Line up and wait / Position and Hold

[Henning]

Yeah, "line up and wait" gets a look up final and in position I go. Another ATC instruction that is good to be on the ball with, especially at your home airport, is: "No Delay". Once you are done with your run up and call 'ready', be ready to shove the throttle forward and go.

If you have a proven track record of shoving in the throttle at the hold short and being halfway to flying speed by the time you're lined out on the center line, this can save you a lot of time on the ground if you base at a busy airport. If they know that they can count on you to respond and not screw them over, they will get you out in tight spots sooner. If you act like an airliner though, they're going to wait until they have an airliner sized slot for you.

The more they trust your ability, the more they give. LGB used to clear me to turn base at the tower for a midfield when Imhad a line of 150s in front of me. As soon as I heard, "Cleared for midfield option" the flaps were rolling in and I was in a slipping, turning, descent around the runway and off on my ramp before the next 152 touched down.

 

[flyingron]

Yep, I was in the tower at IAD (the old one) when a Cessna was cleared to takeoff and a few minutes later the controller looks up and she's still sitting there on the end of the runway. There's just not too much you need to do crossing the hold short line and there is less if you're in position and hold. Especially, now that they want your transponder on during taxi.

 

[SkyDog58]

Our gyroplane has an electric pre-rotator to start the rotor turning. When I push the button after getting cleared for take-off my rotor is up to speed by the time i reach the centerline and I can begin my take off roll.
It I have the pre-rotator engaged I can’t hear the radio so I can’t pre-rotate while waiting for a takeoff clearance.
If I wait for clearance while on the runway with the rotor stopped there will be a delay while my blades get up to speed before I can take off that the tower may not expect.
The reason I mentioned it is because I feel “unable” is the quick answer for something I don’t want to do for any reason.
If the original poster thought that he shouldn’t be doing something; even if he is wrong; I feel unable is still the correct response. He can learn what is correct later with fewer distractions.

Vance, yours is an absolutely legitimate reason to state unable to the request. Thank you for explaining. I also agree that unable is the quick and easy way to refuse when necessary an ATC request or instruction as there is no need to tie up the freq with a long winded explanation. If ATC wants an explanation then they can ask. Normally they will simply accept the "unable" and provide an alternate instruction.

But I do get the impression that some pilots love to misuse "unable" as their way of getting out of doing something that they merely are not wanting to do. This can be either out of inconvenience or that they have a fear of sitting on the runway and not trusting ATC or they just want to stick it to the man.

If one ever listens to ATC at a larger airport such as ORD when there is a huge line of jets waiting to takeoff, you will hearing a constant barrage of a takeoff clearance followed by a "line up and wait" to the next jet in line. If all of the airline pilots were to state unable then the line would take much longer to get through and would cause all sorts of issues.

My opinion is that "unable" should be used judiciously and not just because one does not like an ATC instruction. Again Vance, your situation more or less demands an unable.

 

[roncachamp]

But I do get the impression that some pilots love to misuse "unable" as their way of getting out of doing something that they merely are not wanting to do. This can be either out of inconvenience or that they have a fear of sitting on the runway and not trusting ATC or they just want to stick it to the man.

Yup. When SOIR became LAHSO about twenty years ago the airlines balked. It became fairly common for GA pilots to decline to participate as well. IME nearly all of them appeared genuinely surprised when the instruction that followed their "unable LAHSO" was something other than a landing clearance without the requirement to hold short of the intersecting runway. Most of them quickly decided they actually were able.