Greetings!

As you know, when contacting tower (or any other ATC facility), the proper radio call should include your location. This seemingly simply task tends to cause problems for some (especially those that don't use FSNAV, the GPS or similar situational awareness aid) and produces inaccurate position reporting. Here's a little trick that we use in the real world that can help:

(I wrote about this procedure in a past issue of SLO-Flight to help reduce taxing confusion in an attempt to reduce possible runway incursions. The techniques used in that story were based on these same principles.)

1. All locations are relative to something. In this case, it'd be in relation to the airport, VFR reporting point, NAVAID or known landmark.
2. Note the relative direction of the above reference using the "o'clock" method (12 o'clock being directly off the nose of the airplane, 3 o'clock being off the right wing, 6 o'clock being directly off the tail, and so on).
3. Relate this "o'clock" position to the corresponding "o'clock" position on the Directional Gyro (DG) as if it were a clock. Your position will be exactly 180 degrees from this indicated magnetic direction.

For example, if the airport is 10 miles directly ahead of you, and your DG is indicating 270 degrees (West) at the 12 o'clock position, your location is 10 miles East of the airport (180 degrees opposite of the 270 degrees--in the 6 o'clock position).

Here's another example: If the airport is located at your 2 o'clock position and your DG indicates 120 degrees at the DG's 2 o'clock position, your location would be North West of the airport (the DG's 8 o'clock position-180 degrees from 2 o'clock would indicate 300 degrees).

Hope this helps!

Ben

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