Yo John,
Originally Posted by
John Pennekamp
With all due respect to our friendly ATC folks, it always irks me when y'all complain we don't get off the runway fast enough.
I don't believe that my post was a "complaint" by any stretch, but merely one of asking a question about what I've observed from the Tower. You know... exchange of information and all that. I would imagine that the guys in the cockpit on short final or holding in position behind you would be a little more perturbed than me when
you stop on the runway and cause other aircraft to go around or incur additional delays.
When you clear us to land, we OWN that runway until we exit, and it's our discretion to roll as far as we want to (providing we haven't accepted a LAHSO clearance) or slow as much as our judgement says is safety prudent before turning off. If you packed the guy behind me in too tight, that's your misfortune.
You are absolutely right: I've cleared you to land... you own the runway... feel free to do with it as you please. Just one more question though: When I have to send
you around for another tour of Mississippi because one of your brethren stopped on the runway or rolled all the way to the end, I wonder if you are cursing
ATC or the
offending flight crew? ATC makes every attempt to predict what
you might do, but we can only anticipate your actions based on past experience -- and stopping on the runway is somewhat unusual in a busy terminal environment.
Oh, and don't be calling us during the roll out to say expedite either.
I'm sorry that this troubles you, but it is often necessary to salvage a situation that has gone bad.
Each airport has an "acceptance rate", and that is based on the number of runways in use, weather, type of approaches in use, sectors open and a number of other human factors.
On a
good day, we clear you to land... tell the next guy to taxi into position and hold... clear another guy to land and exchange traffic... tell you to turn off the runway... clear the next guy for takeoff... and repeat until the shift ends. When you throw in training in the Tower, training in the TRACON, training in the
cockpit, wet runways, reduced braking action, runway or taxiway construction, wind shear, reduced visibility, disabled aircraft, ATC equipment failures and etc... well.. the good day suddenly turns into an
interesting day.
I believe that we do our best on each and every day. Do we make mistakes? You betcha. Do we try to get everyone on the ground as soon as possible so that
you can get home and
your passengers or cargo can get to
their final destination? You betcha. Do we ask you to "expedite", "make short approach" or "depart without delay"? You betcha.
It is perfectly legal for me to use such phrases to expedite the flow of traffic. It is also perfectly legal and accepted for you to say "unable". If I ask (or tell) you to do something that you are unable to accomplish, or maybe you just don't feel comfortable with... PLEASE tell me "UNABLE!" That one word allows me a few extra seconds to execute Plan B.
I'm not hear to complain. But I would like to ask a few questions and hopefully obtain some additional info from you that will help me conduct
my job with a little more understanding of what
your job is like.
MEM_ATC