35
votes
Accepted
At a non-towered airport in the US, what should I do if I hear a medevac flight waiting to take off while I'm turning base?
The most obvious thing to me would be to just talk to them:
Medevac 123, this is the Diamond on base for 31, do you need to expedite your departure?
If they say no, then just continue and land as ...
- 71.6k
30
votes
Could I issue clearances at a private airstrip without being a controller?
NO!
An uncontrolled field is just that - uncontrolled. No pilot will accept a clearance in uncontrolled airspace in the first place. Consider the legal consequences if two aircraft were to collide as ...
- 36.2k
25
votes
Examples of unmanned airports?
Reasons to leave the airfield unmanned
The common reason is the cost of providing services. For a small airfield without commercial activity, it makes sense to have no control tower and no controller. ...
- 71k
24
votes
How do airports with no ATC operate?
I will answer this for the regulations and general procedures in the USA as laid out by the FAA, operations may vary elsewhere in the world. AOPA publishes a nice guide on how traffic flow at un-...
- 100k
24
votes
Did the last US plane to leave Afghanistan have support from the control tower?
Information about Afganistan airspace is published online at www.afgais.com.
Last NOTAM published on OAKX (AFGANISTAN FIR) page reads as follows:
(G1264/21 NOTAMN
Q) OAKX/QAFAM/IV/NBO/E/000/999/
A) ...
- 27.2k
21
votes
Accepted
Could I issue clearances at a private airstrip without being a controller?
In the past when airport owners want to control traffic flow, they file a NOTAM that the airport is closed, and contact xxx at 123456789 for exceptions. Then for the takeoff, the airport manager would ...
- 17.7k
18
votes
What is the difference between CTAF and the Tower frequency? Why does the Chart Supplement list the same frequency twice?
The same frequency is listed twice because the services provided on that frequency are mutually exclusive. When one service is available, the other cannot be.
When the airport has an operational ...
- 13.5k
18
votes
Accepted
Is it permissible to walk along a taxiway at an uncontrolled airport to reach airport facilities?
Where you can and can't go on an uncontrolled airport is up to the owner, or the manager, beyond common sense things like not walking on the active runway.
In any case, if I was told to park on the ...
- 126k
14
votes
Accepted
Can an IFR clearance be issued and flown through IMC in class G airspace?
The key point is in your last sentence:
In the case of class G airspace from the ground, the airspace is uncontrolled.
Uncontrolled airspace is, well, uncontrolled. An appropriately rated, ...
- 6,105
13
votes
Accepted
How does one deal with a UNICOM operator directing aircraft like at a towered airport?
You're almost certainly talking about a UNICOM operator, who is just an airport (FBO) employee who gives information to pilots on their request. The FAA's Pilot Handbook says:
UNICOM is a ...
- 71.6k
13
votes
Why do some non-towered airports have class E airspace from the surface up?
This answer is specific to the United States (heck, I don't know if this is an even an issue elsewhere in the world).
The airspace classification actually has nothing to do with whether or not a ...
- 5,137
13
votes
Accepted
Is "Conflicting Traffic" any better than "All Traffic?"
I've always considered the CTAF-announcement by itself to imply a request for "please advise". You don't have to say what is clearly implied; it just uses up airtime and risks being ...
- 30.4k
12
votes
Is it permissible to walk along a taxiway at an uncontrolled airport to reach airport facilities?
A non-towered airport has no movement area, despite any pavement markings or signs you may see. Ditto for a towered airport when the tower is closed.
It’s quite common at small airports for taxiways ...
- 27.6k
11
votes
Accepted
How do pilots "turn an airport around" at nontowered fields?
Your example is too specific to be useful to others, so let's consider the general case instead.
At an untowered field there is no "active" runway - they're all active.
There is usually a "preferred" ...
- 68.3k
11
votes
Examples of unmanned airports?
Small private airstrips are typically “unmanned”. Many small municipally owned airports are “unmanned”.
These small airports often have no lighting. Many do have lighting and it makes sense to have an ...
- 37.5k
10
votes
What should you do when the pattern is crowded?
As PIC if you don't feel comfortable entering congested airspace at a beehive airport, dont enter it. It's that simple. Divert to another airfield and attempt to return to the original airfield when ...
- 72.8k
10
votes
Accepted
Which frequency to contact when arriving at a Class C airport when the tower is open, and which frequency when it is closed?
It was my understanding that when the airport is in towered operation, we contact the control tower (CTAF) as we do in a lot of class D airspaces.
You have the wrong understanding.
At a Class D ...
- 13.5k
9
votes
How do airports with no ATC operate?
Dave's answer is good. I would like to provide a shorter and simpler answer here without references to external sources.
First, the radio. Get on the radio, and tell everybody three things:
Who you ...
- 39.7k
9
votes
Could I issue clearances at a private airstrip without being a controller?
Without a control tower, the field would be "uncontrolled" in the eyes of the FAA, so no, you couldn't issue clearances per se. The FAA would probably take a dim view of an untrained individual ...
- 49.8k
9
votes
While flying having trouble estimating how far I am from Airport
My GPS tells me the distance.
Otherwise, my experience says:
15 miles (and about 3,000 AGL) is where I'm not entirely sure I have the airport picked out.
10 miles is where I can see the airport, ...
- 30.4k
9
votes
What should I do if I lose situational awareness while in the pattern?
It is the advice of the FAA that you should be looking out the window quite a bit when VFR in the pattern. According to this AC related to traffic patterns:
Collision Avoidance. The pilot in ...
- 100k
8
votes
What should I do if I lose situational awareness while in the pattern?
If you are confused somehow about your situation over an airport, and there are other aircraft around, head for empty sky away from the airport beyond the pattern/circuit and get reoriented. By empty ...
- 126k
8
votes
Why do so many airports have the same CTAF frequency?
The CTAF frequencies 122.7, 122.8 and 122.9 are called MULTICOM because they are deliberately not specific to one airport. These frequencies are holdovers from the days of 100kHz radios, when we didn’...
- 27.6k
7
votes
Accepted
Are taxiways numbered in a predictable order?
Not at all - they'll be built-up in a logical fashion in so much as they're not just randomly assigned but there's no standard beyond the use of letters to denote taxiways and numbers to denote holds. ...
- 9,278
7
votes
Examples of unmanned airports?
The more correct term here is an 'untowered' airport. As others have mentioned, untowered airports are by far the majority of all airports, with tens of thousands of them in the U.S. alone. Untowered ...
- 19.4k
6
votes
What class airspace is depicted in the magenta colored area southeast of the Lake Havasu City, Arizona AIrport?
By the legend, that should be "Class E Airspace with floor 700 ft. above surface that laterally abuts 1200ft or higher Class E Airspace"
- 30.4k
6
votes
Should landing on a runway that has been closed by NOTAM be a violation of the FARs?
There's no specific rule against it, so whether it should be a violation is a matter of opinion. FWIW, AOPA's legal counsel believes it isn't a violation per se, but the FAA has still pursued action ...
- 71.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Is it legal for a pilot to takeoff/land at an non-towered airport if the pilot controlled runway lights are inoperative?
In VFR conditions, no there is no restriction against landing in an airport where runway edge lighting or other airport lighting is not lit at night. That being said, without any visual references, ...
- 72.8k
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