[Highland Park]

Lakenheath sign off is almost invariably:

"Golfx-raybravoyouareoutsidemyzonesquawkseventhousandfrequencychangeapproved"

Love 'em to bits. They don't adhere to strange UK concepts and see radar-derived traffic information as part of their basic service.

Rob P

I visited them about this time last year and was most impressed at their radar coverage; they can see aircraft that have taken off from other airfields, such as Old Buck on their radar once said aircraft have climbed above 200 ft. I've always found them unfailingly helpful, although I find their female controllers easier to understand than some of their male counterparts...

[Rob P]

They do use some very non-standard comms:

Coming home late one summer Sunday, Lakenheath was off air, so I contacted Mildenhall Tower to cross their extended centreline as they often have logistical flights at odd hours.

The lazy Texan drawl of the guy on the other end was in keeping with the relaxed nature of the flight and he had nothing for me; he then added

"You can go to your next frequency, or you can stay with me as it's kinda boring here right now"

Made us laugh out loud

Rob P

[BirdsEyeView]

Thanks Rob, nice viewpoint. You're almost in my area as I fly out of Shacklewell which is a small strip fringing Wittering airspace. Having been in your direction a couple of times I can see that exchange comes as welcome relief in an AIAA.

Thanks also to those who contributed to this thread - makes me feel a whole heap better.

[Flintstone]

...those heal brakes are a strange uncontrollable beast...

They get better.

Eh? Eh?




Sorry.

[Sharpie]

I think everyone struggles with the RT to start with but the key thing as you progress is that you know the terms and the likely responses so it becomes so much easier to grasp what is being said.

[Paul_Sengupta]

There's something to be careful about there though. You may be expecting to hear something, so if you haven't heard properly, you can assume, read back what you thought you heard or what you were expecting to hear, then the person on the other side of the radio does the same, not really concentrating on clarifying your readback.

I've heard complete conversations over the air where two people have been talking, but not really communicating.