RTF Day 6: Arrivals

Today's Lessons:

• Arrivals

We spent all of our time today on arrivals and arrival-related part task exercises.

Compared to what we were doing in Tower (you know, "Cleared to land") the basic phraseology is a mouthful, and it changes depending on what airport the aircraft is landing at and what kind of approach they're doing.

To start, there are a variety of approaches in Academy-land, but the only ones that are used are:

• AAC: ILS Runway 28R
• Jeske AFB: ILS Runway 27
• Bartles: ILS Runway 13
• James: NDB via James Radio Beacon
  
• Viney: GPS

ILS, NDB, and GPS are all handled differently. Since it's the most common approach type, I'll use an example for an ILS approach. Let's say you've got a Continental heading into Academy, on a right base for 28R. You clear him by telling him: "Continental 123, one-zero miles from Woody, turn right heading 250, maintain three thousand until established on the localizer, cleared ILS runway two-eight-right approach, maintain one-niner-zero knots to Woody."

To break it apart:

• "One-zero miles from Woody": You need to tell him his distance from the final approach fix (FAF).
• "Turn right heading 250": The course for intercepting the ILS localizer must be 30 degrees or less from the runway heading. In this case, he's coming from the north, so 250 will work fine. If he was coming from the south, it would be a 310 heading.
• "Maintain three thousand until established on the localizer": This will keep him from descending or climbing until he's setup on the ILS. Typically, the aircraft will keep the assigned altitude until either they cross the final approach fix or you issue a new altitude.
• "Cleared ILS Runway 28R approach": Academy has multiple types of approaches on multiple runways. When you clear an aircraft to land at an airport with multiple options, you have to be specific about the runway and/or type. In the case of a different airport, such as James - which has only a single type of approach - you would just say "Cleared approach, James Airport" and you're done.
• "Maintain one-niner-zero knots to Woody": When you issue an approach clearance, it automatically voids any previous speed clearances. Speed control helps you keep separation, and when you've got your aircraft running in on a tight final, you don't want guy #1 suddenly throwing the brakes on before he hits the FAF.

Outside of the actual approach clearances, there are additional LOA's and procedures that need to be followed. These include:

• Cancelling IFR: When an aircraft is making its approach into an uncontrolled field and is established on the localizer/final approach course, you need to advise that aircraft on the best way to cancel their IFR clearance. This changes depending on the radio reception capability of airport's area.
  
  
  • Bartles (where AAC Approach frequencies reach the surface): "N123, advise cancelling IFR in the air or on the ground this frequency. Change to advisory frequency approved."
  • James (where only McAlester FSS is reachable on the ground): "N123, advise cancelling IFR in the air this frequency or on the ground with McAlester Radio. Change to advsory frequency approved."
    
• Jeske AFB Arrivals: Whenever an aircraft is inbound to Jeske, you need to call Jeske tower on the interphone and notify them of the aircraft's position, call sign, and type - in that specific order. To save time, you can notify them of several inbounds at once as long as they're within 15nm.
  

There's plenty more where that came from, but that's just a little taste of the phraseology and of some of the rules we need to work with.