This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
CTAF 123.0, the common traffic advisory frequency, have not been reassigned among the many GA airports in Florida, as well as the rest of the country.
123.0 is used at Okeechobee County Airport (KOBE), Arthur Dunn Air Park (X21) in Titusville, and Arcadia Municipal Airport (X06), all of which are busy airports.
Often it is difficult to make a transmission without stepping on someone else and this is an unsatisfactory condition. And it’s a safety hazard and it’s not necessary since years ago the GA fleet was encouraged to invest in new radios capable of three decimal digit frequencies.
These expanded frequencies were not implemented at GA airports.
Frequencies 122.8 and 122.9 are also being shared by multiple GA airports all within range of each other.
To make a severely taxed communication system even worse, the FAA has refrained from advocating to GA pilots not to use the term “traffic” when broadcasting positions and intentions on the CTAF at the various airports. It is entirely clear to just use the name of the facility without the term “traffic.”
Dropping saying traffic will relieve the frequency congestion. I feel the system would be safer if my suggestions were implemented.
Primary Problem: Airport
ACN: 2172179
When you click on the link it will take you to the ASRS Online Database. Click on Report Number and put the ACN in the search box, then click Search. On that page, click on “view only the 1 most recent report.”
