What does this mean?

[safetyobc]

When listening to aircraft, I hear, "3-5-0 cactus 1773"

3-5-0 is the altitude. 1773 is the flight number. What is Cactus? I also hear "Sawmill"

Is that an airspace or frequency? If airspace is there a map that shows them?

Thanks for any info

 

[ChrisP]

In this case, CACTUS is the company call sign for US Airways commercial flights. You heard US Airways flight 1773.

CACTUS came from the old America West airline, who used CACTUS as their company call sign, and when US Airways merged, they continued to use the CACTUS call, I believe because the pilots operated under the original America West union contract...

- Chris

 

[safetyobc]

Thanks. Any idea who Sawmill would be? They will say "request permission to go direct Sawmill"

 

[ChrisP]

"Direct SAWMILL" indicates that SAWMILL is a waypoint that the aircraft is headed towards. They were cleared to head directly to SAWMILL rather than go through other waypoints on their original flight plan. You can search around on the Internet for waypoint names, but I don't have a link in front of me now. Maybe some of the aviation monitoring buffs can help...

The more you listen to aviation communications, the more you will pick up along the way.

- Chris

 

[safetyobc]

I appreciate the information!

 

[alphazulu]

Nice replies ChrisP!

Sorry to nitpick but Sawmill(SWB) is a VOR in the area of Winnfield, Louisianna.
Therefore ATC instructed Cactus 1773 direct to the Sawmill VOR.

I believe waypoints are made of 5 letters
ex. There is an approach sequence into KMCI (Kansas City) that uses the following points
"SPICY" "BARBQ" "RIBBS"

 

[ChrisP]

No problem. I didn't know specifically if SAWMILL was an intersection or a VOR or what. I knew there was a limit to the length of the names, but they do a lot of abbreviating, such as SAWML or BLAZR.

One thing about aviation communications is that there is a lot of "shorthand" used, so listening and learning takes some time.

 

[Jay911]

As for the first part which I think has been yet unanswered, the most likely response is that the pilot was acknowledging a direction for either flight level 350 (35,000 ft) or heading 350 (10 degrees left of due north). It's common practice in aviation communications to reply to an instruction by reading it back. So:

Call from controller: "Cactus 1773, Little Rock Center, descend to flight level 350."

Response indicating acknowledgement and compliance: "350 for Cactus 1773."

 

[safetyobc]

Nice replies ChrisP!

Sorry to nitpick but Sawmill(SWB) is a VOR in the area of Winnfield, Louisianna.
Therefore ATC instructed Cactus 1773 direct to the Sawmill VOR.

I believe waypoints are made of 5 letters
ex. There is an approach sequence into KMCI (Kansas City) that uses the following points
"SPICY" "BARBQ" "RIBBS"

Is there a map of these VOR's?

Thanks

 

[nd5y]

Is there a map of these VOR's?

You can look up navaids and fixes on AirNav
There are a few google earth files of navaids and fixes. I'll post a link if I can find it.

 

[safetyobc]

This site is great for looking them up. Thanks for all the info!

 

[Jay911]

You can look up navaids and fixes on AirNav
There are a few google earth files of navaids and fixes. I'll post a link if I can find it.

I gather AirNav is only good for USA .. it couldn't find my local intersections. SkyVector did, though. (ALBRO is almost directly over my house - only about 500 ft east of me!)

 

[alphazulu]

Great references above.
Here's a favorite of mine,
linked to KMSY (Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans) for the O.P.'er
make sure you "tick" navaids for the VOR's and Beacons(NDB) to show.

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport @ OurAirports

 

[DaveNF2G]

Airnav only works for USA facilities. Worldwide facilities (including USA) can be found on the Great Circle Search site -
Great Circle Search

Another cute approach is ITAWT-ITAWA-PUDDY-TAT.

Instructions to particular headings are rare except when approaching an airport. Most directional clearances involve waypoints or VORs. If you hear numbers, they probably refer to altitudes.

 

[JoeyC]

Nice replies ChrisP!

Sorry to nitpick but Sawmill(SWB) is a VOR in the area of Winnfield, Louisianna.
Therefore ATC instructed Cactus 1773 direct to the Sawmill VOR.

I believe waypoints are made of 5 letters
ex. There is an approach sequence into KMCI (Kansas City) that uses the following points
"SPICY" "BARBQ" "RIBBS"

An intersection is typically a 5 letter "word" such as your examples.
An intersection or a VOR or any nav aid or aviation fix can be a waypoint.

 

[alphazulu]

Thank you JoeyC, appreciate your explaination.

 

[737mech]

If the comm was descend to flight level 350 you'd probably be monitoring a high altitude atc center freq. The comms can be so fast you might miss something. Heading 350 could be any atc approach or departure or tower etc. Most airlines cruise at 35000 to 42000. LA Center for example would probably give a "Descend to FL350" When they are way up there the up and down adjustments are for better rides due to turbulence or for spacing when other aircraft are near. The only time I ever heard descend to FL450 was a U2 coming down from a mission. That NASA WB-57 goes up pretty high also, sometimes flightaware shows them at FL600.

 

[poltergeisty]

ex. There is an approach sequence into KMCI (Kansas City) that uses the following points
"SPICY" "BARBQ" "RIBBS"

That's funny. :lol: It's like over Vegas they have POKER, CHIPS and LUXOR.

 

[kennyloatman]

My airport (Millville NJ, KMIV) uses the term lattie. As in "in bound lattie for runway 24." Cannot find any reference on the sector maps for lattie. Any ideas what this term means?

 

[ChrisP]

My airport (Millville NJ, KMIV) uses the term lattie. As in "in bound lattie for runway 24." Cannot find any reference on the sector maps for lattie. Any ideas what this term means?

LADIE is the outer marker for runway 10 at MIV. You can look here on the approach plate:

http://155.178.201.160/d-tpp/1303/00891IL10.PDF

BTW, MIV doesn't have a runway 24. It could be they were inbound to runway 14, they could call inbound at LADIE and then do a visual approach to 14.

- Chris