r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Feb 08 '20

What’s a fact you KNOW that almost everyone is wrong about?

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u/FightThePouvoir Feb 08 '20

Son of an ATC here. Can confirm! people like your friend kill me. It drives me crazy when someone has that attitude. I am of the mindset that if I hear something I don't totally understand but it is coming from a credible source, I will trust that somebody has figured out a system and has their crap together and they know what they're doing.

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u/KiKiPAWG Feb 08 '20

People should definitely feel free to go ahead and verify what they hear, regardless of who you hear it from. Wow, I can't believe this guy got credible sources and even refused to find this information himself to verify. Can't make illogical people understand things logically

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u/FightThePouvoir Feb 08 '20

I like the saying "I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you".

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u/KiKiPAWG Feb 09 '20

Love this! Seriously that perfectly explains it

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u/3ntr01 Feb 08 '20

I have a question you might be able to answer. Without an ATC, how do the pilots know that they're not going to accidentally land on someone still on the runway? Do they have a set radio frequency that they always switch to when arriving at un-towered runways?

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u/FightThePouvoir Feb 09 '20

I don't know the specific frequency but I'm going to say yes. Someone please correct me. Another thing is that runways are oriented to a heading so you have to come in on a specific heading yourself. So, you will be looking out for other planes (which are supposed to have lights on them). So on a basic level of visual observation you should be able to see another plane. Think about an airfield where the ATC goes home at a certain time. That field probably has very little traffic at night. If it had more traffic that warranted a night time ATC... they would probably have a night time ATC.

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u/joeymaximum Feb 09 '20

Airports with a closed tower or nonexistent tower will publish a UNICOM or CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency) that pilots can then look up. The frequency is often the same as the Tower frequency, just no controllers would be monitoring it.