
Well-Known Member
Then why don't you and your favorite captain sit down and write a recommendation to the folks who publish the AIM. Tell them how the extra meaningless verbiage is more accurate, and drop me a line when they agree.
Bumblebee
Commodore
see, I am old enough to know that this is really less of a suggestion than it is a little jab
so thanks, but I am just going to continue and communicate the way most of us do...when it's busy we cut it short and when things are slower we act more like humans than robots...
I agree that standardized communications are important, and particularly so when the airspace is jammed, but in the context of this conversation we are talking about a GA airplane rolling into some quiet airport somewhere...
boondr
Penalty Vectorer
Dangerous!
Actually I am probably the worst "nice guy" offender. I have found it is easier a too ask for things from pilots whose first impression of you was a good one. I greet most check-in's and I say "safe flight" to every departure and mean it. If I get real busy I will drop all that in favor of brevity (ie my only salutation on the finals is generally "good day" or "thank you" on the frequency change to tower), but it will be back later.
Like I said I do it because I have found pilots are more receptive to "favors" if they got a "Good afternoon" on check-in, as opposed to gruff voice who sounds like you just pissed in his Cheerios.
"Extra's" may not be proper or official, but we aren't robots either. Human communication needs something more than the starched shirts at FAA HQ allowed for in the '.65 and AIM.
That said there are some that can take it over board with "extra's" on check-ins but 'about' doesn't approach that.
BrewMaster
Well-Known Member
Wow. It has never, ever, once been a problem for me. While I do agree that "Uhhhh, abooout, uhhhh, 6 miles out" sounds pretty bad and ACTUALLY adds length, "XYZ approach, Cessna 12345 about 12 miles south of xyz airport, fife-thousand fife-hundred, inbound to land with Yankee" is just fine.
Adding legth? C'mon.
50 bucks says your reply to this post inludes the word "C'mon"
