Author Topic: Thanks to the OAK feed...  (Read 7976 times)

Offline inigo88

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Thanks to the OAK feed...
« on: July 02, 2009, 04:39:04 AM »
...I was able to find myself in the liveatc.net archives for the first time. :D

I've been having a blast getting dual in a 2002 American Champion 7ECA Citabria toward my tailwheel endorsement to my PPL. I did touch and gos and practiced both 3-point and wheel landings on Oakland's runway 27L. My callsign in the clip is "Citabria 383AC." Unfortunately I was almost immediately handed off to a second local control position that was opened in OAK's North Tower (there are two!) on 124.9 to handle the touch and go left traffic pattern for runway 27L and relieve the regular local controller working runway 27R on 118.3, and unfortunately the feed isn't currently set up to monitor this extra local freq on the north field.

I'm hoping to bring this up to Squawk7700's attention so that he may add it to the feed! :)

From my perspective it was my 2nd flight in the Citabria and my first flight into any Class C airport, and Oakland is probably the bay area's busiest Class C! I departed Livermore Muni (LVK) and contacted Norcal Approach Grove Sector on 125.35 over the 580/680 freeway interchange in Dublin at 3000 ft. Squawk 0374 and radar identified, meaning I could proceed into the Oakland Class C airspace because two-way radio communication had been established. Once clear of terrain we descended to 2000 and aimed for Lake Chabot, a local VFR reporting point marking the north edge of the Hayward Class D airspace (ceiling 1500 MSL), which I did not want to descend into! The clip begins with my initial contact SE of Lake Chabot, and I am told to "Continue." There were a lot of aircraft in the pattern, and a King Air N111YF who passed south of me thru my 9 o'clock position on the ILS/visual Rwy 27R. The most disconcerting part was how large OAK got in the front window with no instruction from the very busy local controller as I plowed towards traffic in the pattern with no runway assignment (angling in towards rwy 27R). Over Lake Chabot the controller relieved my tension by giving us a right 360 for spacing, and I lazily circumnavigated the lake and did a little sightseeing to give him some extra time.

When we rolled back out on heading towards rwy 27R we heard the mis-communication between the King Air and the local controller which was sorted out without incident (I love the King Air's response "Uggghhh... 33..." to being given the shortest runway at the airport as one option), and finally my frequency change to the second local controller. We spotted the high wing light sport on left base to runway 27L and set up a right base passing through the 27R final approach course behind the king air. Flew through the final approach course for 27L and made several S-turns for spacing in the small area south of the 27L final approach course and north of the rwy 29 final approach course, did a touch and go and continued left traffic for four more landings. I have been flying out of OAK as an airline passenger all my life and always looked up with envy at the traffic pattern for runway 27L. Because you need to stay north of the runway 29 extended runway centerline at all times, the traffic pattern is so tight that crosswind and base turns are impossible and you simply make two tight 180 degree turns (AT LOW ALTITUDE = DO NOT SKID THEM!). Furthermore, the traffic pattern altitude is only 600 ft MSL which makes things even more interesting! Finally, because of the proximity to the runway 29 air carrier departures, you get an interesting request to SQUAWK STANDBY while in this pattern (only for rwy 27L) because as you turn left crosswind you get close enough to departing 737s to set off the Conflict Alert beeper in both towers.

After our fifth landing we requested a right turnout back to Livermore and were given a right crosswind departure. We got to pass in front of the Airship Ventures Zeppelin which was inbound to land at the north field, and after crossing north of the Oakland Coliseum we turned right towards the lake and were told to "remain north of Lake Chabot." (To protect the ILS runway 27R final approach course and any inbound VFRs over the lake.) The 2nd local controller was nice enough to keep us all the way instead of handing us off and terminated our radar services just SE of the lake.

This clip is probably a non-event to most but it was a significant event for me personally because it was my first flight into a Class C airport and I was able to navigate and communicate appropriately given no prior real world experience in the airspace and in a completely unfamiliar airplane. Not only that, but my 3-point landings were actually good enough that we were able to progress to wheel landings (and holy cow do they use up a lot of runway! Especially when you're new!). Flying tailwheel is complex, challenging and amazing... and flying it makes me feel like I'm in on some kind of unspoken secret that some pilots know and most miss out on. :)

While the content of the clip isn't particularly interesting, consider this a "trip report" introducing a relatively new pilot to what to expect on a first flight into one of the busier Class Charlie airports in the country. Finally, while MS Flight Sim and VATSIM are only as realistic as you choose to treat them, the years I've spent virtually flying on them to places including OAK... as well as the hours spent listening to livatc feeds (including OAK)... were invaluable.

I hope my narration of events proves to be an interesting and somewhat helpful insight. :)

Kind regards,

Inigo



Offline inigo88

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Re: Thanks to the OAK feed...
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2009, 05:01:20 AM »
Image courtesy of Skyvector.com

Offline Squawk 7700

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Re: Thanks to the OAK feed...
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2009, 11:44:10 PM »
I punched in the new frequency, 124.90 Mhz has been added to the North Field KOAK feed. Thanks inigo :-D