Old Bridge (3N6) radio calls

Non-towered airport: self-announce on the CTAF

Sample calls at 3N6

Old Bridge has no operating control tower. Every call below goes out on the CTAF, 123.075, to the other aircraft, not to a controller. The runway shown is 06; use whichever runway the wind and the traffic dictate on the day.

The aircraft is the AIM’s own example, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot; the squawk codes, altitudes and headings are illustrative. Frequencies, station names and runway numbers are this airport’s, from the FAA data.

1. Tune 123.075. Nobody clears you; you announce and you listen. The airport name goes at the start and the end of every call, and the runway is always a number, never "the active" (AIM 4-1-9 g 8).
2. YouOld Bridge traffic, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, taxiing to runway zero six, Old Bridge.
3. YouOld Bridge traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, departing runway zero six, departing the pattern to the north, Old Bridge.
4. Announce until you are about 10 miles out; on the way back, start announcing at 10 miles (AIM 4-1-9 c 1, TBL 4-1-1).
5. YouOld Bridge traffic, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, one zero miles south, two thousand five hundred, landing Old Bridge, Old Bridge.
6. YouOld Bridge UNICOM, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, one zero miles south, request wind and runway information, Old Bridge.
7. A UNICOM operator, if one is on, answers with the wind and the runway in use (AIM 4-1-9 h). If nobody answers, choose the runway from the wind and the pattern traffic you can hear.
8. YouOld Bridge traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, entering left downwind runway zero six, full stop, Old Bridge.
9. YouOld Bridge traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, left base runway zero six, Old Bridge.
10. YouOld Bridge traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, final runway zero six, full stop, Old Bridge.
11. YouOld Bridge traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, clear of runway zero six, Old Bridge.

If things change. Want flight following after departure? Call Mc Guire Approach on 126.475 once clear of the pattern: identification, type, position, altitude, destination, "request VFR flight following" (AIM 4-1-18 a 3). Do not use "any traffic in the area, please advise"; the AIM says it is not to be used under any condition (AIM 4-1-9 g 1).

Phraseology from AIM 4-1-9 c 1, g 1, g 8, h; TBL 4-1-1; 4-3-3. What TowerTalk grades against →

The calls you will make here

• CTAF radio calls at non-towered airports →
• Traffic pattern position reports →
• How to request VFR flight following →

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