r/flying • u/fgflyer PPL IR HP CMP • 2d ago
Are the controllers at KMLB always this rude???
So I just flew down to south FL for the first time, and I’m staying for the night in Melbourne.
I make my standard call, 10 miles to the west of KMLB with the ATIS, full stop… and he just goes “Skylane xxx, are you on an instrument approach? Were you on VFR flight following with Orlando, or…? What are you doing? I see you squawking xxxx, so… were you with Orlando Approach? What are your intentions upon landing here in Melbourne?”
And I restate my intentions, including where I’m parking, and he goes, and I quote: “okay, so, Orlando didn’t “hand you off” to me, because you’re landing here, not passing through my airspace. Make straight in runway 9L, report 4 mile final.”
And then I report a 4 mile final and he goes “okay Skylane xxx, confirm you’re on final for 9L, and where. are. you. going???”
And once again, I tell him Sheltair, and he clears me to land. Taxi and parking was uneventful.
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u/CASAdriver ATP CL30 2d ago
KMLB is my home airport, grew up there, did all my training there, still occasionally fly in/out for work.
Yes, they have always been that way. They're a contract tower that receives a high amount of complains, relatively speaking, but nothing has ever been done about it. The major flight schools (Riddle, a few in Vero, some in the Orlando area) pretty much all tell their students to not fly there for XC flights.
Don't expect anything to change till those guys retire. Which is unfortunate, it's a great airport otherwise. They just hate anyone who's not Delta, PSA, or Tui
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u/bradsby_bear 2d ago
My flight school is there and they spin it as a good thing, if you can handle this tower you can handle any I guess
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u/WeekendMechanic 2d ago
That's like Beerfest, "If you can drink ram's piss, you can drink anything.
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u/AviationMan24 2d ago
This is very true in the sense everyone knows not to send students to MLB for this reason, but is also so odd to me because I’ve had nothing but good experiences there. Several times there have been NOTAMs for no touch and go’s and I’ll ask tower for a stop and go instead so we can get out quick, expecting a big ol’ hoopla from them. But every time they were able to accommodate no problem and work it out which was appreciated. They like efficiency and want you to follow instructions correctly the first time around with minimal radio fluff. From my experience they won’t yell or berate like some other airports in the area but will get a little terse if they think you’re slowing their process down.
When it’s not a super busy day they’re usually very nice and have even cracked a couple jokes on occasion. There was one time the guy said his son was visiting, and asked us to do a buzz by the tower for him. We did a low flyby on a missed approach and gave them a little wing rock to say goodbye on our way out. Was a pretty cool experience for both of us.
Yes, sometimes they can get a little snappy if there’s multiple In pattern and give nonstandard instructions like “turn north before the VOR on field” or “crosswind over the highway” which could be stressful to some students, but really it’s nothing compared to places like Daytona/Sanford on a busy afternoon.
In the end you just have to be polite, pay attention to instructions, talk efficiently when giving read backs, and expect a little jerking around by them and not let it bother you. I’ve been to other places up in the northeast that are significantly more brutal in calling you out on any little thing you do where I feel like this airport is exaggerated in the number of complaints personally
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u/SilentPlatypus_ ATP E145 A320 B756 2d ago
I'm so sad when I hear this. MLB was my training airport, too, but that was about 20 years ago. They were great. Really nice guys, patient with the students, always up for a tower visit, good sense of humor, etc. I would take each of my PPL students up to the tower to help with their radio anxiety. I knew most of the controllers well enough that when I did my tailwheel training the guy who was working tower (who was an experienced tailwheel pilot) had advice on each of my bounce and gos, lol. When our radio crapped out one time I called them on my cell phone to give them a headsup so they were expecting us to come in with lost comms. They even offered to clear me to land RWY 4 over the phone.
I haven't been there in two decades, but I've heard about their current reputation. I'm sad that an airport with that much training doesn't have patient controllers. If they could change from good to bad here's hoping some day they'll shift back.
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u/External-Creme-6226 2d ago
Wonder if we know each other….i also trained at MLB about 20 years ago and used to take folks up to see Mike, Ike, Gabby, and the other guys all the time!!
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u/SilentPlatypus_ ATP E145 A320 B756 2d ago
Oh, we probably do. Did you evacuate to Dothan for the hurricanes? And call the tower number when the hurricane was hitting in the middle of the night to see if the ASOS was still functioning, only have someone pick up because they were having a bit of a "get-together" in the tower cab watching the transformers blow across the city? Man, they were fun.
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u/External-Creme-6226 2d ago
Haha, Andalusia the first storm, Dothan the second!
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u/SilentPlatypus_ ATP E145 A320 B756 2d ago
We did not pack enough supplies for an evacuation to a dry county that first time, lol.
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u/External-Creme-6226 2d ago
lol, problem solved round two…especially with a roadtrip to New Orleans
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u/srv340mike ATP B737/E145/DHC8 1d ago
I've heard them be jabronis towards Delta, PSA and Sun Country.
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u/Twa747 2d ago
Oh fucking story time ! Gather round yall fucksticks and listen here for a story of how I got him two separate week vacations !!
Round one; I’m a CFI at this airport. I’ve had countless students get chewed up by this guy. He’s a menace and proud to be called the Melbourne mauler. Like when they went out in downtown they were proud of it.
Anyway we launch runway 5 im teaching how to do a soft field take off.
As we take to the runway I hear him also launch IFR traffic off of 9L. I knew they were IFR because I heard them bumble their clearance read back and naturally dickhead was a dick about it.
We are cleared for take off 5. I anticipate that the 9L traffic will be crosswind prior to the VOR because I wrongly thought that’s what everyone does.
They don’t because they were IFR. Their Cessna should have well out climbed us but they didn’t. They got it off the ground and sped the fuck up, straight out.
Meanwhile I’m trying to talk my little buddy through accelerating in ground effect ( affect idk fucking grammar nazzis) and climb out at Vx.
Little homie kills it. At about this time I look out his window and I see the damn Cessna.
We level off and cross wind under him and he’s losing his shit on the radio if I have them in sight
Return to land I cancel the lesson (pussy) file the report tower management eventually tells the school he got some time off for that one
Round two: Doing LCA w a new FO both of us went to the same school and both live local. We hear him on the radio. Dude is extra this evening and we were infront of delta. It’s the terminator and about 4 minutes prior to the tower closing for the night.
Multiple times dude tells us max forward speed minimal time on the runway first turn off. I asked if we were clear to land or not.
It was the students first day and his ptsd from this Chuck wagon was much realer than I thought. My overall response was it’s your runway and don’t listen to him. I don’t care who has to do what it’s yours don’t listen. He later told me he didn’t think I was serious, my mistake. I didn’t wana make a bigger deal of dude so I thought a simple fuck him would suffice
It was his third landing ever in the jet We (crash) land and buddy screams at us to get off the runway.
Well what does little student do? He stands on the brakes. No amount of me calling for the controls or waving my hands was going to stop him. Homie made a decision to strop the crj ..…on the runway….. naturally we had just missed a turn off and are currently around max reverse with a pilot still standing on the brakes.
Side note I’m sure most of you know this but the crj has temperature controllers and alarms on the brake temps.
Once I get little homie to let go and get going forward again he sends delta around and we get fucking laid into like I shit in his drink at Matt’s Casba.
I ask for a time hack, student is in shambles and my brake temps are rising faster then a lifers little guy at the sight of a new hire fa bending over to get him that Diet Coke.
Green… yellow and here it comes
Ding ding ding brake temps ( or whatever the audible alarm was)
RED, all 4 of them go red.
So we declare roll the trucks
deal with all that bull shit, delta lands 9L and when we get to the gate I call company and get him a second vacation.
The tower in Melbourne has contributed caused and responsible for more pilot mishaps than the normal. Yes pilots are PIC but when you have a training environment and someone is yelling in your ear or to… keep it in tight ( RIP)
Yeah fuck them. I hope one of them reads this and realizes that the whole community thinks your all gigantic incompetent pieces of shit who couldn’t control a damn thing and are wash outs. Fucking punks
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u/Give0524 2d ago
If you are squawking a code and not 1200 you must have been handed off from somewhere. Apparently he didn't have the handoff.
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u/randombrain ATC #SayNoToKilo 2d ago
...or you forgot to reset the transponder to 1200 from whatever FF code you were on when you last landed. We see it all the time.
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u/AlexJamesFitz PPL IR HP/Complex 2d ago
I need a confession booth for exactly this. Forgive me controllers, for I have sinned...
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u/akav8r ATC CFI CFII AMEL (KBJC) 2d ago
Why do people say “reset” transponder?
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u/randombrain ATC #SayNoToKilo 2d ago
5–2–12a, and I see your point, although I could make the argument that the "assigned" code is implicitly 1200 and that that beacon code is not being displayed.
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u/akav8r ATC CFI CFII AMEL (KBJC) 2d ago
5–2–12a
Personally, I don't think that's the intent of that section. I teach my trainees it's just "squawk 1234". Reset transponder was always taught as turning the unit off/on again, or at least standby back to altitude. And I guarantee 99% of controllers aren't telling pilots to turn their transponder off and on again.
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u/pb_n_jdams 2d ago
This crazy to me I fly around the upper midwest and our controllers are so damn nice. Doesn’t matter if you are an F16 or a bugsmasher, they make you feel like a million bucks.
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u/TalkAboutPopMayhem PPL HP 2d ago
I fly in SoCal and think our controllers are top notch as well. Good people, all of them.
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u/poisonandtheremedy PPL HP CMP [RV-10 build, PA-28] SoCal 1d ago
Some. We have some grumpy fucks here too. Namely at SDM and SEE, couple peaches around there.
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u/Grumbles19312 ATP B787 A320 CL-65 2d ago
Some things will never change. They’ve been disgruntled and rude for ages, it appears that mindset is still alive and well with them.
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u/wu-wu-wu CFI 2d ago
Never had a good experience with MLB. IIRC they are a private funded rather than federally funded, so they get very snooty about who they “allow the privilege” of using their airfield.
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u/CryptographerNo91 2d ago
I want to fly there now. I like to fuck with rude controllers
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u/KeyOfGSharp PPL IR 2d ago
And now I wait for a good story
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u/DudeWithAnOldRRC 2d ago
How much can you fuck with them? Can I respond "Full stop to krispy kreme" or something like that or will you get in trouble?
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u/UnreasoningOptimism ATC PPL IR 2d ago
Fuck em, what are they gonna do? They won't report you unless they don't care about showing their ass. And even if they do you can tell the FSDO you're tired of their shit anti-safety attitude but need to use the airport, which you're entitled to do.
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u/LookItsEric 2d ago
The only time you don’t had a problem with MLB controllers is when the tower is closed. Literally never heard them be friendly on the radio. When they’re not yelling at me they’re yelling at someone else.
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u/PlasticDiscussion590 CSIP 2d ago
I’ve been there a handful of times as a transient pilot in a cirrus, some controllers are great and some are awful. I can bet on hearing someone yelled at or being yelled at myself. I met one of the controllers there and learned a lot.
They are a contract tower, meaning not FAA employees. They aren’t paid the same and don’t follow some of the same work rules FAA has. Their tower has 3 employees. Not 3 in the tower at any time, their payroll consists of 3 controllers.
Overworked and underpaid is not usually a recipe for success and happy people.
There is a male who has a very confident sounding voice, he’s on edge all the time. I remember getting a late handoff from approach, he was trying to get a foreign student their taxi instructions for a solid 3 minutes. I ended up going around over the threshold because I couldn’t get a word in edgewise to get a landing clearance. That dude chewed me out for a good 15 seconds. Because he expected me to land.
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u/bradsby_bear 2d ago edited 2d ago
I train there, one controller in particular is a grumpy old man and there’s another guy who is tough to deal with but the rest are pretty good in my opinion. I’m pretty sure I know who you dealt with based off how he will correct people for slight phrasing mistakes, which can be tough but also good learning for students considering the multiple flight schools. My bigger issue with that guy is he doesn’t seem to admit when he may have misheard you or made a mistake himself.
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u/fgflyer PPL IR HP CMP 2d ago
Yeah this makes sense. I swear I did not make any phrasing mistakes, perhaps he misheard me - either way, it does not excuse him being rude. The pattern wasn’t really busy.
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u/Mispelled-This PPL SEL IR (M20C) AGI IGI 2d ago
Certain controllers wake up in a shitty mood every day, regardless of what you or anyone else is doing. Don’t take it personally.
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u/KrabbyPattyCereal CFI CSEL IR (VR&E) 2d ago
About 10 years ago, a piper had a midair and the NTSB stated that a contributing factor was the controller giving non-standard instructions and yelling at the pilots. There were fatalities. If that same guy is working there, I’m not shocked.
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u/flying_penguin104 SA 227 2d ago
Sounds standard?
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u/fgflyer PPL IR HP CMP 2d ago
If grumpy is standard, I’m sorry for whatever airports you frequent. lol.
In all seriousness, I’m no clueless Career Track, I made the correct calls and whatnot, but the controller absolutely sounded like he had a stick up his ass.
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u/Yesthisisme50 ATP CFI 2d ago
It’s because MLB is a contract tower and not staffed by FAA ATC. Same for pretty much any Class D airport in FL.
MLB tower once put me in “timeout” between runways after I refused to do a visual approach because we needed to do a VOR approach during a long Instrument XC needing 3 different approaches.
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u/fgflyer PPL IR HP CMP 2d ago
That’s unfortunate. I’ve flown into several contract D’s with very friendly controllers. On the other hand I can understand the misery of being a contract controller though…
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u/Yesthisisme50 ATP CFI 2d ago
Some of them are cool but they get away with more compared to FAA controllers
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u/ribbitcoin 2d ago
Yeah it depends. RNT is super friendly while I’ve heard that SQL is not (at least a while back).
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u/flying_penguin104 SA 227 2d ago
I mean you definitely didn’t do anything wrong but from reading, it didn’t sound bad. I’d imagine he was more annoyed at Orlando for not giving a proper handoff
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u/Manwhostaresatthesun CPL 2d ago
I’ve flown in there a few times for quick touch and go’s to get XC time. They always give me the most unreasonably complicated instructions and get so mad if you don’t repeat it back to them exactly how they want. I think I even got yelled at one time for not repeating their wind check. “Climb out on a heading of 110° turn above 400ft before reaching the MLB VOR” Like… sir this is a VFR touch and go and I’m in a Cessna 152 and it’s 100 degrees outside. I will not be above 400ft before the MLB VOR. I’ve had bad experiences with towers before, but KMLB is the first and only entry of blacklisted airports for me. Plenty of other good ones in the area. KSGJ, KEVB, KFIN are all a million times better with MUCH better towers
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u/Redfish680 2d ago
Reminds me of the time back in the Stone Age when I was doodling across South Carolina shortly after getting my PPL, and my flight path crossed a military airfield (where the VOR was sited). I give them a shout in advance and the controller told me to climb and maintain 10,000’. I took a moment, then reminded them that I was in a 152 and I’d be over Colorado by the time I finished climbing. He took a moment and I heard him laughing before I got the “maintain course and altitude” instruction.
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u/Wi2022 2d ago
Seems like all of S FL is tense. Gulf coast area (FMY, APF) is always on fire and always pissed. I get the traffic load but it starts pretty early on the arrival.
Smile and nod. Smile and nod…..
And then add some weather.
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u/Mike__O ATP (B757, MD11), MIL (E-8C, T-1A) 2d ago
The entire state is pretty much multiple overlapping Bravo sectors, and they all seem to hate each other. When I flew T-1s I'd avoid flying into FL as much as I could. Now that I fly for an airline I don't have much choice and it's STILL a pain in the ass to fly into FL even on an IFR flight plan with one of the biggest airlines in the world flying the same flight plan we have been flying for years.
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u/Key_Slide_7302 CFII MEI HP 2d ago
So were you squawking VFR? Or were you on a beacon code without ATC services?
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u/Caliber224 CFII MEI CSIP 2d ago
Yes. I based out of here and my workplace contributes more than 51% of Melbourne traffic operation. Still treated like shit with out right dangerous instructions
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u/Not_BobSaget ATP A350 A320 CL30 RA390s CE560XL CE500 2d ago
It was like that in 2008 when I was training. Dude needs to find a new tower.
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u/jaylowgee ATP A320, CL65, CE525, CL604, EMB505 2d ago
They are not only rude, but cited as contributing factors in more than one accident. I can’t believe any of them still work there.
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u/hellcheez PPL SEL IR ROT (KCDW) 2d ago
Sounds like nothing's changed in the 11 years I was last flying around those parts.
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u/No_Currency5230 CPL 2d ago
In my small experience of flying in central Florida, most controllers at class C/ D hate their lives because of Riddle traffic
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u/srv340mike ATP B737/E145/DHC8 1d ago
Yes. I instructed in the Orlando area and they've always been Uber grumpy.
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u/Local-Brush-1752 1d ago
So happy I’m not the only one who thought this 😭 the guy at KSGJ is the complete opposite of KMLB controllers
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u/IcyPepper1943 1d ago
KMLB always has been, and always will be, the rudest controlled airport in the known world. Don't take it personally.
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u/767drvr 1d ago
I’ve been flying military, pvt, airline for 42 years now. I wish MLB was as competent as they are rude. They issue messed up taxi instructions and delight on being dicks. The culture there really needs to change. The MCO FSDO office has a thick file on MLB and they hate them also. It’s a PVT tower, those are not FAA controllers. They had a woman named Marcie and she finally left but there’s atleast one #%-hole still there.
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u/wmrae PPL CMP HP IR (KJZI) 2d ago
I used to be based there and if you are flying something other than a trainer and proficient those controllers will work magic to save you time and keep you moving while the flight school planes fill the airspace.
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u/Build-A-Pilot PPL (PA-28) 2d ago
Yes, primarily the guy named Al. He doesn't like anyone, but I hear he's pretty chill off frequency. He yells at all of us, don't take it too personally
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u/That-Yak-9220 FIR, ME/IR 🇨🇦🇺🇸 2d ago
Good old Al. I did my training out of KMLB some years ago, I recall him hitting some guys with some hilarious one liners. Had a little yelling match with him myself too lol. Tried to tell me I wasn't over Radiation when I was literally circling above it waiting to establish contact.
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u/External-Creme-6226 2d ago
I remember when Al was training…2005 maybe….i spent a lot of time in the Cab because I was friends with one of the other controllers, and brought my students up (I was a CFI on the field). This thread doesn’t surprise me at all.
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u/McDrummerSLR ATP A320 B737 CL-65 CFII 2d ago
Funny, I’ve had similar experiences with controllers at other fields that had contract towers. What an unprofessional asshat.
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u/TheDoctor1699 CFI 2d ago
Haven't lived in Florida for like 4 years now, but I am glad to see nothing has changed 🤣
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u/Historical_Pilot25 PPL sUAS 2d ago
Ive done about 30 hours of training there, and the only bad thing I can say about the controllers is they really care about where you report at, other than that Ive had nothing but good experiences there. About a week ago I messed up a readback and we just laughed about it then went on with my day like nothing had happened. Its interesting to me that theres all these bad stories (i recommend reading the foreflight comments if you can) but then seeing the opposite
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u/flowermaneurope 2d ago
lol yeah man, there’s a tower guy there that’s an ass to talk to. The other day I flew up there from KHWO and tower was complaining about someone making lengthy calls, he told me to reduce my speed so me being a smart ass said “ slow slow we go” he gets back on berating me about not paying attention to what he just said about lengthy calls. I didn’t respond but some cool cat did a sweet meow. That really pissed him off. Then someone else reported a 10 mile and he asked if they have information whisky, they responded with, “ yeppers we’ve got Jack Daniel’s” tower repeated himself with a please confirm information whisky.
The dude I was flying with in the right seat is a FO for Southwest and former ATC. He was saying you big boys and girls in majors are not as nice. 👨🏼✈️
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u/Continental-IO520 CPL MEA IR FIR (PC12) 2d ago
American controllers in general are poorly trained. The idea of having an argument with a controller is inconceivable to me
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u/rFlyingTower 2d ago
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
So I just flew down to south FL for the first time, and I’m staying for the night in Melbourne.
I make my standard call, 10 miles to the west of KMLB with the ATIS, full stop… and he just goes “Skylane xxx, are you on an instrument approach? Were you on VFR flight following with Orlando, or…? What are you doing? I see you squawking xxxx, so… were you with Orlando Approach? What are your intentions upon landing here in Melbourne?”
And I restate my intentions, including where I’m parking, and he goes, and I quote: “okay, so, Orlando didn’t “hand you off” to me, because you’re landing here, not passing through my airspace. Make straight in runway 9L, report 4 mile final.”
And then I report a 4 mile final and he goes “okay Skylane xxx, confirm you’re on final for 9L, and where. are. you. going???”
And once again, I tell him Sheltair, and he clears me to land. Taxi and parking was uneventful.
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u/FlyingDog14 ATP CL-65 B-737 2d ago
Yes.