Radar Contact

Radar Contact #28 for 29 May 2013: Terminology Affects Phraseology Aloha! I’m back from vacation and ready to talk radio procedures with you again. This time, we are going to address some questions about radio work raised by the pilots who edited my newest book. They had questions. I had answers. You’ll get to hear […]

Enroute center postage stamp box. Lately, we’ve been covering more advanced topics in radio work with ATC. In this show we are back to aircraft radio basics. Why? Recent experience tells me some pilots don’t have the fundamentals nailed down. It’s time to haul out the hammer and smack some basic nails into the base […]

If you grew up in the 1970’s or 1980’s “Far out” means something to you. Far out also means something to you if you plan to work with air traffic control. In this show, I’ve got a rule-of-thumb that determines how far out from the edge of controlled airspace you should try and make contact […]

ATC won’t separate VFR aircraft flying in Class C airspace? Is that really true? Good luck, Skippy. You’re on your own. I hope you don’t hit another aircraft. . . I’ve got to be kidding you, right? I’m not kidding. Radar controllers do not provide VFR aircraft with separation from other aircraft operating in Class […]

  Here's a free gift from ATC! VFR traffic advisories: all of the goodness with none of the fat of regular air traffic control. Look for it, by name, at your nearest air traffic control center. In this show you and I will talk all about VFR traffic advisories--what to expect and how to respond to ATC. It's a show packed full of techniques and procedures you can use on your next flight. Also in this show, a new twist on questions and answers. I'll have an opportunity for you to get in touch with me and talk, one-on-one, about your radio questions and concerns. We'll also consider another question--your question of the week. Look out! Literally, it's a question about looking out; and the question is not easy. Before we get started, a heads up for this edition of Radar Contact. We'll be talking primarily about VFR traffic advisories while using ATC's flight following services. Flight following does not restrict your freedom to climb, descend, or turn at your own discretion. When you participate in radar sequencing and separation services in Class C and Class B airspace, you might not have as much freedom to maneuver as you would in the scenarios I cover in this show. Never fear, though. I'll go over your options in Class C and B in another show. Show Notes: When ATC calls out traffic, you will get clock position, distance to traffic, aircraft type or model (if known), direction of travel, altitude of the traffic (if known).   Your response to the traffic callout depends on whether you see the traffic.   See the traffic? "Traffic in sight." Don't see the traffic? "Negative contact."   Some pilots use the military terms: No joy (traffic not in sight); or, Tally Ho (traffic in sight). These are not intended for civilian use.   Many pilots use the non-standard term for traffic not in sight: "Looking," or, "Searching." ATC accepts these, but they are not terms used in the Aeronautical Information Manual.   If you don't see the traffic and ATC believes it might be a conflict, ATC will suggest a heading to avoid the traffic.   Although you are not required to follow ATC's heading to avoid traffic, I recommend flying the heading unless you have a compelling reason to avoid the traffic by some other action.   When traffic is no longer in conflict with your flight path, you will hear ATC say, "Traffic no factor."   If you email a question to me about radio procedure or technique, I will answer you. If your question is really good, I'll invite you to talk it over by Skype or by phone and record that discussion for airing on a future edition of Radar Contact. If your question is chosen, you'll also win a free 30-minute coaching session with me on radio work, VFR or IFR!   If you have been thinking about writing a review of Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots, now is as good a time as any to head on over to the book review area at Amazon.com (convenient link!) and write that review. It doesn't have to be long or elaborate. A few words to help your fellow pilots would be greatly appreciated.   Errata: In the show, I give an example in which you are flying on V-234, towards the Hutchinson VOR. The first time I mention it in the show, I misspeak and incorrectly call the airway V-132. Your Question of the Week: You are flying in the traffic pattern at a tower-controlled airport. As you turn to crosswind the tower controller says to you, Grumman 6 Hotel Mike, “As you roll out of your turn, traffic will be a Cessna 172 at your 11 o’clock and 3 miles, entering the downwind. Report that traffic in sight.” As you roll wings level on the crosswind leg, you see a Cessna 172 at your 1:30 position at a distance that appears to be greater than 3 miles. The wind at your altitude is calm. Here’s the question: “What do you say to Tower?”

In this show, were going to talk about how and why standards are so important. We'll throw in a couple of simulated radio conversations, and some lessons learned. I'll talk a bit about a book review in AOPA's Flight Training Magazine, and then you'll hear an unbelievable ATC clearance I got from the approach controller in Managua, Nicaragua. All that, plus your Question of the Week. Strap in and cinch down the safety belts. It's gonna be a turbulent ride through some rough air. Show Notes: If you don't speak the local language, you can never be 100% sure if you are communicating accurately.   When speaking with ATC, you've got to know the language. That means knowing and sticking to the standards in the manual.   As student pilots, we are taught the ATC language using a very informal method. What you get is a mixed bag of standards out of the Aeronautical Information Manual, plus non-standard phrases picked up by listening to other pilots. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it gets you in trouble.   My job is to teach you the standards. We learn by plugging the standards into the real world. The teaching scenarios I give you may be invented, but the phraseology always comes straight from the manual.   My book, Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots, was reviewed in the March 2013 issue of Flight Training Magazine. It was a fair review with a few minor criticisms. The reviewer said I admitted some of the real-world scenarios in the book differ slightly from the Aeronautical Information Manual. Not true. Everything in the book applies the standards from the AIM or the Air Traffic Controller Manual.   Just a few days ago, I got this crazy clearance the approach controller in Managua, Nicaragua. Count how many instructions this controller spits out in one breath. It's hard to believe, but it really happened.   Work has resumed on the Aircraft Radio Simulator after a long hiatus. I'm converting the entire program from Flash to HTML5. It will be compatible with all web browsers and work on Apple products. A new voice recognition module will let you speak and receive intelligent responses from simulated ATC. I have no prediction when it will be finished, but I'll release test modules as able. Your Question of the Week: You are flying VFR in Class C airspace, receiving radar sequencing and separation from Approach Control. The approach controller says to you: “Maintain 4,500. Traffic you're following is a Beech King Air, one o'clock and five miles, northbound, 5,000.” You see the traffic and say to Approach Control, “Traffic in sight.” The approach controller tells you to follow that traffic to the airport. You then fall in line, five miles behind the King Air. A minute later, you hear Approach Control say, “King Air 53 X-ray, descend and maintain 3,000.” The airplane you are following acknowledges that radio call and begins a descent. Here's the question: Since you were told to follow the King Air, should you also descend to 3,000 feet? When you think you know the answer to that question, go to ATCcommunication.com/answers. There you will find a complete answer and a full explanation of how that answer was derived.

There is so much information packed into this week's edition of Radar Contact, I don't know where to begin. We'll be talking about radio calls from ATC that confuse even experienced pilots. I'll cover those with you so you will know exactly what to do should ATC ever give you one of these clearances. There is something strange in the route ahead. Who you gonna call? Flight Watch. I'll tell you how to do that in this weeks's show. Clearance Delivery? Isn't that something for I. F. and R. pilot's? Nope. If you fly VFR out of a Class C airport, you will probably have to ring Clearance Delivery's bells before you taxi. Here is how to do that. All that, plus good stuff for flight schools and flying clubs; followed by the always popular Question of the Week. That's a lot to cover in 21 minutes. We had better get started. . . Show Notes: There are certain clearances given by ATC that you won't hear very often. When they do come up, a lot of pilots, even experienced pilots are confused about what they mean. Case in point: "Shortened." A tower controller will add the word shortened for all runway clearances when a runway's length has been reduced for construction or other reasons. "Taxi without delay." Many pilots, and some controllers, think that clearance means taxi quickly. It doesn't mean that at all. It means start taxiing immediately. "Expedite" is also misunderstood. On the ground, it means start now. In the air, it is usually applied to a clearance to descend or climb. In that case, it means, fly at your maximum rate of descent or climb. "Cancel takeoff clearance is a very serious instruction. You should comply with that clearance immediately. Prompt compliance may save your life. I have an personal experience that illustrates the life-saving potential of this clearance. Flight Watch, in my opinion, can give the most complete picture of weather conditions along your route of flight. Contacting Flight Watch does not have to be complicated. We'll cover how to do it, next. Clearance Delivery, it's not just for IFR. If you depart Class C and choose to participate in Basic Radar Service for VFR Aircraft, you are going to need to contact clearance delivery. When contacting Clearance Delivery, all you need to provide is "VFR," the general direction you'll be flying as you depart through the Class C, your planned initial cruising altitude, plus the latest ATIS identifier code: "With Information Kilo," for example. Clearance delivery will come back with a transponder code, any special instructions for departure, plus the departure frequency you will use after takeoff. If you used and commented on Clearance Magic, thank you for the nice feedback. As a reminder, Clearance Magic is my program that teaches you how to copy IFR route clearances with ease and accuracy, every time. It's available in the left-hand margin of any page at this website. I am now offering volume discounts on my book Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots for flight schools and flying clubs. Check out the details by using the "Flight Schools and Clubs" tab at the top of any page of this website. The Flight Schools and Clubs tab also gives you details about how you can book me to guest lecture in your flight school's classroom, or schedule me to speak to your flying club.tude, plus the latest ATIS identifier code: "With Information Kilo," for example. Clearance delivery will come back with a transponder code, any special instructions for departure, plus the departure frequency you will use after takeoff. If you used and commented on Clearance Magic, thank you for the nice feedback. As a reminder, Clearance Magic is my program that teaches you how to copy IFR route clearances with ease and accuracy, every time. It's available in the left-hand margin of any page at this website.

  Quick, what does back taxi mean? a) The seat you should take when boarding a New York City Yellow Cab. b) A ground controller's clearance to taxi against the overall flow of taxiing traffic on the airport. c) A tower controller's clearance to taxi on the runway opposite the direction of takeoff. When cleared for takeoff, where do you begin your takeoff roll? If you say, "At the beginning of the runway," you may be right. You may also be wrong. Fly runway heading versus depart straight out. What is the difference between these two tower clearances? Get the answers to all of these question in this week's edition of Radar Contact. Plus one more question you'll have to figure out for yourself. It's your question of the week. Come spend a few minutes with me and let's ponder the mysteries of air traffic control. Show Notes: You can plan on departing on a runway from a point abeam a specific taxiway intersection when the ground controller includes a taxiway intersection in his runway assignment for your aircraft. For example: Runway 23 at Alpha 1. You can find out how much runway will be available for takeoff from any intersection by asking the ground or the tower controller. If your airplane requires more runway length to safely take off than would be available from an intersection, simply tell Ground or Tower that your will need "full length." Some airport layouts only permit you to reach the end of a runway by taxiing on the runway itself. The phrase Tower will use that clears you to use the runway as a taxiway opposite the direction of takeoff is: back taxi. When departing a tower controlled airport, ATC may assign you to fly runway heading after takeoff. You can find a runway's heading by looking at the airport diagram.   If Tower tells you to depart straight out, that means you should adjust your heading after liftoff to counter the drifting effect of any crosswind. Crab into the wind to track over the ground along the runway's extended centerline. If you have finished reading Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots, I sure would appreciate it if you would write a review at either Amazon.com or at BarnesandNoble.com. Your feedback not only helps me, it also helps other pilots make a decision to get a copy of the book. Questions of the Week You have just called for your taxi clearance at the Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia. Your airplane needs a minimum runway length of 4,000 feet for takeoff. (Take a look at the airport diagram.) The airport is using Runway 17 for arrivals and departures. Runway 17 is 8,002 feet long. Runway 22 is also available for departures. The airport's NOTAMs say the last 2,000 feet of Runway 22 is closed for repaving with 3,598 available for takeoffs and landings. Valdosta Ground says to you, “Piper 948 Romeo Victor, Valdosta Ground. Runway 17, taxi via Hotel, then right on Alpha.” As you advance the throttle of your aircraft to begin taxiing you glance at the cockpit's clock. The currently local time is 5:45 am. The sun will not be up for another hour and a half. There is no moon.

Do some of that pilot stuff, Mav! In this show, we are going deep, very deep, into why it is so hard to talk on the radio and fly at the same time. The answer has something to do with unicycles and violins, and the F-14 (shown above). I know that doesn't make sense right now, but it will in a moment. Just give me a little of your time, patience, and practice, and it will all work out in the end. You'll see--and hear--in this week's show. Show Notes: The number question I get asked at ATCcommunication.com is: Why can't I fly and talk to ATC at the same time? The answer is: You aren't ready to do that, just yet. It takes time, patience, and practice to learn how to talk and fly at the same time. There are no shortcuts.   You may accelerate practice on the aircraft radio by practicing at home. I have 4 options for practicing: Chair fly; practice with a training partner; use the Aircraft Radio Simulator; use 122.75.   Errata. In my new book, Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots, I incorrectly list 123.45 as the frequency to use when practicing radio technique. This is incorrect. Use 122.75 to talk airplane to airplane and to practice your radio work. Question of the Week: You are about to taxi out to the runway at a tower-controlled airport. Tower is using Runway 36 for departures. After you tell the ground controller you are ready to taxi, the ground controller says to you, “Cessna 9130 Delta, Runway 36 at intersection Mike. Taxi via Alpha and Mike.” Here's the question, and it's a two-part question. First, what does the ground controller mean when he says, “Runway 36 at intersection Mike.” Second, let's say there are three taxiways that connect to Runway 36. Taxiways Lima, Mike and November. If Taxiway November intersects the beginning of the runway, also known as the approach end, and Taxiways Mike and Lima connect to runway at points further down the runway. Without looking at any printed material how could you tell exactly how much runway would be available for takeoff if you started your takeoff roll beginning abeam Taxiway Mike or Taxiway Lima? When you think you know the answer to that question, go to this link for a complete answer as well as an explanation.

We're jammin': I wanna jam it wid you. We're jammin', jammin', And I hope you like jammin', too. Jammin', Bob Marley Is this a jar of jelly of a jar of jam? Either way, in the context of this post, it's a lousy pun.   I wish jamming on the aircraft radio was as fun and upbeat as Bob Marley's song. But it isn't. When the radio gets jammed, it you puts you in a heck of a jam. How are you going to get through to ATC, especially when it's absolutely critical to make contact? The causes, and the solution to radio jamming, in this week's show. Which of the following is correct? After landing you are expected to: A. Pop a wheelie with your airplane. B. Stop on the runway and break out the picnic basket for a leisurely lunch in the sunshine? C. Get off of the runway at the first available exit. The answer might seem obvious, but it isn't. You have options. We'll cover all of them this week. Of course, if those questions aren't enough for you, I'll wing you in the noggin' with our Question of the Week. Strap in and fire it up. We're about to switch on the static and jam your mp3 player. I'm not kidding. Show Notes: The question is not what is causing jamming of your aircraft radio, it's who is causing jamming of your aircraft radio. If it's you, it's time to do a little trouble-shooting, and right quick. Are your intentional transmissions blocking other pilots from speaking? Or, is your microphone button stuck in the transmit position? I've got the answers and the solutions.   After landing, when slowed to a safe taxi speed, ATC expects you to turn off of the landing runway using the next available taxiway. Never turn off before you are slow enough to do so safely, no matter the circumstances.   If Tower tries to push you off of the runway before you are ready, get an amended clearance.   You can use any runway as a taxiway if you receive authorization from Tower to do so. Question of the Week You are 10 miles outside of Class D airspace. You are planning to enter the airport traffic pattern for landing. You switch to the control tower's frequency, but just as you are about to transmit, you hear the noise of an aircraft interior playing continuously through your aircraft's speaker. It sounds like someone is holding down the transmit key of their microphone. You wait a minute, but the problem continues and there's no way of knowing how long it is going to last. You really need to land at this airport, preferring not to divert elsewhere. What do you do? When you think you know the answer to that question, click this link to take you to page with the complete answer as well as an explanation and a plan for coping with a radio frequency that is being jammed.

  Who is in control of your airplane when you are working with ATC? Is ATC in control, or are you in control? If that seems like a straight-forward question to you, tune in to the show. I'm about to chomp down on your notion of aircraft control and shake it until it cries for mercy. Plus, an excerpt from Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots you cannot read in the preview at Amazon.com or at BarnesandNoble.com. Of course, our question of the week, or, perhaps this week we should call it our dirty rotten mind game of the week. Show Notes: 1. It was a great weekend. I got to fly in my friend Robin's Air Cam. With 2 100-horsepower Rotax engines pushing this plane around 80 knots, we flew low and slow in the open-air cockpit. Great fun!     2. When you link up with ATC, the whole concept of aircraft control gets shaken up. ATC has control, and you are pilot-in-command. Are you fighting for control of your aircraft, giving up control of your aircraft to ATC, or are you sharing control? Furthermore, what do you do when ATC makes a mistake with your aircraft? The question can be answered with a question: Query the controller. 3. My new book, Radio Mastery for VFR pilots is on sale at Amazon.com and at BarnesandNoble.com as a downloadable ebook. A print version should be out at Amazon.com this week. In the meantime, I'll read an excerpt from the book that you cannot get from the "Look Inside the Book" feature at either website. By the way, although my reading is set to some decent blues music, music is not included with the book! Question of the Week: You are flying in your aircraft on downwind at a tower-controlled airport. Another airplane checks in on the radio with tower and reports a 5-mile final for the runway on which you will be landing. Tower clears that aircraft to land, and then says to you, "Continue on the downwind. I'll call your base." Put on your air traffic controllers caps and try to think like ATC. Does Tower need you to fly a longer distance on downwind, or does Tower want you to spend more time on downwind? Obviously, the problem with this trick question is, if you spend more time on downwind, you will fly a longer distance. Thinking about what the Tower controller needs, should you maintain your normal downwind leg airspeed and fly a longer distance, or should you slow to your slowest practical airspeed and try to fly as little distance as possible as you extend your time on downwind? After declaring me a dirty rotten bastard for asking a trick question; and, when you think you know the answer, go to this link: http://ATCcommunication.com/answers for a complete answer as well as an explanation about how that answer was derived.

Hello. Remember me? I'm that guy who used to run a bi-monthly show called Radar Contact. If you are keeping score, it's been 2 1/2 months since you and I last talked. The reason? I've been working on a new book for you. You'll hear about that in this week's show. Also in this show, what the clearance "Make closed traffic" means; and, for IFR pilots, why a clearance to fly a standard terminal arrival route (STAR) is not the clearance you may think it is. There's a big gotcha in that clearance that can bite you in the ass. Of course, we'll have our fan favorite, the question of the week. Ready? Let's fire it up and see where the show takes us. Show Notes: 1. How many sections of Part 91 are devoted to radio communication? (A section is a portion of a federal regulation that covers one particular subject.) It's a trivia question but the answer, and its implications are anything but trivial. Here's the link to 91.123. Audio Lesson 6: Being Dead Wrong on the Aircraft Radio 2. My new book, Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots is now available at Amazon.com and at BarnesandNoble.com. 3. "Make closed traffic" is an airport tower clearance that authorizes you to fly continuous circuits around the traffic pattern. If there is no published direction of travel for the runway in use, you are free to make either left closed or right closed traffic. 4. A standard terminal arrival route (STAR) into an airport provides a path, altitudes to fly, and in some cases, airspeeds to maintain as you descend from cruising altitude down to an arrival gate at an airport. Clearance to fly a STAR is not clearance to descend on that STAR, even if the STAR has published altitudes to maintain. Click here to examine the BUNNI 2 STAR. Question of the Week: You are flying a VFR cross-country. There are numerous puffy clouds at your cruising altitude of 5,500, but they are widely spaced. Maintaining VFR cloud clearances between these puffies only takes an occasional small heading change. You are currently under radar contact with Minneapolis Center for VFR flight following. The air traffic controller says to you, “Cessna 9130 Delta, VFR traffic 12 o'clock and 10 miles, opposite direction, Mode C indicates climbing through 4,000, unverified.” You look straight ahead and slightly low and see nothing. You reply, “Cessna 9130 Delta, searching.” After a minute, the controller says, “Cessna 9130 Delta, previous traffic now 12 o'clock and 5 miles, opposite direction, climbing through 5,000 unverified.” You still don't see anything so you say, “Cessna 9130 Delta, negative contact.” To which the controller says, “Cessna 9130 Delta, for traffic avoidance, suggest you turn right, heading zero four zero.” You look right and see a large puffy cloud at your 2 o'clock position and a half-mile. You figure the heading ATC just gave you will put your aircraft within 1,000 feet of that cloud. But you also consider you have traffic heading directly towards you at possibly your altitude. What do you do in response to ATC's traffic avoidance heading? When you think you know the answer to that question, click this link: Answer to Question Asked in Radar Contact for the complete answer and explanation.

When one air traffic controller passes you to another, you don't magically pop into that new controller's airspace like some low-budget special effect. The new controller knows you are on your way, well before you get there. When you are handed off from controller to controller, there's nothing initial about making initial contact. You'll see what I mean. When is the FAA's hear back program not a hear back program? When an air traffic controller hears your read back but doesn't listen. What the book says is supposed to happen, and what actually happens, doesn't always match. Who pays for it? It might just be you. We all make mistakes. It's kind of fun when an air traffic controller corrects his own error with a good sense of humor. It doesn't happen too often. No one laughs, though, when a pilot screws up a hold short clearance. It's almost unbelievable how many times per month I hear professional pilots make this mistake. There's zero tolerance for a failure to read back a hold short instruction as our example will show. Question of the Week You are flying VFR over Central New Mexico, while talking to Albuquerque Center. You are currently in radar contact with Albuquerque, and you are flying along a Victor Airway just above the airway's minimum obstruction clearance altitude. As you pass through a gap between the mountains, the controller at Albuquerque Center says, “Radar contact lost. Report over the Silver City VOR.” Here's the question, and it is a two-parter: First, has Albuquerque Center terminated radar service for your flight? Second, what would you say to the air traffic controller as you crossed over the Silver City VOR? When you think you know the answers to those questions, go to the link ATCcommunication.com/answers. There you will find the correct answers to both questions, along with an explanation about why those answers apply.

One day, many years ago, I was flying a civilian, general aviation aircraft northwest of Atlanta under VFR. To my surprise, a U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagle swooped down, and leveled off at my altitude, about a 1/4 mile off my left wingtip. True story. I was flying only 130 knots indicated, so I was surprised to see the fighter jet could slow down to hold position with me. The pilot of the jet gently banked towards me and moved within a couple of hundred feet of my aircraft. He was so close that I could see the pilot waving hello. Then, just as quickly, the pilot lit his afterburner and shot out of there like, well, like an F-15 in full blower. It was over so quickly, it was almost like a UFO encounter, but as I said, true story. In today's show, we'll talk about what it means when a fighter jet falls into formation with your airplane. The circumstances will probably be quite different than my encounter. You'll see what I mean when you listen to the show. When you enter Class C airspace, you are messing with radar control by ATC. It pays to know what's coming; and to know what to say to the air traffic controller. We'll have at it in today's show. Question of the Week: You are flying towards an airport with a control tower that is contained by Class D airspace. However, the Class D airspace that defines the control tower's area of control is coverlapped by Class C airspace. A good example of this is the New Smyrna Airport on the east coast of Central Florida. The north, east, and west side of the New Smyrna's Class D airspace is overlapped by the Class C airspace surrounding Daytona Beach International Airport. So here's today's question, and if you are currently enrolled at, or have graduated from Embry-Riddle University at Daytona Beach International, don't shout the answer out loud and ruin it for everybody else. When your intended destination airport is in Class D airspace, which is overlapped by Class C airspace, will ATC provide you with Class C radar service, that is sequencing, traffic advisories, and safety alerts, when your airplane is inside of the secondary airport's Class D airspace? When you think you know the answer to that question, go to ATCcommunication.com/answers for the correct answer, as well as a complete explanation.

It turns out, in some situations, the most important part of your aircraft radio is not the microphone connection. It's the speaker connection. You'll see what I mean at the top of the show. You can be a life-saving hero with one simple radio call. Find out, how to keep other pilots from blindly running into trouble. That's all coming right up after a ridiculous but true story about how one pilot got himself in trouble with ATC by being friendly on the radio. Show Notes: Somedays, it just doesn't pay to be upbeat. Especially when you say one thing to ATC and ATC hears something else entirely. Simultaneous operations on intersecting runways is a high-threat environment. You can save your own hide by listening to the radios carefully. Build a mental picture of the traffic situation around an airport by listening to radio traffic between ATC and other aircraft. A PIREP may just save another pilots life. A PIREP is a short and simple radio call that warns other of potential hazards. Only make a PIREP after you are well-removed from any danger and your aircraft is stabilized in normal flight. Question of the Week You are inbound for landing in your Cessna 172. When you tuned in the ATIS frequency, you heard, “Simultaneous operations on intersecting runways are in effect.” Tower has told you to enter a 2-mile left base leg for Runway 36. The intersecting runway, Runway 9, crosses your runway at exactly it's halfway point. You report entering a 2-mile left base and tower clears you to land, adding “Traffic is a Learjet 35 on a 3-mile final for Runway 36.” You don't see the Learjet. At this point, should you request a right 360, request a re-entry for downwind, or continue your approach for your full stop landing? When you think you know the answer click here: Answers to Questions Asked in Radar Contact