No. "You're" getting violated is ominous. There's an important difference. This controller was having a tantrum, venting to everyone on frequency except the one person who clearly wasn't listening. I thought he was very unprofessional.
This is the proper level of irritated ATC. Worked the problem, tried the options available, and even when complaining was professional and brief. Good on 5DS for proactively mentioning having cell phone contact information. There are a number of major issues here, including radio operation, the light communication, and clearance for multiple touch and gos (Touches and go?); everything else aside, it's a good teachable moment for everyone else.
They were clearly covering their arses by mentioning on air that he's a rental, I can can call his cell, etc., etc. Don't blame them in the slightest. :)
I am a student pilot at KSPG and it’s a fantastic little airport. I don’t know the controllers name, but I do recognize his voice. I’ve talked to him multiple times on frequency and he’s a really chill guy. I’ve even sparked up a couple of mini conversations while flying.
I just knew that had to be somewhere in Florida. Er, no offense intended. I'm sure that most Florida pilots are fine, maybe better than that. Just like the majority (50.000001%?) of Florida drivers actually do have insurance and are capable of driving across an otherwise deserted parking lot without totaling the one other vehicle in it and then driving off. So it sort of becomes an "if I had to guess, I'd guess Florida" kind of thing, lol. Keep the blue side up!
Had a similar occurrance unfold years ago in Roanoke, Virginia one calm and beautiful Spring night. A student pilot from Mountain Empire Airport wandered into the pattern for runway 23 from the west and commenced several touch-and-goes without saying a word to the Approach Controller, tower or anybody. We came in to land flying a Metroliner, and after all our passengers deplaned the two of us and our ground crew stood out there on the ramp making bets as to how many more times he'd land and takeoff. We still had the tower and ground control frequencies up in our numbers one and two comms. with the cabin speaker on, and when the guy finally landed full-stop we heard him call the ground controller after he pulled off the runway and stopped, seeking taxi instructions. We thought we'd never hear the end of his admonishment from the tower. Boy! That was way back in 1986. I remember it like it was last week.
Similar thing happened in 2021 at the FBO I was renting from. Another renter, a student pilot on a solo X/C, took up a Skyhawk and flew over to Newport News (PHF) and did a touch and go without ever talking to tower. As per the student, they thought the part-time tower was closed when they were flying in, hence not even bothering to tune in (Twr and Unicom are different freqs). Needless to say, the FSDO wasn't very amused: the pilot, their instructor, and FBO personnel were all called in to Richmond for a chat.
Hard to explain this kind of behavior. Clearly the guy knew to call inbound and got his initial clearance for touch and go. But how does he just keep landing after that without hearing anything? Would like to know how he tried to justify this.
Yeah, idk kinda bewildered. Been a CPC for 14 years and never heard of this one. 😂 haven’t worked local for about 8 but im sure the local guys would have called us to see if he was on freq. maybe there is a nasa form on it
Yeah, having a comm fail would be normal but you just follow the radio fail procedure, rock your wings to the lights and land... Not continue doing the pattern over and over
@@VASAviation Yeah new phraseology. “cleared touch and go, expect continuous touch and gos following the Diamond.” Lmao. Would work like an IFR clearance Nordo.😂
Wow, at my favorite airport no less. Many moons ago I was a recently-minted pilot renting a clapped out Cessna 172 out of KFXE. Was doing touch n go’s at KPMP (less busy, quicker patterns) when on approach my radios went kaput. As a new pilot, I was terrified and thinking that homeland security would soon chase after me with Blackhawks and guided missiles, if I failed to communicate with the tower. I sprinted up to about 2,500 ft and headed back to FXE to sort things out. I gathered up my courage, dropped it down to about 1,500 ft and circled the FXE tower, wagging my wings. Man, the relief when I got the light signals (forgot what color) and I went right into the pattern and landed. Turned out my alternator was crapped out. Did the writeup letter to the FAA and heard nothing of it since.
A CFI once told me about the Homeland Security thing happening to another new-ish pilot here... Radio went out, and as per procedure he exited the CTR and diverted to the nearest uncontrolled airfield. Except he squawked 7500 instead of 7600. And was met by an Apache upon landing. Not sure what became of him (or if he was ever seen again😁 )
I had radio failure in the pattern happen to me when I was a student pilot flying solo. When the engine was running at high power setting, the radio did not work, and apparently I missed a call from the tower. When I reduced power downwind the radio came back and the tower controller first snapped at me about not answering, but was mollified when I told him about the radio issue. I was cleared to land and advised to taxi to parking and check out a different aircraft. I can't imagine how a competent pilot can do multiple patterns without getting cleared for landing or the option. Also, having a handheld COM radio in the flight bag is cheap insurance.
@@SpaceFrawgTried using a handheld in the pattern. Transmissions are pretty much unreadable if you can't connect the handheld to the headset. And my connection cord failed quite quickly. So, carrying a handheld is not a bad habit, but I wouldn't call it insurance. Asking the tower to point a light gun at you has more value so you know what to look for when it is for real
@@DmitryKorotkov I have an adapter to plug my headset into the radio and tested it. It works, even in flight. Transmissions are not super strong, but better than nothing. However, you are right, in the pattern the workload is high, so fiddling with the radio while flying is not such a good idea. For radio failure on a longer flight it may be helpful though.
5:35 "80F copies" After all that I would have given him a "readback incorrect" and repeated the instructon and that would not stop until he got the readback correct.
@@noahmiller985 It isn't petty. ATC phraseology is something few instructors stress and it results in a lot of bad habits. I told students to care enough to do it the right way or don't bother doing it.
@@noahmiller985 The deadliest air disaster of all time, at Tenerife, was caused by a miscommunication with airplanes on the ground. Standardized readback is important.
Light gun signals are... odd. In my opinion, they're not a reliable fallback method of communication. The tower is nowhere near the runway at any airport i've ever been to. If I thought I had a valid landing clearance, I'd never even notice the light gun, because i'm looking at the runway while i'm landing, not at the tower. Maybe if it were night, the light would be bright enough to catch my attention out of my periphery, but during the day? not unless that light gun is a laser dazzler. Only time I'd be looking for light gun signals is if i knew my radio was out, or if there were a NOTAM published saying the tower's was out and light guns were in use.
Something tells me that "he's getting violated" means the tower boss (if they exist) is going to beat the shit out of this pilot when he gets back to the hangar.
This is truly baffling. Even if it were an untowered airport, if you have radios, USE THEM. If your radio stops working, land full stop and get it sorted out. How the heck do guys like this pass their checkride?!!
In his defense, once I asked the tower to use the light signals along with the normal radio clearance, just to have that experience, and I never saw the lights until I was on the ground. But nothing can explain WHY he did 2 of the 3 touch and go without any kind of clearance from the tower.
Yeah, light guns kinda suck. Especially since the tower is not beside the runway at most airports, it's far enough off to the side that you aren't going to be looking at it during landing. IMO, if a tower is going to rely on light guns for backup calls, they need to give the gun to an ops runner to stand by the runway with it. Or, better yet, mount a set of fixed light signals beside the runway for that purpose (and update the AIM to let pilots know that this is now a thing, since no airport anywhere has this today).
I've flown in and out of Whitted many many times. I used to fly helicopters in that area before moving north, and I also know that controller. He's super chill and never gets worked up. To hear him so frustrated like this is unusual to me. I mean, we're helicopters, not exactly any Tower's favorite, but he was always cool with me and went out of his way to help me any way he could. Kinda wild to see this on here....
Got his clearance from tower for right closed traffic, then turned off his radio so no one would bother him. Love it. The sky is full of people like this.
This is in the middle of some very busy airspace. If Tampa International is operating arrivals on the 1L (1L/19R is the most used runway), then the usual approach pattern for arriving aircraft is to turn south over Tampa or Clearwater before making a 180-degree turn near this location to align with 1L (or 1R, but 1L is used more even when both parallel runways are operating). Of course, the arriving aircraft will be about 1500-2500ft at this point, but I still think that's a bit close for a VFR GA plane without radio communication. There's also MacDill Air Force base a few miles to the northeast with a main runway aligned northeast-southwest. While not as busy as TPA, it's still a large base for tankers and I'd imaging their departures would typically be to the southwest over the bay as northeast departures would be noisy as they go over urban areas. I'm not a pilot to understand how the airspace for each airport interacts along this part of Tampa Bay, but I would guess it would be based on altitude and location to allow simultaneous operations between TPA/MCF/SPG with the tiny SPG only serving general aviation controlling only a very low altitude to avoid conflict with traffic in/out of the other two. P.S. SPG seems to be a popular location for touch and go flights. I've been to the nearby St.Peter Pier a few times, and almost every time I can see small planes taking off at SPG and then pull up Flightradar24 to find small planes doing touch and go flights.
There's a flight school there and a place for charter flights. There's also a restaurant there that has some decent food. Touch-and-goes are the cheapest way to build up your takeoff and landing counts.
Revocation isn't even on the table for this. Suspension at worst if there's evidence that he blatantly ignored the tower, but most likely an administrative enforcement action with remedial training and a letter of correction.
Totally on the controllers side here. He did a fantastic job and kept it quite professional when he finally made another radio call. I'm sure the FSDO is gonna be very keen as to why you thought it was acceptable to land the airplane multiple times without a clearance, why didn't he respond to the light gun signals, and why it never occurred to him that something was off with not hearing the controller or other aircraft in the pattern.
not seeing light gun signals, especially during the day, is understandable. Nobody is staring at the tower while landing. But ignoring the radio calls? I guess its REMOTELY possible that the radio had a loose antenna wire and he just wasn't receiving for a while, but more likely he just wasn't paying attention to the radio and was doing his own thing. Even if he had actually lost radio, he should have figured that out pretty quick when he got no follow up instructions after his first touch and go, and he should have been trying to talk to tower before executing another. Worst case scenario, if he determined that he couldn't hear anyone and/or no-one could hear him, he should have landed and stopped, as per the AIM: www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap6_section_4.html 6-4-1 two-way radio communication failure 2. VFR conditions. If the failure occurs in VFR conditions, or if VFR conditions are encountered after the failure, each pilot must continue the flight under VFR and land as soon as practicable.
@@jbreezy101 That and the desk of the place he got the plane almost certainly has the number. And a bunch of PO'd other people who probably wrote it down for him, probably even have a phone ready for him to use.
I'm thinking, based on the other CFI (?) statements (the female in 5DS), this is a new pilot who just got his license and is practicing. My guess is he turned his radio down for some reason and forgot. Now, that doesn't explain why he thought he could continue flying the pattern without communicating.
That explains the behavior perfectly! "This radio thing's a bit loud for my liking, Imma turn it down I'm not gonna need to listen to these chatters..." No sir you definitely need it!
I fly out of this area, I’ve heard Whitted tower ream out this exact aircraft for bad radio reception. School office was laughing it up while this was happening.
@@BosworthMcG I can’t speak to what the pilot was doing. Losing radio contact isn’t excuse for doing 3 laps in the pattern. But the aircraft usually has bad radios. I’ve heard Whitted tower, St. Pete tower, Tampa approach, and Lakeland all complain about that a/c having a bad com1 in the same 1-2 month period
I fly into SPG all the time, it's a great little GA airport with a challenging runway setup for newer pilots. I recognize the controller's voice as well. If you ever hear silence when on approach to a controlled airport you ALWAYS try to establish 2 way comms, you can ask a question like "SPG tower is 80F still cleared for the option?", if you don't get a response and the tower is in operation then you know you have bigger problems.
I’m also a student pilot out of SPG. I’ve talked to this dude on frequency before. I don’t know his name but I do recognize his voice, and I can confirm that he’s a really cool guy.
You can tell even in this video. That’s the same voice as the super cool, chill teacher in high school who will let you show up a couple minutes late, eat in the classroom, etc but as soon as you cross the line you’re done for
had the radio fail( it just cut off and popped a CB while on base for a class C squawked 7600 and rocked my wings quite obvious and flashed my landing light to get the towers attention they gave us a solid green but man u really have to look for it sold the radio to a avionics repair school for 100 bucks and got a new garmin ( the old radio was from the 80s )
Bet this was an old guy who thought that clearance for one touch and go meant clearance for as many circuits/landings as he wished. That's a certain pilot deviation, if the controller decides to pursue it.
Question about light gun signals: the controller says he gave him a red signal. The chart on screen says that in the air, that means "continue circling, give way." On the ground, it means stop. Could this be considered an ambiguous instruction? If he was intending to touch and go, and was given a "continue circling" light. Should he have been given the flashing green "return to land" light instead?
Something similar happened at KSRQ (not far from SPG) a few years ago. The pilot kept doing touch and goes without any clearance from tower. When he finally landed, he claimed his radio wasn't working...
On the plus side, he wasn’t letting distractions like cell phones take him away from the task of flying the plane. On the minus side… some of those distractions are kind of important. Yeesh.
It's easy to misconfigure your radio and fly blind for a while, it's also easy to forget to get clearance when doing pattern work, but by the third time you'd think it's suspicious that you're not hearing anything with other aircraft in the pattern as well... no landing clearances either... interesting.
Perhaps he understood that when he called tower and tower said "cleared touch and go", he thought he was cleared for as many as he wanted (and then turned off the radio or something?) I don't really get it. That's certainly not what that clearance means...
If this guy is a new pilot, the FAA will most likely have him do some more required training, possibly re-take the written. All depends on the circumstances. Also, whom ever signed him off may have to answer some questions. I would be curious to know the outcome.
@@JustSayN2O709 ride makes more sense to me. Seems like an issue of not understanding ATC clearances, maybe he trained at an untowered airport. Dude must’ve thought being cleared to follow the aircraft in front included an implied landing clearance which is obviously not how it works
Reminds me of one of my colleagues. I'm a train driver (but mainly shunting) and we have to ask the switchman for permission to do shunting movements everytime. He did not and oh man, someone was really p*ssed up there in the signal box
Even at 5 hours I knew you could not do anything without a clearance, and every single time you do something it requires a separate clearance. He is getting a checkride and retraining. I want to hear the phone call between him and the tower.
Only question I have is concerning the remark by ATC of "You don't fly in a pattern with lights." Well if the pilot had working radios and was cleared for a touch and go, then discovered his radio was inoperable after the fact, wouldn't the pilot still remain in the pattern and watch for the light gun signals? Granted, the pilot ignored the red light, but the controller makes it sound like the pilot should exit the pattern immediately which isn't correct.
Non-pilot here, need clarification.... The light chart posted showed a steady red as "continue circling". Could he have interpreted that as keep doing what you're doing? I guess when/if he saw the light, he should have called tower to ask what's up?
That's not how the FAA operates and that's not the way you want them to either. There's a good chance his behavior can be explained by a single error or single misunderstanding of the regulations. Give him an earful, require retraining on the deficient subject, get him back in the air. We should be punishing defiance of the rules more than we should ignorance.
Is it just me, or N8480F sounds like 9CE from the Belly Landing in Scottsdale, where he did not like that the airport will be closed because of a gear up landing?
If there was EVER a time to just, at seemingly random, make a single radio call prior to each touch and go: "Postos De Combate!".... This was it. And he squandered it.
Not a pilot but I like watching these anyway. As an aside, how is one supposed to signal to the tower if a radio suddenly becomes inoperative? I mean I know three touch-and-goes probably isn't the protocol :) and I get that ensuring the aircraft is in good working order must be required, but it could still happen and need to be handled. So let's say I''m flying, radio out, no cell phone for whatever reason, what do I do to signal and safely resolve the situation? Thanks!
Why is tower continuing to allow operations in their pattern? Once it was clear there was a NORDO doing as they pleased i would have departed the area and waited it out.
Probably because both him and the other planes have eyes on him, so they can maintain visual separation. Just like operating at a pilot controlled field.
Based on what others have said, I think the procedure would be to squawk 7600 on the transponder (I’m not actually sure if this step would be required or not, but it certainly would help, as 7600 would let ATC know your radio stopped working), fly the pattern, and watch for light signals
What's the proper procedure for this, assuming the pilot knows his radio is on the fritz? Squawk code is 7600, but then what? Is the pilot required to land immediately? Does ATC clear the airspace as if he was declaring an emergency?
It's been a long time since I've flown, but as I recall if you loose radio communication with the tower you need to leave control zone as soon as possible. As for the tower light signals, I probably would have forgot to look myself.
If you lose radio comms inside controlled airspace, you squawk 7600, set up for a predictable landing and look for light gun signals. That's the official procedure. That's why the controller used the light gun.
Is there a technical way to know the radio was not hearing the tower? I would think not but even that seems to stink of bullshit if claimed. Even that does not explain the lights he ignored or did not know meaning.
Here is a possible explanation (not an excuse, but an explanation).... The pilot, possibly a student, asked for clearance for touch and goes, as in plural. The tower responded cleared for touch and go, then make right closed traffic. We sometimes hear what we want or expect to hear, so since the pilot asked for plural, in his mind that's what he got cleared for, then just proceeded to go into right closed traffic and stayed there, doing touch and goes, never leaving the pattern. If he was a student and constantly thinking about changing airspeeds, turns, flap settings up and down, pattern altitude, etc, etc, he could have been at task saturation level and just tuned out the radio in his mind, thinking he was already cleared for touch and goes (plural), as long as he stayed in right closed traffic. He didn't think about the radio again until he was ready to come in for a full stop landing. I'm not defending him, but am almost willing to bet that is what happened.
So what happens to the pilot in a situation like this? Do you get some sort of citation/fine? I don't know how the disciplinary system works for private pilots.
Incident shared to me via Instagram. Thanks for the report.
@VASAviation, can you share the time/date, or are you able to FOIA request the tower recorded phone lines?
@vasaviation how can I share one with you?
Lol THIS!!!!
"He's getting violated" can be interpreted in many different ways, especially given how annoyed the tower sounds lol
😂😂😂
Possibly the funniest comment in internet history
I thought the same thing lmao
He might be able to fly after he has been violated, but only standing up.
"You're not here for the huntin', are ya?"
The tower said "cleared touch and go" 3 times when he first arrived. ...that obviously means cleared for three laps, duh!
Lol. Best explanation so far :)
LMFAO. I sure hope to God he didn't think that.
I wonder how the FSDO took that argument if he actually used it hahahaha
Yes, definitely. That's also why it is good practice to keep a spare landing clearance for when you are in a hurry and need to get ahead of the queue.
It's a necessary part of any well-appointed flight bag 😜@@mx2000
“When you get that plane on the ground you call the tower immediately!” *Stops on runway to make a phone call*
"Oh fer !@#$ sake..." -- ATC
LOL!!! 🤣😁
“He’s getting violated” is the most ominous yet fun thing I’ve heard all day.
No. "You're" getting violated is ominous. There's an important difference. This controller was having a tantrum, venting to everyone on frequency except the one person who clearly wasn't listening. I thought he was very unprofessional.
ATC is gonna return the favor and give him three touch and gos without clearance 🍆🍑
A single approval for a touch and go is good for an entire day. Nice to know. Lol!
Hey I paid for a day pass and I’m using it!
He just came from Disneyland and that's how they do things there!
"Tower hates this trick!"
@@gegessen159 This one sure did.
If I radio for a touch and go at the start of January, it’s it still valid for the rest of the year?
Oh, to hear that phone call...
This is the proper level of irritated ATC. Worked the problem, tried the options available, and even when complaining was professional and brief. Good on 5DS for proactively mentioning having cell phone contact information. There are a number of major issues here, including radio operation, the light communication, and clearance for multiple touch and gos (Touches and go?); everything else aside, it's a good teachable moment for everyone else.
They were clearly covering their arses by mentioning on air that he's a rental, I can can call his cell, etc., etc. Don't blame them in the slightest. :)
@@iatsd Question would be if they kept renting to him... or at least without some very firm "correction" on flight discipline and comms.
@@neuropilot7310 I sincerely doubt they'll give him the plane again this is a pretty strange thing to just whoopsiedoodle
Touches and goes
Yeah, a great balance of keeping it professional and still expressing your feelings.
I am a student pilot at KSPG and it’s a fantastic little airport. I don’t know the controllers name, but I do recognize his voice. I’ve talked to him multiple times on frequency and he’s a really chill guy. I’ve even sparked up a couple of mini conversations while flying.
I always appreciated the Tampa area airport tower guys. Very easy to work with and professional. We have a grump at my local airport.
I've talked to him too. I've never seen him get angry. One of my friends sent me this video and I'm dying laughing.
I'm from the East coast of FL but I've been to SPG a few times, the controllers have always been very professional
Same here, He's always been a chill guy I can't blame him for being mad at this guy.
I just knew that had to be somewhere in Florida. Er, no offense intended. I'm sure that most Florida pilots are fine, maybe better than that. Just like the majority (50.000001%?) of Florida drivers actually do have insurance and are capable of driving across an otherwise deserted parking lot without totaling the one other vehicle in it and then driving off. So it sort of becomes an "if I had to guess, I'd guess Florida" kind of thing, lol.
Keep the blue side up!
I'm certain ATC wanted to talk to him to give congratulations for the well executed touch and gos.
Maybe even invited him to dinner for beers and to give him a big hug and say "I love you, man!"
Had a similar occurrance unfold years ago in Roanoke, Virginia one calm and beautiful Spring night. A student pilot from Mountain Empire Airport wandered into the pattern for runway 23 from the west and commenced several touch-and-goes without saying a word to the Approach Controller, tower or anybody. We came in to land flying a Metroliner, and after all our passengers deplaned the two of us and our ground crew stood out there on the ramp making bets as to how many more times he'd land and takeoff. We still had the tower and ground control frequencies up in our numbers one and two comms. with the cabin speaker on, and when the guy finally landed full-stop we heard him call the ground controller after he pulled off the runway and stopped, seeking taxi instructions. We thought we'd never hear the end of his admonishment from the tower. Boy! That was way back in 1986. I remember it like it was last week.
I wonder if the kid lost their license? I'd imagine how peeved tower was!
Similar thing happened in 2021 at the FBO I was renting from. Another renter, a student pilot on a solo X/C, took up a Skyhawk and flew over to Newport News (PHF) and did a touch and go without ever talking to tower. As per the student, they thought the part-time tower was closed when they were flying in, hence not even bothering to tune in (Twr and Unicom are different freqs). Needless to say, the FSDO wasn't very amused: the pilot, their instructor, and FBO personnel were all called in to Richmond for a chat.
Hard to explain this kind of behavior. Clearly the guy knew to call inbound and got his initial clearance for touch and go. But how does he just keep landing after that without hearing anything? Would like to know how he tried to justify this.
Yeah, idk kinda bewildered. Been a CPC for 14 years and never heard of this one. 😂 haven’t worked local for about 8 but im sure the local guys would have called us to see if he was on freq. maybe there is a nasa form on it
Yeah, having a comm fail would be normal but you just follow the radio fail procedure, rock your wings to the lights and land... Not continue doing the pattern over and over
@@VASAviation Yeah new phraseology. “cleared touch and go, expect continuous touch and gos following the Diamond.” Lmao. Would work like an IFR clearance Nordo.😂
Makes no sense, indeed. No idea what he was thinking.
Too much money .
Wow, at my favorite airport no less. Many moons ago I was a recently-minted pilot renting a clapped out Cessna 172 out of KFXE. Was doing touch n go’s at KPMP (less busy, quicker patterns) when on approach my radios went kaput. As a new pilot, I was terrified and thinking that homeland security would soon chase after me with Blackhawks and guided missiles, if I failed to communicate with the tower. I sprinted up to about 2,500 ft and headed back to FXE to sort things out. I gathered up my courage, dropped it down to about 1,500 ft and circled the FXE tower, wagging my wings. Man, the relief when I got the light signals (forgot what color) and I went right into the pattern and landed. Turned out my alternator was crapped out. Did the writeup letter to the FAA and heard nothing of it since.
A CFI once told me about the Homeland Security thing happening to another new-ish pilot here... Radio went out, and as per procedure he exited the CTR and diverted to the nearest uncontrolled airfield. Except he squawked 7500 instead of 7600. And was met by an Apache upon landing. Not sure what became of him (or if he was ever seen again😁 )
@@kaasmeester5903 wow! Glad I didn’t touch my code, lol
@@kaasmeester5903 😀
Many moons ago, homeland security didn't exist, youngster..... lol
@@EatPezzzz Remember, homeland security has been around for longer than the lifetime of people who can legally purchase alcohol.
I had radio failure in the pattern happen to me when I was a student pilot flying solo. When the engine was running at high power setting, the radio did not work, and apparently I missed a call from the tower. When I reduced power downwind the radio came back and the tower controller first snapped at me about not answering, but was mollified when I told him about the radio issue. I was cleared to land and advised to taxi to parking and check out a different aircraft. I can't imagine how a competent pilot can do multiple patterns without getting cleared for landing or the option. Also, having a handheld COM radio in the flight bag is cheap insurance.
A handheld is a good idea.
@@SpaceFrawgTried using a handheld in the pattern. Transmissions are pretty much unreadable if you can't connect the handheld to the headset. And my connection cord failed quite quickly. So, carrying a handheld is not a bad habit, but I wouldn't call it insurance. Asking the tower to point a light gun at you has more value so you know what to look for when it is for real
@@DmitryKorotkov I have an adapter to plug my headset into the radio and tested it. It works, even in flight. Transmissions are not super strong, but better than nothing. However, you are right, in the pattern the workload is high, so fiddling with the radio while flying is not such a good idea. For radio failure on a longer flight it may be helpful though.
5:35 "80F copies" After all that I would have given him a "readback incorrect" and repeated the instructon and that would not stop until he got the readback correct.
petty correctness, love it
@@noahmiller985 It isn't petty. ATC phraseology is something few instructors stress and it results in a lot of bad habits. I told students to care enough to do it the right way or don't bother doing it.
First thing I thought. Failed to read back.
@@noahmiller985 The deadliest air disaster of all time, at Tenerife, was caused by a miscommunication with airplanes on the ground. Standardized readback is important.
“I gave him a red light and he did a touch and go!” hahaha that’s the best part😂
Light gun signals are... odd. In my opinion, they're not a reliable fallback method of communication.
The tower is nowhere near the runway at any airport i've ever been to. If I thought I had a valid landing clearance, I'd never even notice the light gun, because i'm looking at the runway while i'm landing, not at the tower. Maybe if it were night, the light would be bright enough to catch my attention out of my periphery, but during the day? not unless that light gun is a laser dazzler.
Only time I'd be looking for light gun signals is if i knew my radio was out, or if there were a NOTAM published saying the tower's was out and light guns were in use.
Imagine being a fly on the wall listening to that phone conversation between tower and that pilot lol
It is not his place to chew out a pilot. His place is to provide the information to FSDO and let them do thier jobn
Something tells me that "he's getting violated" means the tower boss (if they exist) is going to beat the shit out of this pilot when he gets back to the hangar.
You're saying he's making it to the hangar? And not suddenly find the controller running at him down the taxiway? 😂
@@TheEDFLegacy Next time he touches down the controller does a running leap onto his windscreen
Wish I could hear that call to the tower!
FOIA somehow
VAS thanks for the captions. I learned some new aviation terms today.
Thanks for watching
If you had been standing next to the tower controller, I’d bet you’d hear a ton of non-aviation terms, too!!
@@miketierney7076😆
@@miketierney7076 without a doubt! some very dubious and glorious commentary OFF MIC
Be careful, some of them are not standard phraseology and should not be used (wilco, for example)
This is truly baffling. Even if it were an untowered airport, if you have radios, USE THEM. If your radio stops working, land full stop and get it sorted out. How the heck do guys like this pass their checkride?!!
FAA report concludes the pilot of N8480F to be an utter berk and has sentenced him to be executed by Captain Maggie and her rounders bat
In his defense, once I asked the tower to use the light signals along with the normal radio clearance, just to have that experience, and I never saw the lights until I was on the ground. But nothing can explain WHY he did 2 of the 3 touch and go without any kind of clearance from the tower.
Yeah, light guns kinda suck. Especially since the tower is not beside the runway at most airports, it's far enough off to the side that you aren't going to be looking at it during landing.
IMO, if a tower is going to rely on light guns for backup calls, they need to give the gun to an ops runner to stand by the runway with it. Or, better yet, mount a set of fixed light signals beside the runway for that purpose (and update the AIM to let pilots know that this is now a thing, since no airport anywhere has this today).
He might of thought he got the touch and go clearance day pass which also includes the ignore ATC perk.
LOL
Haha, insane! That's one of the planes I train in. Crazy to see your own tail number in these videos.
I like that controller! He would make a great new Kennedy Steve!
Kennedy Steve is a dick head. He thinks he's funny but instead sounds like the Uncle you don't want to invite for the Holiday's
I've flown in and out of Whitted many many times. I used to fly helicopters in that area before moving north, and I also know that controller. He's super chill and never gets worked up. To hear him so frustrated like this is unusual to me. I mean, we're helicopters, not exactly any Tower's favorite, but he was always cool with me and went out of his way to help me any way he could. Kinda wild to see this on here....
Aren't touch and go clearances good for the whole day? Like a theme park ticket?
More like a Day-Pass at the ski lift. It was probably pinned to his jacket so he was good to go.
Got his clearance from tower for right closed traffic, then turned off his radio so no one would bother him. Love it. The sky is full of people like this.
This is in the middle of some very busy airspace. If Tampa International is operating arrivals on the 1L (1L/19R is the most used runway), then the usual approach pattern for arriving aircraft is to turn south over Tampa or Clearwater before making a 180-degree turn near this location to align with 1L (or 1R, but 1L is used more even when both parallel runways are operating). Of course, the arriving aircraft will be about 1500-2500ft at this point, but I still think that's a bit close for a VFR GA plane without radio communication. There's also MacDill Air Force base a few miles to the northeast with a main runway aligned northeast-southwest. While not as busy as TPA, it's still a large base for tankers and I'd imaging their departures would typically be to the southwest over the bay as northeast departures would be noisy as they go over urban areas. I'm not a pilot to understand how the airspace for each airport interacts along this part of Tampa Bay, but I would guess it would be based on altitude and location to allow simultaneous operations between TPA/MCF/SPG with the tiny SPG only serving general aviation controlling only a very low altitude to avoid conflict with traffic in/out of the other two.
P.S. SPG seems to be a popular location for touch and go flights. I've been to the nearby St.Peter Pier a few times, and almost every time I can see small planes taking off at SPG and then pull up Flightradar24 to find small planes doing touch and go flights.
landing at SPG is no big deal. the only thing unusual is 800 ft pattern altitude. avoid the bravo airspace, and PIE airspace and its normal.
There's a flight school there and a place for charter flights. There's also a restaurant there that has some decent food. Touch-and-goes are the cheapest way to build up your takeoff and landing counts.
"Sorry about that" is probably not gonna cut it.
soon: "Hi we're the FAA. Your pilot certificate is hereby revoked. Sorry about that."
My B yo, Sorry
Would not surprise me if his license is either suspended or revoked completely.
Yeah, definitely some explaining to do
More then likely he is a commercial pilot by now. These idiots always fail upwards.
@@xcalibertrekker6693 hes on a a350-900 now
Revocation isn't even on the table for this. Suspension at worst if there's evidence that he blatantly ignored the tower, but most likely an administrative enforcement action with remedial training and a letter of correction.
@NJP-Supremacist not true
Totally on the controllers side here. He did a fantastic job and kept it quite professional when he finally made another radio call. I'm sure the FSDO is gonna be very keen as to why you thought it was acceptable to land the airplane multiple times without a clearance, why didn't he respond to the light gun signals, and why it never occurred to him that something was off with not hearing the controller or other aircraft in the pattern.
not seeing light gun signals, especially during the day, is understandable. Nobody is staring at the tower while landing.
But ignoring the radio calls? I guess its REMOTELY possible that the radio had a loose antenna wire and he just wasn't receiving for a while, but more likely he just wasn't paying attention to the radio and was doing his own thing. Even if he had actually lost radio, he should have figured that out pretty quick when he got no follow up instructions after his first touch and go, and he should have been trying to talk to tower before executing another. Worst case scenario, if he determined that he couldn't hear anyone and/or no-one could hear him, he should have landed and stopped, as per the AIM: www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap6_section_4.html
6-4-1 two-way radio communication failure
2. VFR conditions. If the failure occurs in VFR conditions, or if VFR conditions are encountered after the failure, each pilot must continue the flight under VFR and land as soon as practicable.
Tower so mad, he didn't even give him a phone number.
He probably went out to hand it to him personally, along with his rear end.
Was considering that was the Home airport for many of those pilots I’m sure they had the number handy; he was told to call the tower
@@jbreezy101 That and the desk of the place he got the plane almost certainly has the number. And a bunch of PO'd other people who probably wrote it down for him, probably even have a phone ready for him to use.
Probably was reminiscing about his days flying a Cub as a nordo out somewhere in Utah.
Many moons ago I did my Orals and Practicals(Os & Ps) for my A&P license at this airport. Been working as a mechanic for 27 years now.
Did he turn his radio off or lower the volume? It seems whatever he did was intentional...because he came back up to ask for landing clearance?
Yes, sounds like that
I'm thinking, based on the other CFI (?) statements (the female in 5DS), this is a new pilot who just got his license and is practicing. My guess is he turned his radio down for some reason and forgot. Now, that doesn't explain why he thought he could continue flying the pattern without communicating.
That explains the behavior perfectly! "This radio thing's a bit loud for my liking, Imma turn it down I'm not gonna need to listen to these chatters..." No sir you definitely need it!
@@すどにむ Difficult to hear his iTunes playlist with all of the radio communications.
That’s my guess. He turned down his radio and then back up when he was looking to finish up. Dumb.
This Airport Is Albert Whitted Airfield In St. Petersburg FL
Thanks, I was wondering.
@@sarahalbers5555 No problem
I fly out of this area, I’ve heard Whitted tower ream out this exact aircraft for bad radio reception. School office was laughing it up while this was happening.
So that particular aircraft has a known radio issue? Kinda helps to explain what happened, especially if the pilot is inexperienced.
@@BosworthMcG I can’t speak to what the pilot was doing. Losing radio contact isn’t excuse for doing 3 laps in the pattern. But the aircraft usually has bad radios. I’ve heard Whitted tower, St. Pete tower, Tampa approach, and Lakeland all complain about that a/c having a bad com1 in the same 1-2 month period
I fly into SPG all the time, it's a great little GA airport with a challenging runway setup for newer pilots. I recognize the controller's voice as well.
If you ever hear silence when on approach to a controlled airport you ALWAYS try to establish 2 way comms, you can ask a question like "SPG tower is 80F still cleared for the option?", if you don't get a response and the tower is in operation then you know you have bigger problems.
I hope that guy did not get cleared to takeoff at all and had to taxi home.
I love how your videos always end with the tension of "Oh man this guy's is about to get chewed out hard!"
The funniest is the guy who said “You have my support!” Lol 😂
Land Ghostrider, you are instructed to land immediately!😮
Haha, and ATC sounds a little like Jester.
I did my flight training at Albert Whitted. The controllers there are usually extremely chill.
Until you fly patterns over and over while NORDO haha
I’m also a student pilot out of SPG. I’ve talked to this dude on frequency before. I don’t know his name but I do recognize his voice, and I can confirm that he’s a really cool guy.
You can tell even in this video. That’s the same voice as the super cool, chill teacher in high school who will let you show up a couple minutes late, eat in the classroom, etc but as soon as you cross the line you’re done for
Wow a St. Petersburg av violator. That airport is just down the street from me! Great city to live in - lots of aviation in the skies.
Often forgotten but the first commercial flights in the world were in St Pete.
You threw me in for a loop because I live in St. Petersburg. Russian one.
He got some 'splainin to do.....
had the radio fail( it just cut off and popped a CB while on base for a class C squawked 7600 and rocked my wings quite obvious and flashed my landing light to get the towers attention they gave us a solid green but man u really have to look for it
sold the radio to a avionics repair school for 100 bucks and got a new garmin ( the old radio was from the 80s )
That does it! I’m taking my Cessna 150 into LAX tomorrow and doing touch and goes on NORDO at 10 am 😂😜
My man gave himself a runway daypass
A skip the lines pass at Disney. He is Goofy, alright.
@@redcapote4760BAHAHAHA
Love it. So funny
I laughed like an idiot with that IMMEDIATELY nearing the end of the video hahah
Bet this was an old guy who thought that clearance for one touch and go meant clearance for as many circuits/landings as he wished. That's a certain pilot deviation, if the controller decides to pursue it.
It sure sounds like the controller is going to pursue it.
@@_DMAC He was definitely thermal.....
Even if you thought that, why on earth would you turn the radio off or down and ignore it?
@@tin2001 Entitlement. he felt like it's fine he did his thing now time to enjoy the sky
Question about light gun signals: the controller says he gave him a red signal. The chart on screen says that in the air, that means "continue circling, give way." On the ground, it means stop.
Could this be considered an ambiguous instruction? If he was intending to touch and go, and was given a "continue circling" light.
Should he have been given the flashing green "return to land" light instead?
Absolutely yes
Something similar happened at KSRQ (not far from SPG) a few years ago. The pilot kept doing touch and goes without any clearance from tower. When he finally landed, he claimed his radio wasn't working...
Dude got Aviate and Navigate down but forgot to Communicate.
On the plus side, he wasn’t letting distractions like cell phones take him away from the task of flying the plane.
On the minus side… some of those distractions are kind of important. Yeesh.
Thanks for posting these videos Viktor! I was referred from blancolirio
2:11 Anyone else pick up on some vibes with how tower said "violate him"
Yeah, he definitely wants to kick a pineapple up his arse.
It's easy to misconfigure your radio and fly blind for a while, it's also easy to forget to get clearance when doing pattern work, but by the third time you'd think it's suspicious that you're not hearing anything with other aircraft in the pattern as well... no landing clearances either... interesting.
Perhaps he understood that when he called tower and tower said "cleared touch and go", he thought he was cleared for as many as he wanted (and then turned off the radio or something?) I don't really get it. That's certainly not what that clearance means...
His friend sure loved digging his hole deeper for him
This pilot did not read back of any of ATC instructions either. He just says copy. Not clear to land on which runway or where to taxi lol. WOW.
To be fair, he requested "touch and goes" so, well, he just wanted to stamp his 10 times loyalty card with this request i guess.
Once you know youre in trouble, dont stop using proper comm etiquette or read backs. This guy is boned
Well the atc did say he was getting violated.... perhaps in more ways than one!
Yeah, he just kept saying "copy". That is not a read-back.
@@MrMegaMario64BAHAHAHAHA
@@Look_What_You_Did Easy there tiger. ATC wasnt the guy landing without clearance. Now tell me how youve been fired from better jobs than that lol
I can only imagine the mustache on this ATC
If this guy is a new pilot, the FAA will most likely have him do some more required training, possibly re-take the written. All depends on the circumstances. Also, whom ever signed him off may have to answer some questions. I would be curious to know the outcome.
Dude needs a 709 ride. There’s no excuse to be doing pattern work at a towered airport without clearance.
709 ride is too lenient. Revoking his certificate(s) and giving him the option to retrain from square one should be his only pathway.
@@JustSayN2O709 ride makes more sense to me. Seems like an issue of not understanding ATC clearances, maybe he trained at an untowered airport. Dude must’ve thought being cleared to follow the aircraft in front included an implied landing clearance which is obviously not how it works
@@nathanmcguire932 Meet halfway. 6 month suspension of pilot privileges, then a 709 ride.
@@JustSayN2O so force him to dull his skills then put him back in the air? Don’t quit your day job 😂
@@gimmezamore OK then: a one day suspension followed by a 709 ride. Everybody happy now?
ATC to pilot: “send him a text message.” Clearly a procedure right out of the 7110.65
Reminds me of one of my colleagues. I'm a train driver (but mainly shunting) and we have to ask the switchman for permission to do shunting movements everytime. He did not and oh man, someone was really p*ssed up there in the signal box
Oh boy.... I would NOT wanna be THAT GUY!!
2:10 interesting phrasing 😂
Even at 5 hours I knew you could not do anything without a clearance, and every single time you do something it requires a separate clearance. He is getting a checkride and retraining.
I want to hear the phone call between him and the tower.
Good to hear Ron Swanson got a job in the tower.
Only question I have is concerning the remark by ATC of "You don't fly in a pattern with lights." Well if the pilot had working radios and was cleared for a touch and go, then discovered his radio was inoperable after the fact, wouldn't the pilot still remain in the pattern and watch for the light gun signals? Granted, the pilot ignored the red light, but the controller makes it sound like the pilot should exit the pattern immediately which isn't correct.
it would be good to hear exact details of the penalty that was applied?
Yoooo, I love this ATC 5:26
"Getting violated", American radio comms are so weird!
Probably a mistake to assume that this is representational. I can imagine others on frequency smirking at this controller's turn of phrase.
Can you include links to any reports in the description? Would love to hear the end result of these incidents.
Non-pilot here, need clarification.... The light chart posted showed a steady red as "continue circling". Could he have interpreted that as keep doing what you're doing? I guess when/if he saw the light, he should have called tower to ask what's up?
I don't know much about aviation, I just enjoy watching these videos for some reason. But even I would know better than to do this.
Unbelievable!!!
Now, they'll make him hold at OFFUK.
Suspend his license immediately. He thinks it's a game that you can do whatever you want to?
😂 ur a 🤡. You don't know anything more then they told u in this video. Google what happened.
Don't be such a drama queen
@@rona4960Well if he doesnt know the basics of operating in a D, next to two Ds and under a B shelf then yea, pull his license
That's not how the FAA operates and that's not the way you want them to either. There's a good chance his behavior can be explained by a single error or single misunderstanding of the regulations. Give him an earful, require retraining on the deficient subject, get him back in the air. We should be punishing defiance of the rules more than we should ignorance.
The pilot must have been like " wow, what a nice and quiet flight"
Is it just me, or N8480F sounds like 9CE from the Belly Landing in Scottsdale, where he did not like that the airport will be closed because of a gear up landing?
If there was EVER a time to just, at seemingly random, make a single radio call prior to each touch and go: "Postos De Combate!".... This was it. And he squandered it.
Ron Swanson is pissed!
Oh, it's that Air Canada 781 pilot from SFO again
He must’ve taken forced early retirement is now renting planes in Florida like most. Canadians do these days lol.
"Ghostrider you are instructed to land. Land immediately."
Not a pilot but I like watching these anyway. As an aside, how is one supposed to signal to the tower if a radio suddenly becomes inoperative? I mean I know three touch-and-goes probably isn't the protocol :) and I get that ensuring the aircraft is in good working order must be required, but it could still happen and need to be handled. So let's say I''m flying, radio out, no cell phone for whatever reason, what do I do to signal and safely resolve the situation? Thanks!
Be careful when he gets his license he may request countrywide multiple landing clearance too
Why is tower continuing to allow operations in their pattern? Once it was clear there was a NORDO doing as they pleased i would have departed the area and waited it out.
Because it's a flight school airport and they may not have the option.
Probably because both him and the other planes have eyes on him, so they can maintain visual separation. Just like operating at a pilot controlled field.
So I'm not a pilot. What should you do if your radio quits? Obviously no touch and go's but you have to land eventually.
Based on what others have said, I think the procedure would be to squawk 7600 on the transponder (I’m not actually sure if this step would be required or not, but it certainly would help, as 7600 would let ATC know your radio stopped working), fly the pattern, and watch for light signals
He thought he was getting the touch and go day pass on that first one.
What's the proper procedure for this, assuming the pilot knows his radio is on the fritz? Squawk code is 7600, but then what? Is the pilot required to land immediately? Does ATC clear the airspace as if he was declaring an emergency?
It's been a long time since I've flown, but as I recall if you loose radio communication with the tower you need to leave control zone as soon as possible. As for the tower light signals, I probably would have forgot to look myself.
If you lose radio comms inside controlled airspace, you squawk 7600, set up for a predictable landing and look for light gun signals. That's the official procedure. That's why the controller used the light gun.
@@ModernClassic awesome, thank you! It's been too long for me
If you leave the control zone you still have to land. So the 7600 and land is probably better for you and all concerned.
Is there a technical way to know the radio was not hearing the tower? I would think not but even that seems to stink of bullshit if claimed. Even that does not explain the lights he ignored or did not know meaning.
Here is a possible explanation (not an excuse, but an explanation)....
The pilot, possibly a student, asked for clearance for touch and goes, as in plural. The tower responded cleared for touch and go, then make right closed traffic. We sometimes hear what we want or expect to hear, so since the pilot asked for plural, in his mind that's what he got cleared for, then just proceeded to go into right closed traffic and stayed there, doing touch and goes, never leaving the pattern. If he was a student and constantly thinking about changing airspeeds, turns, flap settings up and down, pattern altitude, etc, etc, he could have been at task saturation level and just tuned out the radio in his mind, thinking he was already cleared for touch and goes (plural), as long as he stayed in right closed traffic. He didn't think about the radio again until he was ready to come in for a full stop landing.
I'm not defending him, but am almost willing to bet that is what happened.
You can't be that tunnel visioned to not hear like 5 radio calls though. idk
He was described as a "renter" so probably not a student.
Doesnt answer the tower, doesnt answer his cell phone, runs a red light, time for the Stinger.
So what happens to the pilot in a situation like this? Do you get some sort of citation/fine? I don't know how the disciplinary system works for private pilots.