By YVES A. DIDIER
I always liked the look of the F-4 Phantom. With its classy, sleek lines, to me it always represented a truly timeless design and superior air power.
However, my admiration for the old fighter changed rather quickly when its silhouette suddenly filled the entirety of my windshield at 5,000 feet.
Returning from California City Municipal Airport (L71) after topping off my Cherokee, I decided to simply overfly Mojave Air & Space Port/Rutan Field (KMHV) without talking to ATC because, well, why not? It seemed like a great idea at the time, plus, with a fat 200 feet safety margin above Mojave’s airspace, what could possibly go wrong?
I first noticed the F-4 as I was transitioning over the field. Way below, the fighter was doing a high-speed fly-by just inches above the runway, or so it seemed. Then, suddenly, the jet pulled straight up.
“Show off,” I thought, while cruising in my 140 at a juicy 85 knots. A nanosecond later, though, the Vietnam-era bird was at my exact altitude before effortlessly going inverted, now coming right at me.
I can only imagine the Phantom driver’s surprise when he spotted my flying brick.
Time to get out of the guy’s way — pronto. I immediately pointed the nose down, hoping he wouldn’t do the same, and dove right into Mojave’s airspace.
By the time my heart started beating again, I was already out of KMHV’s Class D (Cherokee 140: 1, F-4: 0) and en route to LA’s Whiteman Airport (KWHP). There, while checking in with ATC, the controller cheerfully relayed that someone at Mojave would like to have a word with me. My heart sank. Oh no!
Feeling dumb and deflated, I jotted down the phone number and eventually made the call, fearing the worst.
To my surprise, the ensuing conversation was just that: A conversation. The controller asked what happened and what, in my opinion, had led to this airspace violation. There was no need to come up with a wild story as he already knew the gist, of course.
In the end, after discussing the chain of events, the voice on the other end simply suggested adjusting my way of flying and flight planning and wished me a good night.
That was it. No drama, no threat of FAA paperwork or enforcement action, no raised voices — just a worthwhile dialogue. I had goofed up and it was not my proudest moment, but everything discussed during those 20 minutes stayed with me up to this day, in a good way.
Fast forward to today, 15 years or so later, and boy have things changed.
I don’t know about you, but I can no longer count the times I’ve had to listen to nasty bickering between GA pilots and ATC over the last few years. At the risk of sounding like an Old Geezer, when I started flying in the early 1990s, I was always impressed with the gentlemanliness (is that even a word?) while in the air.
Maybe I’m just glorifying old memories, but it certainly seemed as though there was a lot more patience and, shall we say, willingness to help, accommodate, and forgive between ATC and pilots.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that ATC has certain expectations, and as aviators, we need to fly and communicate as precisely and professionally as possible. However, what’s with all the aggression in so many exchanges on the frequency these days?
Granted, flying over LA and other metropolitan areas can’t really be compared with more rural aviation environments. It is more challenging, faster paced, requiring more situational awareness. Still, I greatly miss yesteryear’s courtesy between pilots and ATC and the desire to help each other out. And I am not alone.
Just ask my friend, an IFR-rated 182 pilot with thousands of hours after 35 years of flying. He was recently flying VFR into his home field at Van Nuys Airport (VNY), which happens to be the busiest GA airport in the US.
Approaching VNY’s Class D after dusk, he checked in with ATC, however, with the endless chatter of flight students clogging up the radio, the controller’s rapidly fired instructions were confusing him enough to end up over terrain he was not familiar with at night, challenging his sequencing.
Tempers flared, and eventually the controller, by now agitated and in “that will teach him”-mode, angrily advised my friend to look for mail from the FAA about this “possible pilot deviation.”
Ouch! Obviously the times of “call me after landing so we can talk and both learn from what happened” are simply over.
In law enforcement, cops are generally taught to either admonish traffic offenders OR write them a ticket. Never both. Why? Because the goal is not to demonstrate superior authority or to entirely demoralize them, but to change potentially hazardous behavior down the road. A solid concept that controllers might want to think about and consider adopting as well.
This is not about playing the blame game, however.
Online you can find countless examples of unprofessional and uncalled-for exchanges between pilots and controllers and oftentimes we — the pilots — come across as snarky and, unfortunately, even clueless. Yet, while they — the controllers — are not perfect either, they are the ones with the FAA on speed dial.
We’re all different, but my attitude has long been that no matter how “difficult” the person at the other end may be, I simply refuse to be “difficult” too. It may not be easy, but I like to remember what my parents always used to tell me: Let’s all try to be nice, shall we?
Yes Yves you did it again: one more great writing!
I agree on what ever the situation is people have to be courteous…..a basic rule.
Thank you for the great article.
Use to be that if someone did a gear up landing the inspector would take you out to the runway and explain what happened. Then to every FBO, hanger, soda machine, cafe, etc on the field and repeat the process. No remedial training needed. 😉
You have to consider that the only chance that some pilots get to be captains is when there not home with the wife.
Things were much different in the past, why I remember when Orville was telling me that one day we would be able to talk to other pilots in flight and we should be cautious of our tone of voice.
In part, thanks to Covid and its residual effects, and our narcissistic politicians on both sides of the aisle who bicker amongst themselves while doing nothing for their constituents, we have become a combative society. Through experience, I can attest that we do not have to accept bad, unprofessional and rude behavior from controllers. We had a cranky controller at my home base for about a year who would go off on pilots for no reason at all, had no patience, and would intentionally insult us on frequency. This boils down to someone who needed to do something else with his life and we expressed that sentiment to the tower chief. We also contacted the local GADO office to file a complaint. Shortly thereafter, that controller was no longer working at our field. We didn’t know his fate and were never told but didn’t care so long as he was removed. Keep in mind that controllers are human beings, NOT gods and we have every right to complain to the appropriate people about them if their performance is one of arrogance, intimidation and disrespect. Recordings in the tower are archived (although for a short period of time) as evidence to be used if necessary with the tower chief and FAA. Many of us have the equipment to record in our airplanes, so use this function if you have it. Filling out a NASA report wouldn’t hurt either. In my 51 years as a pilot, 99% of my interaction with controllers has been nothing but wonderful. It’s just a shame that the majority of dedicated controllers who are great can have their reputations shadowed by a few idiots. Don’t let them do it and take action—but stay professional. By the same token, show appreciation to the good controllers by taking the time to thank them and notifying their superiors for a job well done. Those 2 simple words (thank you) are uplifting to anyone who receives them and deserves to receive them—-even air traffic controllers.
Completely agree.
We’ve all been taught to do what is legal and what is safe, and to recognize the difference.
My mantra is to do what is legal, what is safe, and have added “what is courteous”.
Too often I hear/see pilots and controllers trying to be “right”, rather than doing the right thing.
Be nice – aviation is supposed to be fun.
Excellent article!! Lots of great comments. Let’s take a deep breath and go back to be professionals and be ladies and gentlemen.
Show respect and you will get respect.
The deterioration of civility has permeated all aspects of our society. The best we can do is remind ourselves to keep our cool and work together instead of taking adversarial positions. But we ALL have to do it.
Well said! We are living in the me, me, me, world now.
Hats off to this excellent piece. Down to the point and hopefully, it will raise eyebrows where it can be useful. At least I plan to post it everywhere I can.
Road rage or sky rage, this world is so atomized, everyone else dwarfs relative to my needs and desires. That’s the general attitude. It’s me first and the others must wait till I grace them with bits of my attention.
Courtesy is no longer considered a virtue, and the results are there for all to see.
It’s a mixed bag. Just because a controller gives an instruction it is up to the pilot to accept it.
Having said that, I’ve been right seat when a pilot flying has requested a flight plan change and been declined for no reason, leading to a testing dialogue where the pilot was telling the controller how he was wrong. Turned out the pilot was correct.
How about when I was rolling for takeoff at KVNY and ground taxies an aircraft across the runway in front of me (I instantly pull power and brake, and I ask the tower why did they clear that aircraft onto the active when I’m cleared and rolling and he responded “Operations normal”. I should have written them up — they would have written me up had I continued, even though I had clearance.
No, controllers are not God, and are not always correct, and should be challenged by a knowledgeable pilot. Arrogance by controllers is common, apparently they believe that they are God and that their instructions are inviolable.
Witness the FedEx v. Southwest debacle at Austin …
Great article! I totally agree with what you are saying. I seems civility is a lost art these days. There was a time when we went to the airport and flew airplanes to get away from the world mentality. Now this mentality is in aviation too. Sad.
Yves,
Excellent piece, and your last line says it all. I’ve been flying continuously for over 50 years, and can attest to the downhill slide of of airborne civility, demonstrated in thoughtless actions and words. Sadly, most of it, in my experience, originates from unprofessional, selfish, and rude pilots. This seems to be a transferring of “road rage” to “sky rage.” I’ve never personally had any testy exchanges with ATC, or felt threatened with a violation by a controller. In fact, the only time I’ve ever been asked to call ATC after landing, was so the Tower Chief could apologize for a controller trainee’s mistake that caused me to have to go around while in the process of touching down…..at night…..at ORD…..in a 737. I believe if pilots would fly by the rules, be considerate of others, and leave the bad attitude in the airport parking lot (or better yet, don’t even GO flying when upset about something), the skies would be a lot friendlier and safer.