"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Mea culpa:

Really? Sure didn't sound that way to me.

[...]
I guess I learned that you need to ask immediately if you think a call
might
be for you, even though the call is a bit garbled. Is the aircraft type
an
official part of the call? Any other actions I should have taken?

Sure, you could have been more proactive about checking on the call. But
the controller sure seemed to be discouraging that kind of behavior. I
don't think you can be blamed for trying to avoid yet another confrontation
with someone having a bad day.

Rarely, I have similar incidents. The most recent was at least a year ago,
when a controller accused me of transmitting the wrong tailnumber. As if
I'd forget the tailnumber of the airplane I have owned for ten years. She
was really peeved about it, but I figured that if she really wanted to make
a stink, the facts would be recorded somewhere. It sure wasn't worth
spending any time on frequency trying to argue about it.

Basically, my primary priority is to operate the airplane in a safe and
efficient manner. In VFR conditions, it's impossible for a controller to
screw that up for me unless I let them, and even in IFR conditions I can do
a pretty good job of managing the risk. Getting sucked into an irrelevant
"yes you did, no you didn't" argument on the radio is a great way to get
distracted from Job #1.

Frankly, I think you handled your situation about as well as anyone could be
expected to. You wouldn't have accomplished anything by trying to correct
or inform the controller on the radio. It sounds as though you basically
flew the airplane, kept yourself out of any big blow-ups, and completed the
flight safely. Which is what you're supposed to do.

Pete