Stupid Guy in MCI Bravo

desertdog71

desertdog71

Girthy Member
Let me tell you about this dumba$$ that went into MCI Bravo Airspace today. First, he was apparantly cleared to enter Bravo about 10 miles out, but what he heard was clear into class C. He thought that thios meant the class C ring surrounding the Bravo airspace. When he got to the edge of Bravo airspace, he called approach and asked for the clearance to enter, and entered a holding pattern just outside of Bravo. Approach told him to contact Tower?? I know, kind of confusing. So the pilot contacted tower, and they were confused, so they said to contact approach again.

So he contacted approach again, and they say "I have you down as cleared into Bravo" Pilot replies, "Negative no clearance was given into Bravo". very well, fly heading 010. The pilot follows ATC directions. NxxxLG fly heading 030, then fly heading 090, then heading 110. "NxxxLG expect visual approach Runway 19R. You are number 2 behind Southwest 737 at your 11 o clock 4 miles descending 3000. Pilot replies "Roger, have the 737 in sight, will follow number 2. MCI Approach. "NxxxLG contact Intl Tower on xxx.xx. Pilot confirms, switches Freqs. "NxxxLG with you on Right base following Southwest 737". Tower replies "Roger descend at discretion, cleared to land behind 737..Caution wake turbulence". Pilot confirms. 30 seconds later "NxxxLG, I have traffic that needs to depart, do a left turning 360 and realign right base" Pilot confirms and does a left turning 360 degree standard rate turn and re-enters a right base. The pilot was cleared and lands runway 19R behind departing Air Wisconsin RJ. Taxis to Executive Beechcraft and No problem.

Well, about 10 minutes later, the same Pilot contacts Clearance delivery for clearance, and requests an IFR altitude on a VFR flight. Then when he does his readback, gets chastised for using the word "Cleared" on the readback.

Anyways, the moral of the story is this.
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That dumba$$ Pilot was me, and I had a really bad day in the Bravo today. The ATC people were fairly cool about it, I guess we all have bad days. I am usually very good on the Radio and in controlled airspace. I guess we all have our days. :)
 
desertdog71 said:
The ATC people were fairly cool about it, I guess we all have bad days. I am usually very good on the Radio and in controlled airspace. I guess we all have our days. :)
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Exactly, we all have our days. You live and learn. :)
 
Yeah we all have our bad days ... today was your turn. At least it wasn't as bad as what I heard last week. Some guy was flying ... er ... scud running and following an ATC instruction ended up IMC. He told the controller he was IMC and needed to get lower or pick up a clearance ... when the controller asked if he was IFR rated and equiped he slowly answered "No but my checkride is tommorrow" ... Gospel truth!

Jim
 
desertdog71 said:
...clear into class C. He thought that thios meant the class C ring surrounding the Bravo airspace. ...
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I am not too familiar with the MCI airspace but I am betting there isn't any Class C airspace out there? Are you talking about the 30NM mode C veil that you need a xpnder to be able to fly under?

Other than that, it sounds like you had a good learning experience! I am going to try and do the same at DEN in a few days. Time to do some night landings so hopefully they let me in there on that big 16,000 footer!
 
C650CPT said:
when the controller asked if he was IFR rated and equiped he slowly answered "No but my checkride is tommorrow" ... Gospel truth!
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Wow. Now thats funny. :banghead:
 
Good twist to the story. Kind of a Tarantino twist to it. And it didnt sound all that bad. At least you didnt bust airspace, confirming doesnt hurt..It may piss someone off, but at least you CYA. :)
 
desertdog71 said:
That dumba$$ Pilot was me, and I had a really bad day in the Bravo today. The ATC people were fairly cool about it, I guess we all have bad days. I am usually very good on the Radio and in controlled airspace. I guess we all have our days. :)
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The whole time I was reading your story, I kept thinking, "I don't get it...this isn't that bad. No regs broken, everybody stayed safe...what's the big deal?"

Everybody has less than perfect flights. I wish I had a dime for every time I screwed up. I could've paid for all my training with dimes.
 
It was towards the end of a long, hot, windy, bumpy ass day. :)
5.8 under the hood will melt your brain after a while.
 
To me it sounded like you got in a bit over your head, and it did not go as smoothly as you had hoped. I have flown into a lot of Class B airspace, and this is very common - things are busy and it is easy to become overwhelmed!! As others have said it is a learning experience, and ATC at the busy airports are the shiznit - I guess they presume everyone flying a light airplane is a student and act accordingly ;-)

I have flown into LAX a number of times, and am a firm believer that Class bravo airspace is 2 pilot airspace - every other plane has 2 pilots to manage the workload and so should you!! Everytime I flew into Class B I took an extra pilot, they would mainly tune radios look for traffic, and just be a cool head as it is easy to get overwhelmed in that airspace.

What I would suggest is you grab an instructor or fellow pilot and fly into MCI within the next week - just nail it this time.
 
I_Money said:
I have flown into LAX a number of times, and am a firm believer that Class bravo airspace is 2 pilot airspace - every other plane has 2 pilots to manage the workload and so should you!!
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I beg to differ. There are plenty of single pilot ops in class bravo.

A pilot should maybe get more experience in busier airspace in general (class charlie, for example), before going in to bravo, but there's no reason a reasonably experienced private pilot can't handle bravo airspace solo.

To be honest, the first time I went into class bravo airspace (Seattle) I didn't know what to expect. I'd flown in lots of class charlie airports, but never bravo. I was expecting the worst, but came away surprised at how easy it is. Really not much harder than charlie airspace, IMO.
 
I_Money said:
Class bravo airspace is 2 pilot airspace - every other plane has 2 pilots to manage the workload and so should you!!
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Not every airplane...it can be managed safely with one pilot with no problems. It is easier with 2, but can be done just fine with one.
 
I_Money said:
.........What I would suggest is you grab an instructor or fellow pilot and fly into MCI within the next week - just nail it this time.
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I thought he stated he had 5.8 under the hood? If so, there must have been another pilot on board! If not, I'm scared now!:sarcasm:

side note: DD.....yep, 5.8 under the hood will definitely melt your brain. Did you take any breaks in there?
 
I_Money said:
every other plane has 2 pilots to manage the workload and so should you!!
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Huh??!??! What does that say about your abilities to handle workloads?
I fly in South Florida. We have the 2nd busiest class Delta airport under FLL's class Charlie aspc..5 miles south is HWO another class Delta, another 5 miles south of that is Opa-Locka, followed by MIA which is just a few miles south of that. I fly through it all everyday without problems. Heck, even the foreigners who barely speak english manage to handle it.
 
Or you can go to MKC last night like I did because thats what the company paper said, and halfway there realize they only have 3000 ft of runway open. I started thinking, I'm in a van and can make it but the regular airplane is a Navajo, and a heavy one at that. 3000 ft is gonna be tight for that. Check the ops manual and yeppers, we fly to MKC and not MCI. Try the company, but of course i'm out of range. Bite the bullet and my pride, call the tower on the 2nd radio and ask humbly, "Do we fly in there anymore?" The response was of course, "No, you guys fly into MCI now". Moral of the very long winded story, use all available resources. Don't be afraid to ask questions. ATC is there to help you. They might get pissy with you because you might screw up their flow, but they'll get over it. I've never heard of someone getting violated, because they confirmed instructions with ATC. You got the job done and that's all that matters. Fly Safe, and smack your instructor for putting you under the hood for 5.8 hours.
 
desertdog71 said:
Let me tell you about this dumba$$ that went into MCI Bravo Airspace today. First, he was apparantly cleared to enter Bravo about 10 miles out, but what he heard was clear into class C. He thought that thios meant the class C ring surrounding the Bravo airspace. When he got to the edge of Bravo airspace, he called approach and asked for the clearance to enter, and entered a holding pattern just outside of Bravo. Approach told him to contact Tower?? I know, kind of confusing. So the pilot contacted tower, and they were confused, so they said to contact approach again.

So he contacted approach again, and they say "I have you down as cleared into Bravo" Pilot replies, "Negative no clearance was given into Bravo". very well, fly heading 010. The pilot follows ATC directions. NxxxLG fly heading 030, then fly heading 090, then heading 110. "NxxxLG expect visual approach Runway 19R. You are number 2 behind Southwest 737 at your 11 o clock 4 miles descending 3000. Pilot replies "Roger, have the 737 in sight, will follow number 2. MCI Approach. "NxxxLG contact Intl Tower on xxx.xx. Pilot confirms, switches Freqs. "NxxxLG with you on Right base following Southwest 737". Tower replies "Roger descend at discretion, cleared to land behind 737..Caution wake turbulence". Pilot confirms. 30 seconds later "NxxxLG, I have traffic that needs to depart, do a left turning 360 and realign right base" Pilot confirms and does a left turning 360 degree standard rate turn and re-enters a right base. The pilot was cleared and lands runway 19R behind departing Air Wisconsin RJ. Taxis to Executive Beechcraft and No problem.

Well, about 10 minutes later, the same Pilot contacts Clearance delivery for clearance, and requests an IFR altitude on a VFR flight. Then when he does his readback, gets chastised for using the word "Cleared" on the readback.

Anyways, the moral of the story is this.

That dumba$$ Pilot was me, and I had a really bad day in the Bravo today. The ATC people were fairly cool about it, I guess we all have bad days. I am usually very good on the Radio and in controlled airspace. I guess we all have our days. :)
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Well, hang up your headset dude... your done. Hope you haven't forgotten how to drive a truck. :sarcasm:

(Pssst... most guys at your flying level never attempt Class B! You're ahead of the curve!)

'Twas a good learning experience and not at all that bad... CFIs and ATPs on this board have done much, much worse.
 
Even at the professional level (talking corporate and airline) pilots have bad days. I wouldn't worry about it, that was a great learning experience. In Class B airspace and busy airports there really aren't any surprises. They are just more busy, have larger aircraft, and take more planning and situational awareness to operate from.
 
It happens to everyone. Just learn from it. Back in the day when I was still flying Bandits I tried filing direct to Detroit from DCA. Rookie mistake, and got a verbal whiplashing by Clearance.
 
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