In August 2006, a regional jet crew was cleared for takeoff on one runway, lined up on the wrong one instead, a much shorter runway, and crashed off the end of it. That single accident is a big part of why ATC phraseology around runways has gotten dramatically more precise since then, including retiring a familiar phrase that had been standard for decades in favor of something less ambiguous.
Today we're covering runway incursions, what causes them and how to avoid contributing to one, the exact phraseology ATC now uses for hold-short instructions, runway crossings, and "line up and wait," and the engineered system some airports install specifically to stop an aircraft that runs out of runway.
Subscribe free to keep reading, the actual definition of a runway incursion (and the surprising statistic about who causes most of them) is coming up next.
01: COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER
If you fly out of a busy towered airport, pay attention to what just happened in Denver: the FAA banned touch-and-goes and restricted pattern work at Centennial Airport this week with zero notice, no NOTAM, no ATIS update, nothing. Meanwhile the FAA's testing office keeps quietly modernizing in the background: starting October 26, the CFI and ATP knowledge tests join ...
Every aircraft that's ever flown leaves behind two invisible tornadoes trailing off its wingtips, and they don't just dissipate the instant the bigger plane touches down. They can hang in the air for minutes, sink slowly toward the ground, and drift sideways in the wind, which is exactly why "stay well behind that jet" is dramatically more specific and more technical than it sounds.
Today we're...
Here's a fact that surprises almost every student pilot: unless you're flying internationally, you don't need any kind of license to talk on the radio in a U.S.-registered aircraft. No FCC test, no permit, nothing. But the moment ATC needs to track you on radar instead of just hear you, an entirely different system kicks in, one built around a four-digit code and a word that sounds like it belo...
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