Little rant...

mshunter said:
This Todd fella seems borderline unsafe......
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Borderline is an understatement. They already have a huge stack of paperwork against him and he has been suspended once but it is a huge deal to get the guy fired. Maybe he should just take a kid to work.

The supervisors are working hard on getting rid of him. Instead of calling though it is best to send letters as it is much easier to document it on paper. Make sure and get the time and freqency in use.

Until the day he retires (March 2014) I'll keep working on him. It has become a sport.
 
CABILL said:
Oh yes, Todd, the one person at LGB who can ruin any great day just because he's speaking.
The fact is that he is a control freak. I've never met him in person, but, if I did I would have to guess he's 4'7" tall because he's got a huge case of Napoleon Syndrome!
Maybe it's time LGB does another pilot's satisfaction survey so we can all complain about him by name again.

My favorite Todd quote of the past few months is:
"48E inbound ILS Rwy 30"
"Cessna N3048E, use your complete tail number!"<Insert pretend deep voice here>
"3048E, inbound ILS Rwy 30"
"Cessna N3048E, use your complete call sign!"
"N3048E 1/4 mile final, are we clear to land 30?"
"Cessna N3048E circle to land 25L"
And there was nobody behind us to land 30!!!
Got to LOVE TODD<insert sarcasm here>!
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"Unable to land 25L due to operational necessity"...

had Reagan Tower try to give us 33 on 2 mile final once.... uh, howabout NO!
 
There's a guy like that at OUN, too.

I'd call the supervisor and find out what's up. Especially the "hurry" off of the runway part. He's not driving, you are.

-mini
 
minitour said:
There's a guy like that at OUN, too.

I'd call the supervisor and find out what's up. Especially the "hurry" off of the runway part. He's not driving, you are.

-mini
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And, if there is no one behind you trying to land, all the reason to take your time and do it safe. I think we went around (not you and I, but the JC community) about this one is cars a while back. When I am being pressured in an airplane to hurry, I usually slowdown to make sure I haven't missed anything. I sur would hate to be the guy that threw the gear lever trying to bring the flaps up.
 
SIUav8er said:
I have dealt with this same • at LGB myself. one time I was with an IFR student in an Archer. I tell my student to request a tower enroute clearance back to CCB. We contact clearance delivery and its "this guy"... after my student makes the call, the controller comes back on and says "say again type of aircraft, There is no such thing as a PA28 /A"
So my student comes back and says we are a "Piper Archer /A" The controller, without even a hesitation, tells us to figure out what type of aircraft we are before we call him for a clearance. He had very rude, condescending tone. Unbelievable.

At this point I get on the radio and ask him what the problem is. I told him again that we were a PA28-161 /A, and thats it. He said, "Unless you know what type of aircraft you are flying, I cannot give you a clearance".... so I switched to ground, got taxi, and left VFR. Turns out that the controllers put "P28A" into the computer for a "PA28" I didnt know that, and had used PA28 with ATC a million times without a problem.

This guy is a real jerk
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I kinda had the same issue when I was instructing at Riddle. We were coming back from a flight and called approach for clerance back into the airspace and used our usual callsign Riddle 4XXER. Well approach comes back and barks what type airplane. Well ok I can Kinda see this question but they all know as well as the instructors that all the call signs that begin with Riddle 4 are Cessnas 172. So I respond back that we are a cessna. Then he responds with, I know your a cessna but what type, a Citation? Like dude come on, you just gotta give me a hard time today don't you. So I had to go back and spell it out to him that we were a Riddle Cessna Skyhawk, not the new Citations that Riddle apparently just bought.
 
Jshutt64 said:
....We're about 10 miles or so north of the field, and I make my initial call.

"Long Beach Tower, Cessna 4203P, 10 miles to the north, 1,800, inbound to land 25R with Bravo."

"N4203P, Long Beach Tower, squawk 1234." (don't remember the code)

"Squawk 1234, 03P."

As soon as I heard the voice, I muttered an obscenity to myself. ......
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Never flown in LGB and don't know of this guy, but with that being said. Do you think that your frame of mind may have contributed a bit?

This guy may be an ass for all I know, but often if people look for 'trouble' they will find it. But like the others have said, if it was THAT BAD, call the number.
 
JEP said:
Never flown in LGB and don't know of this guy, but with that being said. Do you think that your frame of mind may have contributed a bit?

This guy may be an ass for all I know, but often if people look for 'trouble' they will find it. But like the others have said, if it was THAT BAD, call the number.
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In 35 years I've only landed at Long Beach 3 or 4 times and I've always had professional service from ATC. HOWEVER, this guy is known far and wide as a very poor and very rude controller. Those of you saying every facility has a guy like that are wrong. This guy is a really really bad.
 
JEP said:
Never flown in LGB and don't know of this guy, but with that being said. Do you think that your frame of mind may have contributed a bit?

This guy may be an ass for all I know, but often if people look for 'trouble' they will find it. But like the others have said, if it was THAT BAD, call the number.
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I will answer for him...NO. This guy is a total dick (can I say dick?..if not, sorry). HE is the one that seems to ALWAYS be looking for a 'fight' so to speak.

In fact, I attended an FAAST team wings program about 2 months ago or so, and a speaker for that program who was an FSDO higherup mentioned about a certain controller being watched very closely, and asked us all to report anything that was of concern to them immediately. He also mentioned that this 'fellow' lets call him, was hanging on by a very thin thread. I am actually quite surprised to hear he is still being such an •. You'd think he would learn his lesson by almost loosing his yob before, and probably knowing he is on borrowed time now.

Im with Cody. I think this guy NEEDS to be fired. I dont care what you say, by the way he instills anxiety to pilots when flying is ABSOLUTELY creating a safety issue that WILL result in an 'incident' at some point.

That dick needs to go.
 
Zero1Niner said:
Im with Cody. I think this guy NEEDS to be fired. I dont care what you say, by the way he instills anxiety to pilots when flying is ABSOLUTELY creating a safety issue that WILL result in an 'incident' at some point.

That dick needs to go.
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You know he won't be fired, don't you? These days, you practically have to bring your kid into work at the tower and put him on the radio in order to get fired......

oh wait...
 
JEP said:
Never flown in LGB and don't know of this guy, but with that being said. Do you think that your frame of mind may have contributed a bit?

This guy may be an ass for all I know, but often if people look for 'trouble' they will find it. But like the others have said, if it was THAT BAD, call the number.
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I will admit that I went into this whole scenario with bias.

However, I can say without a doubt that if I had never heard the guy before and the same thing happened to me, I would feel much the same way. He really, really, really is awful to everyone.
 
Depending on the circumstances, the following responses are very helpful. If you are sure you are complying with clearances, then get his supervisor and give him an earful.File a written complaint if necessary.

1.Unable.
2. we will set the parking brake and run some checks lists this runway is mine sorry.
3. I will taxi as fast as the FAA recommends and not any faster.
4. Standing by for your supervisors telephone number.
 
Jshutt64 said:


He calls my base on what will be 3 mile final. Not cleared to land, but I'm assuming it's coming. At about 1.5 mile final, I make a call.

"Tower, is 03P cleared to land?"

"N4203P, negative, runway 25R unable, turn base for runway 25L."

"N4203P, turn right at inactive 34L, contact ground."

I acknowledge, then start to look for 34L up ahead as I move.

"N4203P, HURRY UP AND GET OFF THE RUNWAY, exit 34L, contact ground."

.
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As a low-time GA pilot myself, I had a couple of questions for anyone who wanted to chime in:

1) Suppose this was a relatively unfamiliar airport. I would be somewhat uncomfortable at night suddenly being asked to switch runways while on 1.5 mile final. I realize that we can't always be "comfortable" with ATC instructions, but I guess my question is what recourse or options does one have when presented with situations like this? Ask the ornery controller for clarification? Do as your told?

2) I'm looking at an airport diagram of LGB, Jschutt. When he told you turn right at inactive 34L, did you just continue to putt putt on down 34L getting instructions to cross runways 30 and 25R?

Thanks
 
BaronPete said:
As a low-time GA pilot myself, I had a couple of questions for anyone who wanted to chime in:

1) Suppose this was a relatively unfamiliar airport. I would be somewhat uncomfortable at night suddenly being asked to switch runways while on 1.5 mile final. I realize that we can't always be "comfortable" with ATC instructions, but I guess my question is what recourse or options does one have when presented with situations like this? Ask the ornery controller for clarification? Do as your told?
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You have to assume that ATC has a reason for giving you a particular instruction and be ready to execute, as you said it won't always be comfortable. Comfort aside, if it ever seems unsafe to you...something that ATC is asking you to do, you can always say "unable", and they should be ready to do something else with you like send you around, have you proceed straight through at altitude to enter a pattern, etc.
 
granlistillo said:
Depending on the circumstances, the following responses are very helpful. If you are sure you are complying with clearances, then get his supervisor and give him an earful.File a written complaint if necessary.

1.Unable.
2. we will set the parking brake and run some checks lists this runway is mine sorry.
3. I will taxi as fast as the FAA recommends and not any faster.
4. Standing by for your supervisors telephone number.
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Some really, really bad advice there.
1. Unable does not give you clearance to land.
2. The runway NEVER belongs to the pilot. The local controller owns the runway.
3. What is the FAA's recommended taxi speed?
4. Tie up the local controller frequency with a demand for a phone number and you may be in trouble.
 
MikeD said:
You have to assume that ATC has a reason for giving you a particular instruction and be ready to execute, as you said it won't always be comfortable. Comfort aside, if it ever seems unsafe to you...something that ATC is asking you to do, you can always say "unable", and they should be ready to do something else with you like send you around, have you proceed straight through at altitude to enter a pattern, etc.
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Gotcha, thanks!
 
BaronPete said:
2) I'm looking at an airport diagram of LGB, Jschutt. When he told you turn right at inactive 34L, did you just continue to putt putt on down 34L getting instructions to cross runways 30 and 25R?

Thanks
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I landed on 25L. The threshold is displaced so you're not in the way of 30. When I turned right on 34L (inactive), I do believe this is the instructions I got.

Taxi J, 34R, K, home. Hold short 30.

I held short of 30 but that was the only hold I needed to have.

The airplane is parked real close to K1. So it took a very long time, haha. It wasn't so bad though because one of LGB's wonderful ladies was working ground. :)
 
Jshutt64 said:
I landed on 25L. The threshold is displaced so you're not in the way of 30. When I turned right on 34L (inactive), I do believe this is the instructions I got.

Taxi J, 34R, K, home. Hold short 30.

I held short of 30 but that was the only hold I needed to have.

The airplane is parked real close to K1. So it took a very long time, haha. It wasn't so bad though because one of LGB's wonderful ladies was working ground. :)
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Wow, epic taxi adventure!
 
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