Pilots & Controllers
Hope everyone is doing well. In an effort to provide some transparency, a source of education and hopefully some clarity for the issues that we see on a daily basis, data for all appeals in the month of June 2020 have been compiled below. The information below are broken down into various major categories that one would receive a violation for.
- “Data” will illustrate your table and a bar graph for an easy visualization of the overall picture.
- “Violation Issuances” will dive deeper into the ‘why’ aspect. This will be the source you will want to pay close attention to.
When one is given a violation such as “Failure to Follow Instructions”, it does not provide to you the pilot, the full story/picture. A lot of the backend work for the controllers and mods that people don’t get to see is us explaining, is the “why” the pilot or controller was in the wrong.
To better understand these reasons, in the Violation Issuances section below, you will find the violation that a controller gave a pilot. Within each of these violations are additional findings that the mod or staff member found in the replay that led to the violation being issued. These are the important pieces of information and are worth noting.
Note: Future releases of this data will omit the above explanations and will simply include the two styles of documents (Data & Documentation) as well as any other pertinent items/trends to address for the month. Only the below will be changed and included.
June
The release of 20.1 posed some challenges for both pilots and controllers in terms of communication but these were quickly overcome with hotfixes and other work arounds. Now that things are bit more stable and everyone running the same version, the outlook for July should trend away from communications issues/errors. It is still crucial that pilots continue to pay attention to their device anytime that they are communicating with ATC. Included in this is to ensure that pilots double check the heading, speed, and/or altitude that they were assigned.
TIP: If we forgot what ATC told us, we can simply tap in the lower left hand corner on the ATC Headset icon, double tap the ATC text log and review our instructions. You can also view your last given ATC instruction in that same ATC communication box in the upper right hand corner.
Housekeeping: If you are filing for an appeal, there are a few things to note. In the “Data Table” below, No Response from Pilot was listed. After a moderator requests a replay from a pilot filing an appeal, it is crucial you get us the replay as soon as you can. Your appeal is automatically closed out if after 3 days no response is made on your message thread. Included in the “Data” section, this number was 24 which means that 24 people contacted us but did not provide us the necessary replay to conduct our investigation in a timely manner. Those pilots now have those violations on their account without a way to appeal them further. If you are seeking our help, we only ask that you provide us this crucial piece of information so that we can assist you and close our the case.
All data below is only from those who reached out to moderators/staff and does not include those who were issued a violation and did not reach out to a moderator or staff member.
Pilots & Controllers alike have had their names redacted from this data. The following data is in random order and does not indicate date of issuance. To be used for educational purposes only.
Violation Issuances with Documentation
Size Restrictions
- Aircraft too big for size of airspace despite warnings
Crossing Runway w/o Permission
- Pilot not paying attention to pavement markings,
- Not listening to progressive taxi inst.,
- While on progressive taxi pilot assumed crossing clearance was not needed,
- Deleted replay,
- Openly admitted impatient,
- Confused with airport layout x2,
- Taxiing too quick and unable to stop before the HS markings
Failure to Maintain Separation
- Pilot not referencing mini or full size map x2,
- Not paying attention to sequencing,
- Excessive speed led into wider turns which led to an aircraft flying into others on final
Not Following Instructions
- Pilot taking too long to respond to or complete a command x3,
- Not responding in a timely manner x3,
- “30 seconds is not long enough to respond” x2,
- Failing to call airport in sight with approach,
- Pilot changing freqs. when not instructed x2,
- Pilot making wrong direction of turn (L/R),
- Entry for L/R downwind confusion,
- Not flying runway heading until specified altitude,
- Joining LOC without clearance x2,
- Turning through or busting altitude without correction x2,
- Taxiing to wrong runway, unaware of pattern legs,
- Not paying attention/got distracted x3,
- Responding “unable” ATCs instructions despite pilot being able to complete task,
- Failing to divert claiming “simulated engine failure”,
Taxiing through others
- Connection related,
- Misunderstanding of continue taxi,
- Pilot had airplane count on “none” x2,
- Disregard for other aircraft,
- Excessive taxi speed >30kts and not being able to slow fast enough,
- Pilot unaware of wingspan “clipping w/ wingtip” x2
Failing to Exit the Runway
- Pilot came to a complete stop with aircraft on final,
- L/R confusion,
Unable to Communicate (Contact Moderator)
- Connection issue error between pilot and controller x11
Failure to Execute Missed Approach/Go-Around
- Wifi cut out,
- Pilots claim was "not instructed to execute missed”,
- Pilot waited 32 & 42 seconds before positive VS was registered x2,
- Pilot blew through final and interfered with aircraft on parallel,
- Aligning with wrong runway, didn’t think they needed to GA
Failure to Follow ATIS
- Straight out violation x2,
- Device fell
Improper Arrival Procedures
- Deleted replay,
- Descending through active airspace without contacting ATC,
- AFK while on approach,
- Failure to amend FPL with STAR x2,
- Poor fuel planning x2
Interfering with other Aircraft
- Did not wait for aircraft to exit,
- Departing head on to other aircraft
Taxiing through Grass, Apron, Terminal/Hangar Pad
- Taking off from gate x5
Excessive Speed
- 1250kts & 1200kts @ 3000ft in active airspace x2,
- Checking in at M3.39,
- Contact approach at 480kts @ 8000ft,
- 500kts on takeoff
Taxiing without Permission
- Taxiing to parking,
- Began taxi before clearance was given
Deleted Replays
- Pilots who reached out to start an appeal but did not have a replay x5
Simple Pilot Error
- Accidentally pushed back after pulling into gate,
- Courtesy used
No Response from Appealing Pilot
- Pilot/Mod/Ctlr. initiated appeal;
- Replay not sent to mod within 3 day cutoff
Controller Requested Reversal
- Mostly unable to comm. 20.1 vs 19.4 issues, x21
- App related, x4
- Sought second opinion x1
Controller Error
- Late instruction sent to aircraft,
- Aircraft spawned in on top of each other,
- Misclicked aircraft,
- Miscommunications between T & G controllers,
- Two aircraft using same callsign one parked at gate erroneously reported,
- Tower reported excessive speed at FL400
Final Note: Staff and Moderators do reserve the right to remove violations for pilots even if they were in the wrong. Total number of violations including 1, 2 and 3 are considered as well as the severity of the error while looking at the appealing pilots replay. While this data was not shown, an estimated 30-40 reversals were conducted due to mods/staff seeing something in the pilot that demonstrated that they were not to make a similar issue again. If filing an appeal, please consider reading the following: Inquiring About Violations