Taxi Instructions

jweldon

jweldon

“Member”
Picture attached. I teach at Austin (KAUS) and landed 35R, turned off on Lima. I request taxi to Atlantic and the ground controller instructed me to taxi to the ramp via Bravo. Bravo doesn't lead to the ramp. I feel like I'm just being a dummy and didn't understand a simple instruction, but I've never recieved a taxi instruction that didn't lead exactly to where I was supposed to go.

Anyways, they almost always give us bravo, kilo, ramp, so I looked towards Kilo and saw SWA taxing down Bravo quite a ways away. I was unsure what to do, especially since I wasn't cleared on Lima or Kilo so after waiting on Lima in between Alpha and Bravo I asked for clarification. The ground controller got upset and told me the instruction was "taxi to the ramp VIA BRAVO," so I just gunned it and continued on Lima.

I still don't understand what he was asking me to do. Was he giving me the option of Lima or Kilo?

bOM4Ue7.png
 
Last edited:
I was waiting, and I did ask for clarification. I specifically asked if he wanted me to use Lima or Kilo and he repeated himself. And now that I'm looking at my drawing I was actually in between Alpha and Bravo at Lima.

MidlifeFlyer said:
What did he say when you asked him?
Click to expand...
He said verbatim "The instruction was to taxi to the ramp via Bravo" in an exasperated tone.
 
Cptnchia said:
I’d just go down B and and enter the ramp at either L or K, whichever is closer to where I want to go on the ramp.
Click to expand...
I assume that's what he meant but I wanted to check. I hate it when I upset controllers, especially in a Cessna at a Charlie airport :oops:
 
Even that’s pretty ambiguous. I’d file a NASA report. Not cause you could be violated, but someone somewhere is looking at them.
 
Guy in MKE cleated us from the gate, across 2 different runways, to the active. Thought they were only supposed to clear you across one runway at a time. Didn’t argue with him. Just did it.
 
jweldon said:
I was waiting, and I did ask for clarification. I specifically asked if he wanted me to use Lima or Kilo and he repeated himself. And now that I'm looking at my drawing I was actually in between Alpha and Bravo at Lima.


He said verbatim "The instruction was to taxi to the ramp via Bravo" in an exasperated tone.
Click to expand...
In which case, I'd do what others suggest. Turn into the ramp at whichever cross-taxiway made the most sense to me.
 
Shoulda just taxiied down Bravo all the way til the end and then been like "uh ground apparently bravo doesn't go to the ramp". Controllers like this make us all look bad. Hopefully you would have bungled everything up for the ground controller and he would have been stuck eating his words. Maybe it would have woken him up too and he'd stop giving half assed instructions.
 
jweldon said:
The ground controller got upset and told me the instruction was "taxi to the ramp VIA BRAVO
Click to expand...
As far as I'm concerned (and the rest of the FAA), the ground controller gave you an incorrect taxi route. Needed to have been either "via lima" or "via bravo kilo."
But I'd have done the same thing and just taxied in on lima if I didn't see anyone coming out and chalked it up to the controller being a dummy.
 
He put you in a round room and told you to poo in the corner.
“ I’ll just taxi down bravo, you tell me when to turn, mmmmmmmkayyyy?”
 
Point blank, the controller was wrong.

Plain and simple. I would've expected you to stop and reclarify the instructions. If he was still an a**, like Captain Happy a**, I would've jotted down the time this took place and asked for the tower phone number.

This type of a**hat gives controllers a bad rap.
 
After requesting clarification and receiving the response you did, I would have just said "roger, straight ahead to the ramp" in order to let others (SWA in this case) know how I interpreted that instruction.

Since you're an instructor at AUS, a phone call to the tower and a talk with the supervisor might yield good information for either your interpretation or a correction for this controller. It never hurts to clarify.
 
I used to fly out of KAUS quite a bit. As I recall, when landing 35R, the controllers always specified Kilo or Lima when we would taxi back to Atlantic. Never had any ambiguity.

@jweldon Who are you flying/teaching with?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top