Sully Needs Some Clothes

Yea - that's the money line there. The calm of both Sully and tower is stunning.

 

If you every get the chance, tune into ATC towers around the country. There are several sites on the Net that allow you to do that. It's just the way they talk. It's ingrained. Most of them are so unflapable. It's truly amazing.

 

Yeah, and those cocksuckers don't have pity on a flight student who listens and peaks like a true Southerner. I was around Montgomery today, and got handed off to Atlanta (fucking great), and I had to ask him three times to repeat his instructions. I finally had to explain to him that I was a student pilot and needed slower instructions.

For others, though, I'd like to make a clarification to the discussion.

When you takeoff, the pilot is talking to someone in the tower -- a person who can give you takeoff instructions and watch you leave. They'll give you basic instructions like, "Army 26016, after takeoff, turn left heading 270, climb (and) maintain 2,000, expect 4,000 in 10 minutes, squawk 1234."

After complying with those instructions, they'll tell you to contact, "Departure Control on 123.45."

The pilot turns the radio to that frequency and tells them his/her situation and altitude. "Control, Army 26016 level at 4,000" or "Control, Army 26016 passing 1,500 for 4,000."

That person -- the Air Traffic Controller -- is not in the tower. They're in a dark, cave-like room with radar screens everywhere, scattered with little dots moving in all directions. They provide traffic separation, obstruction clearance and facilitate pilots' requests for various training approaches.

And, yes, they are amazing people.