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At 03:00 AM 3/5/2006, you wrote:
Guys, when you are in the pattern it's totally unnecessary to announce, crosswind, downwind, base and final. Just announce entering downwind, and turning final. Also, totally unnecessary to announce where you are twice in every transmission such as "Longmont traffic Lancair Five Echo Sierra turning downwind Longmont".
I'm sorry, it IS important to announce turning crosswind, downwind, base, and final. At our uncontrolled airports, (SoCal,) downwind is often 5 miles long and -1/4-+1 mile from the runway, whereas final can by -1/4 to 3 miles. (Yes, bad practice, but it happens more often than not.) Announcing the corners gives a pilot a much better chance of seeing an aircraft "wings up" and turning.
Also in So Cal it's very important to put your location at the end. We often have more than one airport line-of-sight on one frequency. You guys with 35000 hours hear every word. (I've flown with them as instructors. It always amazes me.) Those of us with only a hundred or two, and who are lucky to fly twice of month, don't. Remember, safety practices such as these are designed for the less experienced, not the more.
I can get my most verbose call done in 5 seconds. Add two seconds for dead time. That means in the pattern we can have 8 calls per minute. If a circuit takes 5 minutes we can have 40 calls per circuit. If I do 4 calls per circuit I can be one of 10 aircraft in the pattern. I don't think I've ever flown with more than seven aircraft in the pattern; and then it was taking a lot more than 5 minutes per circuit.
Please, once again, remember that MOST pilots do not have YOUR skills. Don't be so damn impatient.
PS I agree that one should never make or respond to generic "inquiries"; what traffic is there will be making announcements or not, and if not will be highly unlikely to respond to a generic inquiry. Unless, of course, you're feeling alone and just need somebody to talk to. ;-)
Guy Buchanan
K-IV 1200 / 582 / 99.9% done, thanks mostly to Bob Ducar.
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