"Where" is my destination?

Tom Sixkiller ) wrote:

"Newps" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:ysdjc.42186$IW1.2048086@attbi_s52...



Given that my office PC has 7S3 stored in it (thanks to multiple flight
planning programs) it's hard to imagine anything dumber, in this day and
age.

Are you kidding? The entire air trafiic system is being run on a
Commodore
64 with 48K of memory. Once you move across center boudaries only the
larger airports are stored.

A Commodore? I thought they kept it all on Rolodex cards.

Come on! Everyone knows that the Rolodex system is an expandable storage
device.



--
Peter

"Jay Honeck" writes:

I would be surprised if Oakland Center's host computer has 7S3 in its
memory,

Given that my office PC has 7S3 stored in it (thanks to multiple flight
planning programs) it's hard to imagine anything dumber, in this day and
age.

Hey...aviation GPSs have all airports and navaids in North America
stored in a handheld unit! It's amazing the antique equipment used by
the FAA.

I don't know the area, and I'm no expert, but I would have said, "About 7
miles south of Portland-Hillsboro in Oregon". Generally the ATCs know
towered airports out a ways, and Portland is a big enough name that even
in Oakland they would have recognized at least where to start looking.

I'm on the east coast, but generally if I'm asking for Flight Following
here in NY, and I'm crossing a state line or two, I will tell them what
state my destination is from the initial request...

That might have been why the first guy got snippy with you - he's
watching a sector in CA, and you're expecting him to know the names of
all of the teeny little airports in a 500 mile circle... And not even
telling him what state he's supposed to be looking at...

(Ben Jackson) wrote in
news:SAbjc.42018$_L6.2563007@attbi_s53:

Leaving OAK I called ground and asked for flight following to 7S3
(which I gave by name and spelled phonetically). Later, while I'm
taxiing they come back with "where is that" and I couldn't imagine
how I could help them if the identifier didn't, so I came up with
"near McMinnville", which is both a nearby airport and the name of
the FSS. There was a pause and they came back with "we would call
that 'Oregon'" and gave me a squawk.

On climbout with Norcal approach and later Oakland center my
destination came up at least once with each controller. One thought it
was MMV. One of them accepted 7S3 without argument and asked for my
route of flight, which I gave as "direct Maxwell VOR and then airways"
which started a new round of "what's the closest navaid to your
destination" and I offered to amend my destination to HIO. She
explained that she just needed to know if she should hand me off (to
Travis AFB?). I think my destination finally "stuck" then because it
didn't come up again.

So, "where" IS my destination? Is there anything I could have said
that would have made it clear? Would they be confused if I just asked
for flight following to the Newberg VOR?

"Judah" wrote in message
...
I don't know the area, and I'm no expert, but I would have said, "About 7
miles south of Portland-Hillsboro in Oregon".


The real answer is to just tell Oakland you're going to "Portland direct."
They do not need to know the exact destination.

In article ,
Judah wrote:
That might have been why the first guy got snippy with you - he's
watching a sector in CA

The first guy was a ground controller. I was surprised that he put it
in the system in such a way that other controllers had to ask.

Anyway, the whole point of my query was: What IS the right answer?
When he came back with the snippy "Oregon" I thought that was it. So
I tried the local FSS, the state, the nearest airport and the nearest
VOR.

I should have seen this coming when Oakland FSS's computers told them
that Scappoose was the closest airport.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

I'm sure that Steve or Newps will straighten me out, but I don't think
"putting it in the system" goes any farther than calling the radar facility
on the landline and telling them that you want flight following. I don't
think anything is "filed" per se. The "right answer" is that your
destination is the biggest, busiest airport in the vicinity of your real
destination (airports requiring reservations do not fit here). Then, when
you get close enough so that the controllers recognize the names of small
towns and airports, tell them you are changing your destination. Having
found Starks on my sectional, I think I would have waited until Seattle
Center handed me off to Portland Approach.

Bob Gardner

"Ben Jackson" wrote in message
news:PZfjc.26174$YP5.2043444@attbi_s02...
In article ,
Judah wrote:
That might have been why the first guy got snippy with you - he's
watching a sector in CA

The first guy was a ground controller. I was surprised that he put it
in the system in such a way that other controllers had to ask.

Anyway, the whole point of my query was: What IS the right answer?
When he came back with the snippy "Oregon" I thought that was it. So
I tried the local FSS, the state, the nearest airport and the nearest
VOR.

I should have seen this coming when Oakland FSS's computers told them
that Scappoose was the closest airport.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

In article vagjc.26334$cF6.1147161@attbi_s04,
Bob Gardner wrote:
you get close enough so that the controllers recognize the names of small
towns and airports, tell them you are changing your destination. Having
found Starks on my sectional, I think I would have waited until Seattle
Center handed me off to Portland Approach.

I did offer to switch destinations to a major airport but next time I will
probably start there.

I'd switch as soon as Oakland handed me off to Seattle. Any closer and
you'll start a new round of questions asking why you're way off course.
I didn't even talk to Portland Approach on Sunday, they just cut me loose
at about the time they would have handed me off.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
news:vagjc.26334$cF6.1147161@attbi_s04...

I'm sure that Newps will straighten me out, but I don't think
"putting it in the system" goes any farther than calling the radar
facility
on the landline and telling them that you want flight following. I don't
think anything is "filed" per se.

That's one way, especially when you spring it on me that you want flight
following about 20 miles after departure. If you tell me when you are still
on the ground then it gets typed into the computer so a center transponder
code gets assigned. That way it can be handed off to the center
automatically.

"Ben Jackson" wrote in message news:PZfjc.26174

I should have seen this coming when Oakland FSS's computers told them
that Scappoose was the closest airport.

Yeah...tell 'em your headed for old Scappoose International. When you were
airborne you could have requested a frequency change to Scappoose Center.

I got a free IFR lesson to Scappoose last week because my instructor had to
pay her bill at the Barnstormer Bed and Breakfast. We flew out there and
she ran off to pay her bill while I watched gyrocopter folks test flying
their new birds. Not exactly a major airfield.

-c

On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 11:24:00 -0700, "gatt"
wrote:


"Ben Jackson" wrote in message news:PZfjc.26174

I should have seen this coming when Oakland FSS's computers told them
that Scappoose was the closest airport.

Yeah...tell 'em your headed for old Scappoose International. When you were
airborne you could have requested a frequency change to Scappoose Center.

I got a free IFR lesson to Scappoose last week because my instructor had to
pay her bill at the Barnstormer Bed and Breakfast. We flew out there and
she ran off to pay her bill while I watched gyrocopter folks test flying
their new birds. Not exactly a major airfield.

Compared to Twin Oaks, which is the field that started this
discussion? Sometimes I couldn't find Twin Oaks when I had a plane
based there.

Don