Lake Cumberland Regional (KSME) radio calls

Non-towered airport: self-announce on the CTAF

Sample calls at KSME

Lake Cumberland Regional 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 05; 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. YouLake Cumberland Regional traffic, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, taxiing to runway zero five, Lake Cumberland Regional.
3. YouLake Cumberland Regional traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, departing runway zero five, departing the pattern to the north, Lake Cumberland Regional.
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. YouLake Cumberland Regional traffic, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, one zero miles south, two thousand five hundred, landing Lake Cumberland Regional, Lake Cumberland Regional.
6. YouLake Cumberland Regional UNICOM, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, one zero miles south, request wind and runway information, Lake Cumberland Regional.
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. YouLake Cumberland Regional traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, entering left downwind runway zero five, full stop, Lake Cumberland Regional.
9. YouLake Cumberland Regional traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, left base runway zero five, Lake Cumberland Regional.
10. YouLake Cumberland Regional traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, final runway zero five, full stop, Lake Cumberland Regional.
11. YouLake Cumberland Regional traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, clear of runway zero five, Lake Cumberland Regional.

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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