Funtores de olvido e involuciones libres

Proper communications discipline becomes more important as an air- port becomes busier and reaches its peak at those terminals equipped with a Clearance Delivery facility. In addition to listening to the ATIS broadcast, you’ll probably be required to have your IFR clearance be- fore taxi. Besides the obvious rebuff you’re going to get if you con- tact Ground Control without a clearance, consider the unruffled ease with which you can copy when you are sitting calmly on the ramp, nothing competing for your attention except getting the clearance right the first time. If you have a good strong battery (don’t try this on a cold day when the brass monkeys are heading south) and notice a long lineup at the departure end of the runway, you might consider switching on and getting your clearance before you even turn a prop blade. In the face of a long delay, this can save a lot of engine ground-run time. When you have filed for a quick turnaround, it’s possible to get even farther ahead of the system by contacting Clear- ance Delivery as you taxi in after landing.

Whether it’s Clearance Delivery or Ground Control, you can help them dig your flight plan out of the computer by providing some basic information on the first call: “Washington Clearance, Barnburner 1234 Alpha, IFR to Saginaw.” Knowing your destination and that you’re an IFR flight gives the controller something definite to look for.

Ground controllers will set you up by asking, “Barnburner 1234 Alpha, I have your clearance, ready to copy?” but knowing that you are monitoring the frequency, some Clearance Deliverers will just let ’er rip, ready or not! The radio suddenly comes alive with, “Barn- burner 1234 Alpha is cleared as filed to the Saginaw Airport, maintain one zero thousand, etc., etc., etc.” Remember that Clearance Delivery is there to relieve congestion, and you shouldn’t be on the frequency unless you’re ready to copy, so be ready; have your charts spread out to visualize route changes and all the other good practices germane to clearance copying (see Chap. 7, IFR Clearances).

Now that you have your clearance and are ready to drive the Barnburner to the other end of the aerodrome for takeoff, you may face a navigation problem that is more complicated than any airborne situation. As airports have grown in size and complexity, the number of taxiways, outerbelts, innerbelts, crossovers, and switchbacks has in- creased to the point where you are just about ready to concede that there is no way to get to the runway from here! An old adage of the flying business applies here: When in doubt, swallow your pride and

ask. Sure, the airline captain who flies into a particular airport six times a week knows the taxi routes inside out, but ground controllers are quite aware that “first-timers” are going to experience difficulty when they are cleared “to Runway 14 via Charlie and Mike, hold short of Juliet before crossing to the inner parallel, give way to the Beech 99 approaching from your right as you cross November.” And Ground is more than willing to help you find your way, but you do need to ask. On a completely unfamiliar airport, your first task is to break out the approach plate (or a separate taxi chart for the superlarge terminals; see Fig. 8-1) and, from the airport plan view, figure the most likely taxi route; trace it as Ground Control reads it off, and you should be able to make it on your own.

But suppose you can’t find the chart or the taxi clearance is so confusing that you don’t even know which way to turn as you come off the ramp. Here’s where you admit to the controller that you are unfamiliar with the airport and politely ask for directions. The answer may be humbling because, nine times out of ten, there just happens to be an airliner conveniently located so that you will hear (in a con- descending voice), “Roger, 34 Alpha, turn right on the taxiway straight ahead of you and follow the United 747 to the active run- way.” So, tuck in under the tail of the airliner, and it’s “whither thou goest” from here to the end of the runway. Don’t be chagrined be- cause the copilot is sitting up there with an airport diagram, telling the captain which way to turn to make sure they are heading in the right direction.

Some air terminals are notorious for the curt manner with which their controllers operate, and others are equally famous for the com- plete and willing cooperation that comes from Ground Control. In either case, you certainly have a right to ask, and ‘tis a far better thing to find out from them which way to turn than to taxi onto an active run- way and find yourself staring down the intakes of a just-landed MD-88. Once you are cleared by Ground Control to the active runway, you are obligated to remain on that frequency until you arrive at the hold-short line. If you want to depart momentarily to listen to ATIS or call Unicom, be sure to check off with Ground Control and report back. Upon arrival at the end of the runway or the end of the line. it’s prudent to monitor the tower frequency for takeoff clearances and re- strictions being issued to other similar type aircraft. Just another way to stay one step ahead by getting ready for the next segment of your flight before you actually get there.

When yours is the only airplane waiting to leap into the blue (or the gray, as the case may be), the switch to Tower frequency should

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Fig. 8-1 Taxiways and parking facilities at Kennedy International Airport, New York. (Copyright Jeppesen Sanderson Inc., 1986, 1996, Not to be used for navigation. All rights reserved.)

Chapter Eight

be made just as soon as you have all the knobs, switches, levers, and handles in the proper positions for takeoff, and all you need say is, “Possum Kingdom Tower, Barnburner 1234 Alpha, ready on one four.” Especially at busy airports, including the runway number helps the controller sort out the departure requests. When a takeoff release is obtained from Approach Control or Center, Tower will advise, “Maintain runway heading [or other appropriate instructions], cleared for takeoff,” and away you go.

Tower controllers must always coordinate IFR departures with either Departure Control or Center, which means a communications lag, however slight. You can often circumvent this delay (assuming no lineup of waiting aircraft, in which case you must wait your turn) by advising Ground Control as you leave the ramp that you will be ready for takeoff when you reach the runway. This gives Tower a much more positive departure time to pass on to the other ATC facil- ities, and your takeoff clearance will probably be waiting for you when you switch to Tower. If you do this, don’t delay getting to the runway because a phone call will have been made informing some- one else up the line that 1234 Alpha can be off the ground in 2 min- utes. (This procedure also means that you must figure out some way to accomplish your pretakeoff checks before you reach the head of the runway. If you’ve any doubt that you can do this thoroughly and safely, taxi to the run-up area and don’t call “ready to go” until you finish the checklist.)

Position Reports: