This time I was "that guy"

lancie00

lancie00

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lancie00
I flew to a meeting yesterday about 150 miles away from home. Nice VMC day but a little windy. Coming home to our non towered field I decided to fly the VOR 12 approach in VMC, no hood, just as practice and approach visualization. Decided to fly the arc so announced on the radio when I got to the IAP, announced inbound, announced crossing the VOR on a 5 mile straight in, announced 1 mile straight in. I noticed another plane on the ground holding short waiting to take off. All was good until just as my wheels touched the ground, I heard someone call into the neighboring airport. Geez that idiot's on the wrong frequency. Wait a minute... What the h***???
Guess I'm the idiot on the wrong frequency. :mad:
Switched over and apologized to the plane holding short. They said no problem, we've all been there.
I hate making mistakes. :(
 
Stuff happens.
If you feel the need for penance, sit in a corner with a bottle of your favorite cold beverage, say "Boy was I dumb." then take a swig.
Unless you have to fly again, then just double face palm while you say "Boy was I dumb."
Always works for me.
 
lancie00 said:
I flew to a meeting yesterday about 150 miles away from home. Nice VMC day but a little windy. Coming home to our non towered field I decided to fly the VOR 12 approach in VMC, no hood, just as practice and approach visualization. Decided to fly the arc so announced on the radio when I got to the IAP, announced inbound, announced crossing the VOR on a 5 mile straight in, announced 1 mile straight in. I noticed another plane on the ground holding short waiting to take off. All was good until just as my wheels touched the ground, I heard someone call into the neighboring airport. Geez that idiot's on the wrong frequency. Wait a minute... What the h***???
Guess I'm the idiot on the wrong frequency. :mad:
Switched over and apologized to the plane holding short. They said no problem, we've all been there.
I hate making mistakes. :(
Click to expand...

I wish I could say that I never made that mistake.
 
lancie00 said:
I flew to a meeting yesterday about 150 miles away from home. Nice VMC day but a little windy. Coming home to our non towered field I decided to fly the VOR 12 approach in VMC, no hood, just as practice and approach visualization. Decided to fly the arc so announced on the radio when I got to the IAP, announced inbound, announced crossing the VOR on a 5 mile straight in, announced 1 mile straight in. I noticed another plane on the ground holding short waiting to take off. All was good until just as my wheels touched the ground, I heard someone call into the neighboring airport. Geez that idiot's on the wrong frequency. Wait a minute... What the h***???
Guess I'm the idiot on the wrong frequency. :mad:
Switched over and apologized to the plane holding short. They said no problem, we've all been there.
I hate making mistakes. :(
Click to expand...

That's a minor oversight, not something that even comes close to being dangerous. Even if you were on the right frequency, don't assume your transmissions are being heard. The other guy could be on the wrong frequency. You did have the other airplane in sight, and you would have gone around had he pulled in front of you.
 
sarangan said:
That's a minor oversight, not something that even comes close to being dangerous. Even if you were on the right frequency, don't assume your transmissions are being heard. The other guy could be on the wrong frequency. You did have the other airplane in sight, and you would have gone around had he pulled in front of you.
Click to expand...

Had my hand on the throttle. Every landing is a go around until it's not.
 
The pilots on this forum have a lot of wisdom, experience, and knowledge. Here's one area where I can be part of the club!

Small, rural airport. Airport manager came out to fuel me, and only later did I realize why he was checking me out so closely. Glad I figured out what happened, and definitely embarrassing.
 
lancie00 said:
I flew to a meeting yesterday about 150 miles away from home. Nice VMC day but a little windy. Coming home to our non towered field I decided to fly the VOR 12 approach in VMC, no hood, just as practice and approach visualization. Decided to fly the arc so announced on the radio when I got to the IAP, announced inbound, announced crossing the VOR on a 5 mile straight in, announced 1 mile straight in. I noticed another plane on the ground holding short waiting to take off. All was good until just as my wheels touched the ground, I heard someone call into the neighboring airport. Geez that idiot's on the wrong frequency. Wait a minute... What the h***???
Guess I'm the idiot on the wrong frequency. :mad:
Switched over and apologized to the plane holding short. They said no problem, we've all been there.
I hate making mistakes. :(
Click to expand...

Sheeesh! Damn NORDO aircraft. Everyone should have a radio. How else could someone land without hitting someone else? :rolleyes:

Maybe the holding aircraft was also NORDO and held short when he saw someone on a long final . . .
 
asicer said:
Was it an expired plate? Dyslexia? Fat finger?
Click to expand...

Nope. Home airport and I "knew" the frequency. Just a stupid mistake on my part. Wish I could blame something else but this was just plain my fault.
 
lancie00 said:
Nope. Home airport and I "knew" the frequency. Just a stupid mistake on my part. Wish I could blame something else but this was just plain my fault.
Click to expand...
That was a great learning experience. I'll bet you'll never do that again.
 
The thing we hope that comes from being 'TG' is, (well, besides corrective action for next time)... is that one is more tolerant of the other 'TG' when it is their turn!
 
Nobody crashed, you will learn from this, so it all worked out.
I had maybe a couple of hundred hours when I landed at an airport in my old 172.
It had two radios, and a switch to toggle from radio one to radio two. Small tower with two people in it, and when I landed like always, switched to ground where I got the other person, taxied in, parked overnight on the FBO ramp, and left the airport with my then GF, to go to her grandmother's house, that was the reason for the trip, was to visit her. Returning to my plane the next day I did my preflight, paid for the fuel I got, because I asked them to please fill it up for me that night when we landed before they went home, so it was ready to go the next day. All ready to go i started the engine and turned on the radios, lights etc. Pushed the button and called ground for the current numbers, and taxi info, and asked where they wanted me to do my run up...silence...I waited a moment and asked again...then a very annoyed voice came back, you're on tower frequency not ground. I felt like a total idiot, apologized, and switched to ground. Somehow I had bumped the switch from radio two back to radio one which i had on their tower frequency. So once ready to go, I switched back to tower and let him know that I was ready for take off...anyway all was fine and 10 minutes later or so I called the tower to let them know i was clear of their zone and said have a great day...he responded back much cheerier this time and wished us a good day as well...and then added " sorry for being so grumpy before, I've had a cup of coffee now and the world seems like a better place". I still remember that 30 years later, because wow did I feel dumb. I always double checked after that to make sure I was on the correct frequency, it was embarrassing to be on the wrong one!
 
See and avoid saves the day yet again!

Here’s the real issue, though: Did you use ATITAPA on the wrong frequency? Also, were you on Guard at the time?
 
G-Man said:
The pilots on this forum have a lot of wisdom, experience, and knowledge. Here's one area where I can be part of the club!

Small, rural airport. Airport manager came out to fuel me, and only later did I realize why he was checking me out so closely. Glad I figured out what happened, and definitely embarrassing.
Click to expand...

What was the mistake?
 
Misread the AFD and was using the frequency for a different airport, the one right before it in alphabetical order or something like that. Made all the correct radio calls for the right airport, just on the wrong frequency.
 
Nobody wants to be “that guy”, but at the same time who is perfect? I see “that guy” as the guy who just doesn’t care about others. The rest of us make mistakes, feel bad about them, and move on trying to be better the next time.

My “that guy” moment was when I launched for pattern work at a fairly busy non-towered regional airport without doing a radio check while transmitting on Comm 2 which had been acting up lately and was really only a receive only Comm. Made it 1.5 laps before I realized my mistake. Apologized to all in the pattern and parked it after the next landing. Not my best moment.
 
You guys are apologizing and feeling bad about truly trivial stuff. People call up on the wrong frequency all the time, or say the wrong thing, or call yourself a Cherokee when you are a Mooney, call tower as ground, or say the truly forbidden stuff "with you".
 
At least you had the volume turned up...

I've accidentally put in the wrong ground frequency. Except it was the real ground frequency someplace close enough where we could both hear each other. They couldn't figure out where I was parked and where I wanted to go and why my ATIS was off, and I couldn't figure out the instructions they were trying to give me....
 
When I fly without a radio in the Cub I always enter a full pattern on the theory that an "unannounced" straight in is disruptive and fraught with hazards. It's made worse when you think that everyone else with a radio MUST be hearing your announcements. :eek:

All's well that ends well, and mistakes are inevitable . . .
 
At least you landed at the right airport on the wrong frequency. It's been said that some pilots have landed at the wrong airport on the wrong frequency.
 
I made a mistake, once. I think it was on a Wednesday...it can happen to anyone. Thanks for manning-up and discussing it with the other pilot; always reminds me that sometimes our best is not enough. Thanks for your candor and humidity sharing the story. Be blessed
 
Bobanna said:
I made a mistake, once. I think it was on a Wednesday...it can happen to anyone. Thanks for manning-up and discussing it with the other pilot; always reminds me that sometimes our best is not enough. Thanks for your candor and humidity sharing the story. Be blessed
Click to expand...
It was a very humid story, indeed. :)
 
I recall setting the frequency for the tower at an airport I was flying to, and then forgetting to hit the flip-flop button on the radio. Red face when ATC suggested I hadn't done that. We all make mistakes, we're human. Glad it turned out OK.
 
I've definitely requested flight following with the volume turned down. By the time I figured that out (only 3 calls in wondering why MKE approach wouldn't answer me), they were calling saying they might have radio issues and whether I can hear them. I told them I could hear them now.
 
One time I made a call to tower inbound from the FAF and had accidentally switched coms to ground frequency then when I pulled off the runway called for taxi to parking on the tower frequency right after acknowledging their call for me to contact ground.
 
Our home airport has 24 and 6, with 24 used about 90% of the time. I may or may not have, fairly recently, used "....24" in a few pattern radio calls when, due to atypical winds that day, I was actually using 6. Not a real warm and fuzzy feeling when I caught myself.
 
I tuned 123.05 instead of 123.5 or vice-versa in a busy pattern once. Wondered why nobody was talking. :eek: Somehow we all lived anyway. :D

Far more often than that I accidentally announce the last airport I was at, rather than the one I'm currently at. ;)
 
We’ve all done it. Not the first time...won’t be the last.
 
Many years ago, I was flying to Friday Harbor (FHR), which is a non-towered airport in a group of islands called the San Juans. At that time they had an advisory frequency for the area of the islands, and a separate frequency for the individual airport. I was making all the appropriate calls, but once I got on the ground and announced my taxi intentions, someone called me and pointed out that I was still on the frequency for the island group. Embarrassing! (At some point since then, they eliminated the separate frequencies, and the chart now shows the same frequency for each airport and for the area.)

After landing at Palo Alto (PAO) a few weeks ago, I received an instruction from the tower as I was exiting the runway, I pushed the button to switch to the ground frequency, and then I acknowledged the tower's instruction. This confused the ground controller until I explained what had happened.
 
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