Ralph Wenz Field (KPNA) radio calls

Non-towered airport: self-announce on the CTAF

Sample calls at KPNA

Ralph Wenz Field has no operating control tower. Every call below goes out on the CTAF, 122.8, to the other aircraft, not to a controller. The runway shown is 11; 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 122.8. 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. YouRalph Wenz Field traffic, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, taxiing to runway one one, Ralph Wenz Field.
3. YouRalph Wenz Field traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, departing runway one one, departing the pattern to the north, Ralph Wenz Field.
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. YouRalph Wenz Field traffic, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, one zero miles south, two thousand five hundred, landing Ralph Wenz Field, Ralph Wenz Field.
6. YouRalph Wenz Field UNICOM, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, one zero miles south, request wind and runway information, Ralph Wenz Field.
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. YouRalph Wenz Field traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, entering left downwind runway one one, full stop, Ralph Wenz Field.
9. YouRalph Wenz Field traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, left base runway one one, Ralph Wenz Field.
10. YouRalph Wenz Field traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, final runway one one, full stop, Ralph Wenz Field.
11. YouRalph Wenz Field traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, clear of runway one one, Ralph Wenz Field.

If things change. 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). Listen for ten miles before you arrive; most of what you want to know has already been said.

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 →

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