MIL FACILITY APCH CTL ATC HANDLING.

Date: 1995-08 · Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

MIL FACILITY APCH CTL ATC HANDLING.

Narrative

NORMAL PROC IS TO CONTACT ELLSWORTH APCH WHEN TOLD TO BY ZDV (NORMALLY FROM 20-45 MI OUT). ELLSWORTH IS TO GIVE RAPID CITY WX AND ARPT INFO. THAT IN THERE LIES THE PROB. WHEN WE CONTACT ELLSWORTH THEY BABBLE. WE MAY GET WINDS AND THAT IS ALL OR MAYBE AN ALT SETTING OR IF WE ARE REAL LUCKY WE GET CEILING INFO TOO. THERE IS NO ORDER TO INFO GIVEN OR EVEN WHAT INFO IS GIVEN. IT SEEMS WE HAVE TO PLAY 20 QUESTIONS TO GET RAP WX AND ARPT CONDITIONS. ON TODAY'S FLT WX IN RTE WAS CLR. AS WE APCHED RAP WE COULD SEE AN OVCST WHICH TO US APPEARED TO COVER ARPT AND EXTEND TO BLACK HILLS W. WE COULD NOT SEE ARPT WHEN WE WERE WITHIN 18 MI OF 10000 FT MSL ON HDG 040 DEGS. WHEN WE WERE 20-30 MI OUT I CONTACTED ELLSWORTH AND ASKED FOR WX AND CONDITIONS AT RAP. I WAS GIVEN WIND AND ALT SETTING; NO TEMP OR SKY CONDITIONS. I ASKED 4 MORE TIMES; NO ANSWER. WE COULD SEE THE OVCST LAYER WHICH TO US APPEARED TO BE AT (TOPS) 500-1000 FT AGL. WE WERE TOLD TO TURN R TO 080 DEGS; DSND TO 8000 FT; RPT THE FIELD IN SIGHT FOR VISUAL TO RWY 32 AND WE WERE #2 TO FOLLOW TFC AT 2 O'CLOCK OUT OF 8000 FT FOR 5000 FT. WE EXECUTED THE CLRNC. NO PROB. I AGAIN ASKED SKY CONDITIONS AT RAP; NO ANSWER. AT ABOUT 15 MI THROUGH 9000 FT MSL HDG 080 DEG; WE WERE CLRED FOR VISUAL APCH TO RWY 32. I IMMEDIATELY ADVISED ELLSWORTH APCH THAT WE 'DID NOT HAVE FIELD IN SIGHT;' NO ANSWER. RPTED 'DID NOT HAVE FIELD IN SIGHT' 2 MORE TIMES; NO ANSWER. I DID RPT FIELD IN SIGHT A FEW SECONDS LATER; AND THEN WAS TOLD 'AGAIN YOU ARE CLRED VISUAL RWY 32; CONTACT TWR.' ELLSWORTH IS THE PROB. I BELIEVE ARPT WX IS TO BE GIVEN A CERTAIN WAY AS SET FOR BY AIM.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.