Scraping the rust off of ATC communication skillz

Last week I told my teammates at work that I may take an afternoon off this week if the weather was nice. Today it was lovely, so I did exactly that.

For a couple of weeks I've been planning the flight I took today. There were several things I wanted to do that I haven't done in a long time and today I did them all. They are:

• Create and file a VFR flight plan to another airport and back.
• Open said flight plan.
• Contact ATC, in this case Whidbey approach, for flight following.
• Fly to an airport with an active control tower.
• Fly higher than 3000 feet.

I created the flight plan in FlyQ and filed it. The route was Harvey Field, via Skagit Bayview Airport (BVS), to Bellingham International Airport (BLI). The return route was the reverse. The altitude for the flight to BLI was 4500 and the altitude for the return trip was 5500.

At Harvey, I filled up with fuel, then contacted Flight Services by calling 1-800-WXBRIEF on my phone, which was connected to my Lightspeed headset via Bluetooth. I opened the flight plan, then taxied out to the runway. I took off and headed north.

I had a bit of an issue when I contacted Whidbey approach. I don't know if it was my comm system being flaky, or just an issue of poor reception, but I couldn't hear them for a few minutes. After contact was restored the controller gave my a squawk code and I monitored the frequency as I flew on.

As I was approaching BLI, Whidbey approach terminated flight following and I then tuned in the BLI ATIS. Information Delta was current. I took a few notes and then tuned in the tower. Right as I tuned in, I heard an announcement that information Echo was now current. So I tuned back to the ATIS and took a few more notes. Then I tuned back to the tower and made contact, advising that I had Echo and requesting a touch-and-go.

Bellingham tower cleared me for a straight-in approach for runway 34 and requested I report 4-mile final. This is the same approach I flew the last time I visited BLI during my training back in 2003. At approximately 4 miles I reported in and the controller cleared me for the option. He asked me what route I wanted to take on departure and I responded that I wanted to head back south. He also thanked me for reporting at 4 miles, which makes me wonder how many pilots neglect to do that when requested.

I made a decent landing, then took off again and headed south. This time I didn't get flight following, though I did tune into Whidbey approach and listened for a while. The airspace was relatively busy today, which makes sense as it's a naval air station.

As I flew over BVS, I tuned into it's CTAF and reported my position, altitude, and direction of flight. As I approached the vicinity of Arlington Airport, I tuned into that CTAF and reported in. I realized, however, that I was going to fly past the airport to the west, and that's where aircraft approach to enter the pattern, so I turned east and went around the airport, then headed south again. By this time I had also descended to 3500 feet to see if there would be less headwind than at 5500.

It was at this point that I was really glad I had my Stratux ADS-B receiver and my iPad. Looking at the screen, I could see other aircraft in the vicinity, and not all of them were talking on the CTAF. Multiple times after I passed the airport I performed evasive maneuvers because it seemed like there were at least two other aircraft that really wanted to intercept me. I could see only one of them visually. I never did see the other one. I made multiple turns of 90 degrees or more to keep clear. It's not like I hadn't reported my position either. I don't know what was going on but, next time I fly near Arlington, I'm going to make sure I keep well to the east unless I'm planning on landing there, or unless I've already climbed to at least 4500 feet, and probably even then.

As I approached Harvey field, I decided to head south past the airport on the east side, then loop around to enter the 45 for runway 15. I could see on my iPad, and could hear on the CTAF, that there were two or three aircraft to the west of the airport and I wanted to keep clear of them. Everything went fine and I entered the pattern.

There was a bit of a crosswind by this time, and I aborted my first landing attempt when I touched down and bounced back up a bit. I could probably have completed the landing by why take the chance? Besides, it's always good to practice going around.

My second attempt was much more successful, and probably one of my best crosswind landings. The upwind main wheel touched down first, then the downwind wheel, just like it's supposed to happen. I still need to practice but I'm getting better at the technique.

Right after I shut down the plane, my phone rang. It was Flight Services asking if I'd arrived okay. I told them I had, and that I was just about to call them to close the flight plan. They closed it out and I wished them a good day. I'm pretty sure the flight took longer than estimated in the plane, due mainly to the headwind on the return trip, and having to dodge traffic around Arlington.

I moved the iPad holder to the yoke mount and it worked much, much better there. It obstructs a couple of instruments a bit, but it's easy to look around it. I haven't received the new holder, so it was still a tight fit but it worked fine. The new one should arrive tomorrow so I'll have it for my next flight. I don't know what, if anything, I'm going to attach to the ball mount that's on the panel. I think a full-size iPad will be too large but maybe I'll get another Mini, especially if I can get an iPad Mini 3 and use the existing holder.

A couple things I learned:

• When filing a flight plan, add a buffer to the estimated time of arrival. I actually had heard this advice already, but forgot to do it.
• When talking to ATC, use my actual aircraft model, not the make. Flying around Harvey, I've been saying "Beechcraft 5113R" instead of "Musketeer 5113R" mainly because it's easier to say. But, when talking to ATC, you need to be more precise. When I contacted Whidbey approach, he asked my aircraft type and he shouldn't have had to. I did it right when contacting Bellingham tower.
• In general, how to communicate with an area controller like Whidbey approach. I pretty much knew what to say and when, but today I learned a few things I needed to know to refine my technique.
• Managing flight plans is even easier than I thought. Not only was I able to file it online, but Leidos Flight Service sent me emails with links I could use to open the flight plan, then close it. I didn't see these emails until after the flight but now I'll know to expect them and can use them on my phone without having to call Flight Service.

All-in-all, it was a lovely and successful flight, for multiple reasons. Not only did I make it there and back, and accomplish all of my goals, I still learned something and should be a better pilot because of it.

 

UPDATE: Here's an image of my flight track from flightaware.com. You can see the turns I made to avoid traffic on the way back as I passed Arlington.