Active Runways and Pilot-Controlled Fields

[Gasman6]

Greetings fellow simmers,

 

Today I have come to nitpick a small, but prevalent technicality in the phraseology I hear used commonly in multiplayer servers where there is no local controller "staffing the tower," as it were, and the airfields are essentially "pilot-controlled." I say "pilot-controlled" as it is the preferred nomenclature that encompasses all sorts of non-towered operations. A "non-towered" field is a bit of a misnomer, since many airfields do have towers, but their towers do not always operate 24/7/365. They have published operating hours, and when the tower is closed, it doesn't mean the whole field is shut down. You just use the tower frequency as a CTAF, provided there is no discrete CTAF frequency published in the chart. This also distinguishes the term from "uncontrolled fields," since that is also not technically accurate. So if tower is closed, and there is no ATIS to designate which runways are in use, how do you know which one to use?

 

The easiest answer is any one you like. In the real world, we can make use of things like the Airport Facility Directory (AFD), which has all the information that is too much to fit on a chart. This usually has things like the tower's operating hours (if applicable), traffic pattern altitude, preferred runways, noise abatement procedures, and so on. The preferred runways are also sometimes interchangeable with the "calm winds" runway(s). Winds are considered calm when below 5 knots in any direction. In calm winds, you could technically takeoff or land from any runway you wish. Of course, it is always best practice to choose the runway that most closely aligns against the wind, Sometimes this isn't possible, and you have to accept either a left or right crosswind on departure. So in these situations where the runway choice is ambiguous, which runway is "active"?

 

All of them. But also, none of them. There are no "active runways" during pilot-controlled field operations. Active runways can only be designated by a local controller or specified in the ATIS message. At pilot-controlled fields, all runways can be "active." So when you say "taking the active" (where are you taking it, by the way?) or "clear of the active," you're not doing anyone any favors, because they don't know which runway you consider active. Always use the runway number when you're making a call that references a runway. It helps everyone listening on the frequency develop their mental picture of where you are in relation to them, and what is happening on the field, and in the traffic pattern. Always remember that pilots listening on the frequency might not be visual the field, or they are at the field but they can not see you, either because of ground obstacles or you're outside their field of view. When making your CTAF calls, pretend that you are talking to the blind.

 

That is all. Thank you for listening to me quibble about this trivial thing!