I have flown Lears for many years for a company whose callsign is Coyote. One day when we had been vectored towards the airport and then handed off to Tower:
Tower: “Coyote 123, cleared for the visual Runway xx.”
Me: “Cleared visual Runway xx. Coyote 123.”
Second aircraft: “Tower, N12345 has runway in sight.”
Tower: “N12345, report preceding Learjet in sight.”
N12345: “We have the four-legged varmint in sight. (Laughter)”
Tower: “N12345, follow the Coyote. Cleared visual Runway xx.”
Trudi Enge
El Paso, Texas
Staying on the Star Wars theme from the “On the Air” May 2022 issue.
Pittstown, New Jersey, airport N85 (Alexandria) has two RNAV approaches (GPS)-A and (GPS)-B that include fixes OBIWN (Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi), YODAH (Jedi Master Yoda), RTWOO (astromech droid R2-D2), JABAH (Gangster Jabba the Hutt), CHEWE (Wookie warrior Chewbacca), HANSS, and SOLOA (Smuggler, scoundrel, and hero Hans Solo).
Ron Rissel
Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania
One beautiful day in Atlanta Center, Smiley, a well-known character at the TRACON, was the final approach controller and was assigning everyone 180 KIAS to the marker.
Atlanta Center: “Corporate 123 say speed.”
Corporate 123: “160…Ahh I mean 180.”
Atlanta Center: “Corporate 123 Maintain 200 knots. Your 180 is 20 knots slower than everyone else’s.”
Lawrence Marquez
Collierville, Tennessee
Recently overheard on Washington Center frequency on an afternoon with plenty of thunderstorms in the vicinity:
Center: “All you guys going into Raleigh, there will be a short delay. They’ve evacuated the tower. I’ll keep you posted. … I’d rather be in an airplane than a tower today.”
Reid Ashe
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
My first piloting experience was as an Air Force Academy cadet, soaring at the Academy’s airfield (6576 feet MSL). This great summer program offered a checkout and 25 hours in Schweizer two- and single-seat gliders. There were more winch tows than tow ships, so the opportunities to venture far for lift were limited.
My big chance finally came in the Schweizer 1-26 single when I chanced on a booming updraft. We had been instructed to report such on the radio, which I attempted. While peering at the altimeter’s “1” and a bunch of zeroes, I breathlessly told the world that I had strong lift and was passing “a hundred-thousand” feet. Needless to say my instructor and all my buddies were more than eager to welcome me back to the airfield.
Wilhelm Percival
Las Vegas, Nevada
I just picked up the May copy of IFR Magazine and saw your part two of Star Wars names.
Here is a visual OTA for you, taken from my cockpit display as I was flying just north of the Logan International Airport Class Bravo. And yes, their verbal callsign was Starfleet 1701. I wonder if Captain Kirk was at the helm.
Charles Freemam
Lebanon, New Hampshire
