Airport and Radio Operations
Airport Flash Cards
ILS - Critical Area Holding Position Sign
Red with white letters usually mean to stop.
Yellow on black means it's telling you where you are Black on Yellow tells you where you'd want to go
Double solid line - DO NOT cross Dashed line - cross as you please
Temp closed runways will have a big, lit up X
Permananetly closed runways have x'
chevrons aren't meant for air
stopways are mushy
Displaced threshold
- do not land on these
- designed for noise abatement or obstacle avoidance
- you can take off on these
Relocation of a threshold Yellow arrows You can taxi on it, you cannot take off on it
Airport and Radio Operations
HS/circles are places of high congestion
CTAF
- Common Traffic Advisory Frequency
- the frequency you talk on
ATC
- Sometimes they give you a phone number to talk to them
Traffic patterns at non-towered airports
Teardrop and direct entries
Draw an airport, decide if it's L/R traffic, pick a spot, then figure out how to enter traffic
check the websites for things like "no straight ins allowed at this airport"
traffic in the pattern has right of way over people
Traffic is 1000 AGL
Quiz
1. What are the 2 main methods of entering a traffic pattern at an uncontrolled field when on the opposite side of the downwind?
Direct entry into the downwind at a 45 and at pattern altitude
Midfield crossing 500’ above, then a descent once past the downwind to begin a right teardrop onto the 45 for the downwind once at pattern altitude
2. If on a 45 degree leg and traffic is on the crosswind at an uncontrolled field, who yields and how?
45 traffic yields, typically via 360 degree turn
3. What is a hotspot on a taxi diagram? Where can I find them?
An area of high traffic at an airport, typically listed on an airport diagram on foreflight, or at the back of the chart supplement
4. If flying to Hillsboro from 7S3 and you’d like to do some touch and goes as practice, how would you approach that situation?
- Get the weather by listening to the ATIS on frequency 127.65, remember the letter associated with the weather (Information Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.)
- Tune in tower on 119.3
- “Hillsboro tower, cessna _____ is just off Twin Oaks with information ____, we’d like to request the option”
5. Let’s say you were cleared to enter a left base for runway 31L but nothing else was said, what do you need to be able to land?
A clearance to land. They should say: “Cessna ____ runway 31L, cleared for the option” or “Cessna ____ runway 31L, cleared to land”. Pay careful attention to the words they use. A clearance to land is not the same as being cleared for the option.
6. What do you always need to enter a runway, closed or open?
A clearance from the tower
7. List 3 kinds of automated weather observation systems
ATIS, AWOS, ASOS