Radio Calls
 

I teach all of my Airforce guys to make calls here at a non-towered airport like this: "Del Rio traffic, Cessna 49Q, right down wind, 13, Del Rio traffic."

Today I was coming in from the south so I said "Del Rio traffic cessna 9649Q is 7nm SE inbound for a right downwind runway 13 Del Rio traffic."

Some guy comes on the radio and says "Can you quit saying traffic in all your radio calls? (5 second pause) Yea if you could just stop saying traffic that would be great. Just kind of a pet peeve of mine". I said "well that's who I'm talking to... so in short no." Then it made me start wondering. I dug through the AIM and I couldn't find any real defiinite way to make a radio call outside of a few examples just showing what information must be included. What do you think of my calls?

I usually use:

"Del rio traffic, blah blah blah blah... Del Rio"

IMO, "Traffic" is appropriate at the beginning to identify who you are talking to (as opposed to "Unicom", FBO, etc). At the end it really isn't necessary. Sometimes I'll even omit the second airport call out if it's quiet on the frequency or I know that where I am transmitting there is no overlap with other unicom/multicom freqs.

Same call that I make except that I never leave out the last Del Rio. There are so many times I am approaching an uncontrolled field and miss the first part of someones call because it comes out too fast or I was midconversation with my fellow pilot on the intercom. If I can hear it at the end I am able to determine if it will influence me.

Yea I always say it here because there is Sanora, Uvalde, Eagle Pass(Maverick Co.) and a few others all using 122.8. The airforce is always making calls at eagle pass in the T-6s so it's nice to make sure where they are at. Sometimes I don't pick up on the first call because I'm instructing and talking to my student when he starts so I depend on him saying it at the end.

The way I make the call would be: "Del Rio Traffic............Del Rio"

I also tend to say what the aircraft is (i.e. Skyhawk [Tail-number exlcuding N]) Just to let the traffic know what type of aircraft it is and what to be looking for.

I do not see a problem with ending with Del Rio Traffic, if you wanted to get smart with the guy you could have said your pet peeve was people transmitting non-essential information over the traffic advisory freq.

Ditto to all of that. I learned to fly at a small uncontrolled field in E. New Mexico, ending your call with where you are at is the right thing to do. I've never heard anyone say "___ Traffic" at the end though.

At least you are doing your part using the radio to announce your position, and you are not using the gay phrase, "any traffic in the area advise". The Mesa guys would always say that, and it drove me up the wall!

Alot of people do the same thing at UND. Some flight instructors teach to say it and some don't. I find it pointless considering most people will make a position call no matter what you say. But I guess to each his own...

I agree thats who you are talking to isnt? You arnt talking to the town. You are talking to the traffic. Tell that guy to shove his fist up his...... uhh nevermind...

Agreed. The second "Del Rio" is for people at a different airport using the same freq. or for pilots switching over halfway through your transmission. Don't worry about what that dumb*ss said, you were much nicer to him than I would have been...

Everywhere that I have looked, only states the airport name at the end. However, I have always said the exact same thing at uncontrolled fields as you stated! But, nothing states that you cannot say traffic at the end; additionally, you are not required to talk at uncontrolled fields, so who says that adding traffic is bad?! AS mentioned earlier, someone may have just chimed in on the frequency, and would appreciate to know exactly who you are talking to. Ultimately, who gives a darn if you say traffic at the end; next time respond with, "My pep-peeve is people who interrupt my radio calls with non-sense remarks!"