Controllers and &quotSay Type Aircraft&quot Questions

I’ve read several times about some Cirrus owners’ frustration with the controllers asking about their aircraft type. (I can’t wait until April of 2002 when I can explain to them what MY Cirrus is!)

Anyway, I have the same problem now.

I’m half owner of a 1969 Siai-Marchetti S.205-22/R. A Siai-what? Well, only 49 of them were ever registered in the US and they aren’t in the Controller’s Handbook either (and are unlikely ever to be).

So I get the same queries as Cirrus owners do. The reason they’re asking, though, in not idle curiosity or to annoy us. They need to know our performance characteristics such as speed, rate-of-climb, etc., so they can handle us appropriately. Also, unless there’s a known type in the system they can’t automatically hand us off to the next controller.

So what I say is this:

“It’s a Siai-Marchetti S.205, but it’s not in your handbook. You can just think of it as a Piper Arrow.” (The Arrow is very similar in size and performance. I don’t know WHAT you’d say was like a Cirrus!)

That usually satisfies them, though follow-on controllers often call me “Arrow 2830W” instead of “Siai-Marchetti 2830W.”

Hope this helps.

Joe Mazza

Joe,

It is not so much confusion over the ‘type’ of airplane you are, rather it is confusion over the aircraft identifier. Frankly, we don’t see “SR20” nor “S205” in the datablock too often, so it easier to ask the pilot the type of aircraft versus looking it up in the handbook. 9 times out of 10, you are being queried out of curiousity (and laziness).

Also, the ability of the NAS computer to recognize the aircraft type has nothing to do with automated hand-offs. Any alpha-numeric ID up to 4 characters in length will work.

Rick.

ATCS, Bay Approach

PS Hey Walt, I’m the guy who kept pestering you for a ride while you were flying along V27 2 months back. Looking forward to it!

Rick.

ATCS, Bay Approach

PS Hey Walt, I’m the guy who kept pestering you for a ride while you were flying along V27 2 months back. Looking forward to it!

Rick, I did stop by Bay Approach in Hayward some time back and enjoyed meeting the folks there. As it relates to the ride … email me when you can make it and I’ll be there. We are currently in Hawaii (no I didn’t take the Cirrus) and will be back on the 21st.