Took evening flight to Stewart Airport (KSWF) for dinner at Orange County Choppers. Was fun dinner but with the Pope in town I think the ATC controllers were on edge.
Controllers who behave like that have no place in the industry. Good controllers never lose their composure. After 25 years as a controller I've seen others act like that too often, every time they were in over their heads. Good job Dr.Pilot, I really enjoy your videos!
Ed Wood. I agree, as a CFII MEI, and an airline pilot who was based in New York and instructed out of DXR, I'd have to say dr. Pilot is in the wrong here. I'm not trying to be inflammatory. If you had kept flight following all the way to swf, there's a good chance you would have had a seamless handoff to tower, and kept your squawk and this would have been an uneventful video. Instead , calling the field in sight, and implying that you wanted to cancel flight following, you made life a little more difficult for yourself. Which would have been fine, if you had checked in with your position atis etc... By him asking you to ident, you should imagine, multiple 1200 targets on his scope, and he's really trying to figure out where you are. The best thing for you to do is take a tour of the New York Tracon and your local tower or SWF's tower so you can see things from their perspective. I know all too well how ornery New York controllers can get, but this is just a case of poor radio technique.
WOW! Especially that Stewart tower controller. Yikes! That guy is going to get someone killed one day because of his own confusion and incompetence. That whole incident was no fault of your own! ... Reminds me of the tower controllers up at KALB (Albany International, NY). I absolutely can't stand those guys. ... Good job and great video/flight! :-)
I recognized the controller on the radio at SWF. He's probably one of the most easy going Controller up there. I will definitely share this video with him if he haven't seen it already. Wow! Thanks much @N72669 I'm sure he will appreciate it.
True but if you don't allow more than a couple hours delay for TFR airspace alerts you are liable at least to be formally warned to clear out. I would be concerned being an ATC advised of a local Super Bowl during or just after shift for sure.
SWF Controller definately had an attitude and was NOT up to speed. In 30 years I never referred to a final as "my final"! Like a cop saying "my town"! Jerk. When a tower controller has a RADAR display and then needs many position reports I am baffled. He got easily confused with just a few airplanes then took his frustration out on pilots.
That happened with me at KISP I'm a student pilot and he said I'm not talking to you due to the fact he wasn't clear with his transmission and had gotten the call sign wrong
I realize this flight was three years ago, but have you ever contacted the ATC supervisor via landline after landing to discuss controller issues? The Stewart controller sounds a bit overwhelmed.
SWF tower didn't know where you were. You were released by approach when he said squawk 1200. That puts you in limbo and required a full position report to the the tower controller (position, altitude, ATIS and intentions). You over shot the final after you were told to report a 5 mile final (modify your flight path to accommodate). You were very low on final, reference the VASI and you essentially landed on the lead in taxiway for 27. The controller either didn't notice or let you off on that one, clearly a violation. All in all you were very lucky. Please don't take me lightly. Ignore the comments below that attempt to make you feel better about yourself and try to realize what I'm saying here. If I were your CFI riding along I'd be pretty upset. It's interesting how ATC knew you were in an unorganized flight of two. That was the first tip off. It's true that around NYC controllers expect professionalism from everyone but, hey that's difficult airspace for all of us to work (controllers and pilots). Most times there isn't room for any lack of safety or misunderstanding of the rules. Play safe.
I fly out of a controlled field here in upstate ny and I get more enjoyment when I can hit that xponder to 1200 and shut the radio off rather than having to talk to some douche bag controller that's having a bad day.
It sounds like Bob is the one who messed up? You check in where u are supposed to, then Bob called in inside of the delta on final behind the LJ. So when the controller said calling on final is a "no go", he was talking about Bob, not u.
Dr. Pilot maybe the N64572 (Bob) C172 was taught to enter the class D on final. I wonder how many different attitudes he will receive or received in the past for entering a controller airspace in that manner. Controller almost lost his cool but he got it back together. Safety first as always, glad the situation was resolved before Bob caused an incident on that day.
Its dip shit controllers like that worrie me flying into congested airspace. I usually fly into KHPN and the controllers seem pretty laid back. Also kudos for asking for progressive taxi!
The title is interesting ..... on this particular day you just happen to come across a "few" nasty controllers.... hope that your pilot knowledge didn't play a part in them being nasty. Will be on the look out for you in the skies.
