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Hi all,

This morning I was on my way into work, in the SF Bay Area, and I was listening to NorCal Approach on my handheld radio. I know I am a geek..... Anyway I heard ATC say something I have never heard before. The Controller said something like "slow to 180 High Back" The flight responded with the call back "Rodger slow 180 Hight Back" A few minutes later I heard another flight say "The High Back didn't seem to work" ATC says " Ya it didn't and it caused some compression, you can have 170" Then a heard ATC say something like "SouthWest 123B you are niner miles from High Back"

So what is High Back? Is this an IFR term I don't know yet? I am only a VFR pilot. KSJC was under IFR this morning. So what is High Back. I know what a High Ball is, but not a high back.

Thanks in advance.

-Will

_________________
Learning to fly is a lifelong project. Every time you start the engine or hook up a tow line you begin a lesson.

pilotwill@sbcglobal.net
http://web.mac.com/pilotwill/Site/Home.html
http://pilotwill.libsyn.com/

Will,

HIVAK is an intersection on the ILS approach to rwy 30L at SJC. Many times ATC will tell planes to maintain 180kts to a certain approach fix in order to expedite the flow. At IAH, they do that frequently.

http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0709/00693ILD30L.PDF

_________________
-PJ

PPL ASEL as of 8/15/2007

"Flying is a lot like riding a bicycle, it's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes!" -Captain Rex Kramer, from the movie "Airplane!"

PJ,

So when do you start instrument!? You're already off to a GREAT START.

_________________
Inst: "So how far out so we make our initial call-up?"
Student: "10 miles"
Inst: "OK, let's make that call"
Student: "Airport Traffic, Cessna 172, 3 miles east..."

There it is. Thank PJ. I was listening this morning and figured out that ya it was a place somewhere. ATC was handing them off to the tower around there. But it still sounded like they were saying High Back. Hee hee hee

-Will

_________________
Learning to fly is a lifelong project. Every time you start the engine or hook up a tow line you begin a lesson.

pilotwill@sbcglobal.net
http://web.mac.com/pilotwill/Site/Home.html
http://pilotwill.libsyn.com/

Nice call PJ...
Will, it's interesting looking at the approach plates, you can see that it is pretty useful for situational awareness even for a VFR pilot.

Confession time: I've been flying full IFR flight plans (including SIDS/STARS) in MS Flight Sim and on VATSIM for some time now. I've also been listening to ATC on my scanner for several years while sitting out at the airport spotting area (Houston has some great ones, they're very spotter-friendly here - visit http://www.houstonspotters.net for more info).

ATC will typically have aircraft maintain 180 or greater to the outer marker, which 737-700 drivers that I've talked to hate because you can't drop in 15 deg of flaps above 170, which leaves a very short amount of time from the OM to the threshold to go from 10-40 deg of flaps and slow down to final approach speed.

BTW... I plan to start on my instrument after I finish paying for my PPL .

_________________
-PJ

PPL ASEL as of 8/15/2007

"Flying is a lot like riding a bicycle, it's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes!" -Captain Rex Kramer, from the movie "Airplane!"

Often times the Outer Marker (in this case, HIVAK) is a reporting point when calling the tower. If you were monitoring tower, you'd probably hear, "San Jose Tower, Southwest 123, HIVAK for tree-zero-left." Tower would then probably respond with the traffic they're following, winds, and "Cleared to Land".

_________________
-PJ

PPL ASEL as of 8/15/2007

"Flying is a lot like riding a bicycle, it's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes!" -Captain Rex Kramer, from the movie "Airplane!"