Call signs at Uncontrolled Airports.

I'm probably a "bad seed" for this, but I'll typically specify the color, model and callsign, ala:
"Podunk traffic, one-six-two-golf-kilo, yellow and blue Citabria entering left forty-five for three-one, Podunk."

It's a bit of a mouthful, but I don't like keying up without transmitting my station callsign any more than I like not giving people an idea what to look for.

Maybe someday, when imma all growed up pilot flying a biiiiiiiiiig aiiiiirplane (Don't want to fly jeeeeeets), I'll be able to sound cool on the radio like all of yall, but for now I'll keep what I've got.

~Fox
 
rframe said:
I like it when people just use general categories or large type-groups.... Cessna 234, Twin 456, Helicopter 444, Learjet 567...beyond that I dont care. I remember the first time I heard Avanti 235... I'm like "what the hell is that? an experimental, a helicopter, a jet?"
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A turbopropeller powered egg beater.
 
Boris Badenov said:
It was fun to self-announce "Rough Rider" on the CTAF. People seemed to be sure it was either an F-22 or the Trojan Blimp.
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Are you out of TUL? Sorry if this is like a known thing I just finally put the MU-2 thing together in my mind :rolleyes:
But back on topic, until recently I'd use essentially what I would call to ATC as (eg Cessna 12345) now I just use type/last 3 digits.
 
I tend to go with Type and Last-3 of N, e.g. Skychicken 123. If the aircraft is other than mostly white, I may throw in the color, or use it in lieu of N.

We have a callsign at my company, but using it at an uncontrolled field (unsupplemented) is a pet peeve of mine, as it provides no useful information to other pilots re: speed, spacing, and what to look for.
 
At work, I swap from company call sign and just use the aircraft type with the last three of the tail. When I was training/flying for fun, I'd often fly an all blue Cherokee, so the call would simply be, "blue cherokee". I've always been a fan of people using their aircraft type with the last 3 of their call sign though. One of my pet peeves at untowered airports is when someone just calls in with their numbers. I don't know if you're a cub, or a 747 at that point.
 
Inverted said:
I don't make radio calls, then wonder why people don't get out of my way as I plow through.
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That reminds me of the first time I remember almost being killed flying...

I was landing in madison county, Alabama and rolled out from base to final. About 30 seconds later, a piper cub drops down onto final about 500 feet in front of me. YOWZA!

I found the guy in the FBO when I got on the ground... "so, not making radio calls today?"

"I don't have a radio"

"ah, so not looking around today?"

"huh?

"You almost hit me by turning onto final without looking."

"OH!"
 
PeanuckleCRJ said:
That reminds me of the first time I remember almost being killed flying...

I was landing in madison county, Alabama and rolled out from base to final. About 30 seconds later, a piper cub drops down onto final about 500 feet in front of me. YOWZA!
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Clearly your pattern was too large. ~.^

~Fox
 
Pretty much every GA plane I ever see around the local field is painted in a way that all you're going to see is white anyway. As long as I know roughly what kind of plane someone is so I can get an idea of their speed, an aircraft out the window is an aircraft out the window.
 
staledog said:
Here's a story along these lines from my student pilot days. I was at an uncontrolled airport doing some night time touch-and-gos in a 152. I was on downwind, and I heard an incoming aircraft, "Waterski 1234" announce that they were inbound and were maybe 10 miles away doing a straight in landing. I had no idea what "Waterski" was, I thought it was some type of seaplane or something. So with him being 10 miles away, I figured I had plenty of time to go another touch-n-go before they got there. Seaplanes are slow, right? So I turned base, and then final, when my whole airplane lit up from the landing light which the guy behind me had just turned on. It was about then that I figured out that this other airplane was huge, and fast, and about to run over me on final. I went around and got the heck out of his way. I learned later that "Waterski" is the callsign for TransStates airlines.

Moral of the story: Airline pilots (and others) please announce what type of aircraft you are when approaching a non-towered field! The little guy in the 152 may not have any idea what to look for or how fast you're approaching if you only use the callsign.

I'll also note that most of the airliners I've heard over the years do, in fact, state their type aircraft in a situation like this. I don't think it is an epidemic.
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For that exact reason, I include my aircraft type.

"Airline 123, Embraer jet, departing RW12 straight out"
 
Simply be visible, audible and predictable. Make callouts at 10 miles, in the pattern, short final and clear of the runway. Start & end broadcast with airport name, and include aircraft type, N-number, position, intent, airport name. If there's other traffic on the radio, acknowledge visual contact (or not) and state intentions relative to them.

"Flatbush County, Skyhawk 1234 Alpha, 10 miles north, entering left downwind, landing runway 35, Flatbush County."
"Flatbush County, regional jet 1234 10 miles south on final, landing runway 35, Flatbush County."
"Flatbush County Cherokee 56Zulu, this is Skyhawk 34 Alpha, we'll follow you landing runway 35 Flatbush County."
 
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