Impressed with the Courtesy of ATC from NC to Miami and Back

[jls]

It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.

Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
nice.

One thing I noticed. The controllers have widely differing
personalilties and voices--and are quick with the words --- a real
treat to listen to.

It's great to be an American.

I stopped in Bacon County, GA to fill up at a self-service pump ---
2.90 a gallon --- and met a nice Georgian there, who also commented
that Jax Approach were the nicest folks around.
He was traveling with his German Shorthaired Pointer in a Bonanza, and
told me where to go to get a Coca-Cola, since I was about dehydrated.

Ain't life just grand, and that much grander that we can fly!

[Jay Honeck]

> Ain't life just grand, and that much grander that we can fly!

Amen, brother!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Maule Driver]

I often feel the same way along that same route. Everybody is a pro.
The folks down in Savannah approach sometimes get out of the wrong side
of the bed but Jax is the best in my little book. When the storms come
up, they just get busy and better.

jls wrote:
> It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
> it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.
>
> Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
> nice.
>
> One thing I noticed. The controllers have widely differing
> personalilties and voices--and are quick with the words --- a real
> treat to listen to.
>
> It's great to be an American.
>
> I stopped in Bacon County, GA to fill up at a self-service pump ---
> 2.90 a gallon --- and met a nice Georgian there, who also commented
> that Jax Approach were the nicest folks around.
> He was traveling with his German Shorthaired Pointer in a Bonanza, and
> told me where to go to get a Coca-Cola, since I was about dehydrated.
>
> Ain't life just grand, and that much grander that we can fly!
>

[kontiki]

jls wrote:
> It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
> it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.
>
> Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
> nice.
>
> One thing I noticed. The controllers have widely differing
> personalilties and voices--and are quick with the words --- a real
> treat to listen to.

Jax center is nice to work with, not too many big egos to deal with fer sure.
One time I was flying back IFR from Vero Beach up the east coast. I was
listening to one guy chatting with a Jax Center controller, rambling on about
different guys they knew and years gone by... it was pretty interesting but
approaching Savannah I realized I hadn't been handed off. After calling
JAX center and getting no response I switched to Savannah Approach freq
and called them up. They were waiting for me and and when I mentioned never
receiving a hand-off from Center they said .."no problem, want to go direct
Statesboro?" and sent me on my merry way.

[Bob Fry]

>>>>> "jls" == jls > writes:

jls> It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and
jls> was dreading it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and
jls> professional.

jls> Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to
jls> be so nice.

Same here. I fly in Northern California, VFR, and have avoided flying
into Southern California for years, mainly because of ATC. Finally
last spring I flew into John Wayne (Orange County) with some advice
from a friend who operated out of there for years. This was with an
Aircoupe and GPS.

ATC couldn't have been more helpful. Of course it helps to appear
somewhat competent, but my fear of getting yelled at and so on was
completely wrong. Even on takeoff after the weekend visit, when I
left my transponder on the old code for a while, was handled
gracefully. Good folks.

[Morgans]

"kontiki" > wrote

> After calling
> JAX center and getting no response I switched to Savannah Approach freq
> and called them up. They were waiting for me and and when I mentioned
> never
> receiving a hand-off from Center they said .."no problem, want to go
> direct
> Statesboro?" and sent me on my merry way.

Man, you're really close to me!

Want a flying buddy and an extra pair of eyes, next time (or whenever) you
want to punch some holes in the air? I would love to ride along, if you are
interested. I'll take any reason to get into the air, since I am currently
stuck on the ground. :-(

I'm about 45 minutes away, and if you give me a call, I'll attempt to get
free!

Drop me a line at jsmorgan a t charter dot n e t
--
Jim in NC

[Mike Weller]

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:13:40 GMT, kontiki >
wrote:

>jls wrote:
>> It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
>> it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.
>>
>> Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
>> nice.
>>
>> One thing I noticed. The controllers have widely differing
>> personalilties and voices--and are quick with the words --- a real
>> treat to listen to.
>
>Jax center is nice to work with, not too many big egos to deal with fer sure.
>One time I was flying back IFR from Vero Beach up the east coast. I was
>listening to one guy chatting with a Jax Center controller, rambling on about
>different guys they knew and years gone by... it was pretty interesting but
>approaching Savannah I realized I hadn't been handed off. After calling
>JAX center and getting no response I switched to Savannah Approach freq
>and called them up. They were waiting for me and and when I mentioned never
>receiving a hand-off from Center they said .."no problem, want to go direct
>Statesboro?" and sent me on my merry way.
>

I was stationed at Statesboro when I was in the Air Force. We had a
direct telephone line to JAX center and Savannah. We coordinated with
them because we had bombers on a low level route (OB-17) that would
use our fire control radars for training and evaluation.

One day, a couple of JAX controllers just showed up at our site. I
would not do that now, but you've got to realize that times were
different back then. I knew them by voice and name. We had dinner
and I showed them our equipment. For some reason, we were just birds
of the same breed.

Thirty years later I still seem to like being turned over to JAX
Center.

Mike Weller

I also still like saying "Hello Houston" when I'm handed off to them.

[ktbr]

Mike Weller wrote:
> I was stationed at Statesboro when I was in the Air Force. We had a
> direct telephone line to JAX center and Savannah. We coordinated with
> them because we had bombers on a low level route (OB-17) that would
> use our fire control radars for training and evaluation.

Interesting, I'd love to hear more about all of of that.
What's an OB-17? Statesboro was an Army Airfield during WWII,
then a SAC base later on (maybe when you were here). I have done
Google searches and generally find little info about this
airfield under military use. I'd like to have a few interesting
tidbits to put up on the walls here if I could find it.

[Mike Weller]

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 17:20:54 GMT, ktbr > wrote:

>Mike Weller wrote:
>> I was stationed at Statesboro when I was in the Air Force. We had a
>> direct telephone line to JAX center and Savannah. We coordinated with
>> them because we had bombers on a low level route (OB-17) that would
>> use our fire control radars for training and evaluation.
>
>Interesting, I'd love to hear more about all of of that.
>What's an OB-17? Statesboro was an Army Airfield during WWII,
>then a SAC base later on (maybe when you were here). I have done
>Google searches and generally find little info about this
>airfield under military use. I'd like to have a few interesting
>tidbits to put up on the walls here if I could find it.

OK

When I was stationed there, I was in SAC. The airport was Statesboro
Municipal and we just leased the spot from them.

OB-17 was called an Oil Burner (Oh maybe that was an Olive Branch)
route. Number 17 obviously.

They would do qualification and training with our stolen SA-2 radars,
and would also do what we called a "Pop Up" and get scored on their
bombing accuracy. Considering that they had simulated nuclear
weapons, they and I wondered what good it would do to "Pop Up" from
200 feet to 500 feet.

In Kansas, I saw a B-52 pull up slightly to go over the only tree for
miles around there. There's just not many trees in those wheat fields
that go on forever.

B-52s were allowed to fly at incredibly low altitudes on the OB routes
and they had what was called terrain avoidance. It wasn't as good as
the FB-111 that had terrain following. I guess that was why SAC never
lost a B-52 while they were doing that stuff.

Now Linebacker II was a whole different matter. The dumb ****ers at
USAG, or where ever, sent them day after day on the same route, at the
same altitude, and with the same jamming equipment. A monkey could
have figured out how to shoot them down. And did.

The only FB-111s that SAC lost were when they were joining up after a
low level mission, and "got too close together". They had these
really cool ejection pods for each of them, neither of which worked.

Mike Weller

[Otis Winslow]

I had the same experience a while back flying down to Miami from
the midwest. Went down the west side of the state and across
over I-75. Then down the west side of Miami to Tamiami. All the Center,
Approach, and local controllers were great. Well with the exception
of the local controllers at Lakeland. I thought they were snippy
and rude .. like I was bothering them stopping to eat and
buy gas. Don't know if it's a contract tower or FAA.



jls wrote:
> It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
> it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.
>
> Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
> nice.
>
> One thing I noticed. The controllers have widely differing
> personalilties and voices--and are quick with the words --- a real
> treat to listen to.
>
> It's great to be an American.
>
> I stopped in Bacon County, GA to fill up at a self-service pump ---
> 2.90 a gallon --- and met a nice Georgian there, who also commented
> that Jax Approach were the nicest folks around.
> He was traveling with his German Shorthaired Pointer in a Bonanza, and
> told me where to go to get a Coca-Cola, since I was about dehydrated.
>
> Ain't life just grand, and that much grander that we can fly!
>

[nooneimportant]

"jls" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
> it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.
>
> Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
> nice.
>
> One thing I noticed. The controllers have widely differing
> personalilties and voices--and are quick with the words --- a real
> treat to listen to.
>
> It's great to be an American.
>
> I stopped in Bacon County, GA to fill up at a self-service pump ---
> 2.90 a gallon --- and met a nice Georgian there, who also commented
> that Jax Approach were the nicest folks around.
> He was traveling with his German Shorthaired Pointer in a Bonanza, and
> told me where to go to get a Coca-Cola, since I was about dehydrated.
>
> Ain't life just grand, and that much grander that we can fly!
>
>

Yeah... love the crew over at JAX. Did a flight from Ft Pierce to Savannah
and back a year ago, dead of night, just "BS'd" with JAX for a while, got
the handoff to daytona, was as little busier... orlando was "unable flight
following".....

[kontiki]

Fascinating info, Thanks Mike.
Mike Weller wrote:

> When I was stationed there, I was in SAC. The airport was Statesboro
> Municipal and we just leased the spot from them.
>
> OB-17 was called an Oil Burner (Oh maybe that was an Olive Branch)
> route. Number 17 obviously.
>
> They would do qualification and training with our stolen SA-2 radars,
> and would also do what we called a "Pop Up" and get scored on their
> bombing accuracy. Considering that they had simulated nuclear
> weapons, they and I wondered what good it would do to "Pop Up" from
> 200 feet to 500 feet.
>
> In Kansas, I saw a B-52 pull up slightly to go over the only tree for
> miles around there. There's just not many trees in those wheat fields
> that go on forever.
>
> B-52s were allowed to fly at incredibly low altitudes on the OB routes
> and they had what was called terrain avoidance. It wasn't as good as
> the FB-111 that had terrain following. I guess that was why SAC never
> lost a B-52 while they were doing that stuff.
>
> Now Linebacker II was a whole different matter. The dumb ****ers at
> USAG, or where ever, sent them day after day on the same route, at the
> same altitude, and with the same jamming equipment. A monkey could
> have figured out how to shoot them down. And did.
>
> The only FB-111s that SAC lost were when they were joining up after a
> low level mission, and "got too close together". They had these
> really cool ejection pods for each of them, neither of which worked.
>
> Mike Weller
>
>
>

[David Lesher]

> OB-17 was called an Oil Burner (Oh maybe that was an Olive Branch)
> route. Number 17 obviously.

Originally Oil Burner. Renamed to the more Politically Correct just
about the time of the 70's gas crunch. Pure coincidence, of course.
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

[Mike Weller]

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 22:10:09 -0700, "nooneimportant" >
wrote:

>orlando was "unable flight
>following".....
>

I only fly into Orlando IFR, but you're right on the the tone that
they use.

I guess that they have a mix of traffic that can't be "fittend" to
their system.

Mike Weller

[vincent p. norris]

>It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
>it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.
>
>Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
>nice.

I've heard others grumble about rude controllers, but in 50 years of
military and civilian flying, I can't recall ever being treated
rudely.

Even when I did something stupid.

vince norris

[Capt.Doug]

>"jls" wrote in message > One thing I noticed. The controllers have
widely differing
> personalilties and voices--and are quick with the words --- a real
> treat to listen to.
> Ain't life just grand, and that much grander that we can fly!

S**t!! Last I flew from NC to FL, I was instructed to call JAX center upon
landing. I called, and let me tell you how excited that fellow was. He asked
if I was the pilot, and I responded that my answer would depend on what he
was so excited about. First he wanted me to know that Center frequencies are
available in that area. I thanked him, but advised him that his freq doesn't
work so well at VFR altitudes in that area. Then he asked me what it was
like.

S**t!! It was cool. We had taken a film crew fishing, but got skunked to
tune of $2000 in fuel, rigging and tackle, not to mention it was rougher
than snot. We were flying back to FLL after leaving the boat in Moreshead,
NC. I was in the cabin of the plane talking the owner of the boat. Something
outside the window caught my eye. I looked past him and was struck by
instant awe. We had company!

It had a big speed brake that extended to the upright position. Its wings
swept forward as it slowed to our speed. The infrared pod was moving up and
down as it tracked us going up and down. It had Sidewinders.

I did what any good commander would do. I yelled "Get those cameras!"
"ACTION!" "Everyone wave!" "Dammit, Bobby, he doesn't want to see your hairy
buttcrack!" It occurred to me that the F-14 pilot might wonder why the
captain's seat was empty.

He stayed with us for a while. We motioned for him to do a roll, but I guess
he doesn't know how. Then he peeled off. Then we saw his wingman, who had
been behind us up high, peel off and join up with him. It was the highlight
of the whole danged trip. It was better than the time the FSDO called about.

Next time you fly that route, go VFR across the water. Have your camera
ready!

D.

[Matt Barrow]

"vincent p. norris" > wrote in message
...
> >It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and was dreading
>>it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and professional.
>>
>>Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to be so
>>nice.
>
> I've heard others grumble about rude controllers, but in 50 years of
> military and civilian flying, I can't recall ever being treated
> rudely.
>
> Even when I did something stupid.
You must have a different standard for rude :~)

I've seen a few (not a lot, thankfully) that had some male version of PMS.

[vincent p. norris]

>You must have a different standard for rude :~)

Oh, I know rude when I hear it. Years ago, for example, I was asked
to hold at the VOR I was approaching. While I went into the hold, I
heard the same controller instruct another pilot to change altitude.

Instead of just doing it, the pilot began to berate the controller
because this was the second or third time he'd been asked to change
altitude. HE, not the controller, was rude!

Despite the pilot's rudeness, the controller patiently and politely
explained he was trying to expedite the pilot along his way but had
conflicting traffic, which required altitude changes.

Before I completed one circuit of the hold the controller cleared me
to proceed, explained why he had asked for the hold, and thanked me
for "helping me out."

I've been thanked on other occasions for "helping me out."

My point is that pilots can be rude too, and if one is courteous to
the controller, he or she will probably be courteous in return.

vince norris