April 13, 2021 A Little Local Flying

The Liberty Gazette

April 13, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Wheels up on a sunny Friday afternoon, and we’re over the hometown here spotting reality from a different perspective. I had wondered about those cranes along the river. For the past couple of weeks, I have noticed when driving past them at dark that all but the shortest one seem to be unlit. That’s rather unusual. The standard (law) is that anything over 199 feet must have a light on top. If the light goes out, a Notice To Airmen must be issued through the formal channels for the FAA to publish. The goal is to prevent pilots from hitting stuff. Smart goal, thank you very much. I’m not sure why only the shortest one has a light, so beware, if you’re flying low. 

After the birds’ eye view of the construction project, we flew on toward Conroe’s Lone Star Executive Airport to practice some instrument approaches. When the weather is beautiful, as it was that day, the skies tend to be more densely populated with small aircraft. I wondered why the Houston approach controller sighed after I asked for a practice approach. As we got close to Conroe and were switched over to the tower controller, we realized what that sigh meant. Lone Star Executive was abuzz with small airplanes, and the guy in the tower was spewing instructions rapid-fire! 

The wind favored landing on runway 14, so everyone was being funneled in, or out, that way. Some were flying multiple circuits in the traffic pattern, practicing landings, some were practicing approaches, like us. Others were arriving to dine at the Black Walnut, and some were taking off to who-knows-where. It was the start of the weekend, and people were getting out of Dodge. 

As the controller cleared us to land on 14, he said immediately after, “Exit One-Nine.” That’s a runway, not a taxiway. Okay, fine, runway 19 was not in use as a runway at that time, so it was being used like a taxiway. But being given this unexpected instruction while we are on short final meant we had to look quickly at how much landing distance we had before we would arrive at 19, the crossing runway, where we were expected to clear the way for the plane behind us. It meant we should plan on landing early, touch down close to the approach end of the runway and be ready to apply brakes sooner. For someone with a lot of experience, that’s a few quick adjustments. But for students and other low-time pilots, the fast-talking controller issuing orders, some of them unusual, this scenario can be intimidating. 

What probably got pilots’ attention more than anything that afternoon was his no-nonsense, gruff voice – “Listen up people! You have to be ready when I call you!” He left no question who was in charge, which is good. Later, we asked a friend who keeps their airplane there about him. “Ha! Yes, we know him. Yes, he’s very good at his job!” she said. 

How was your Friday afternoon?

 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com