Los Angeles Ground instructions

Flashback! We are throwing in another classic strip for all of you who may not have been following us since 2002. I can’t believe it has been close to 15 years already! Maybe it is time for another “Silver Chicken”.

Even though we might find ourselves laughing at Chuck here, the ones among us who fly will know that big airports can be confusing and to some very intimidating. I am the first one to admit I have made the occasional mistake which lead me “down the wrong path” so to speak much to the dismay of the ground controller. But since the conception of this strip, “runway incursions” have become an increasingly bigger deal with the FAA with fines increasing as well. The current penalty for suddenly finding yourself on the wrong runway is a 60 day license suspension according to the AOPA websites we have found.

Most ATC controllers I know rather have you verify your clearance when you are not sure instead of going nose-to-nose with another aircraft. So essentially, Chuck is doing the right thing here (imagine that!).

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10 comments on “Los Angeles Ground instructions
  1. Fbs says:

    Yep, that’s the right thing for once

    Another cessna at milan-linate would have better done the same than start taxiing…

  2. Chuck says:

    Chuck is sitting in the wrong seat he should be in the right seat.

  3. markm says:

    I’m no pilot, but even if I understood all the code names, I sure could not follow those instructions unless they were programmed into a GPS.

  4. Rob de Vries says:

    That is just the same basic joke as is on the cover of Say no more.

  5. mike says:

    You are right, Rob. It IS the same joke only that on Say no More, the pilot has ignored the tower’s instruction and is already airborne, the pilot is not asking any questions and does not seem confused like Chuck is, and the tower does not tie into the “Chuck, is that you?” series….
    But now that I think of it, a lot of our jokes are basically the same in that the tower says something and then Chuck says something funny in return. We have been working with that concept for years now….

    @Chuck: That observation is correct. We get called on it every time we post that strip somewhere. The reason for this are two things: In the beginning of Chicken Wings my brother was confused sometimes because every time he flew with me he was basically sitting in a different seat (a lot of helicopters are flown from the right, and after I became a CFI I often put him in the PIC seat but not always). The other reason is that sometimes Chuck just sits on whatever side he needs to sit on to fit best into the picture/strip. We figure, he is confused so often himself he actually MAY fly the Cessna from the right side. I’m sure he’ll get off the ground just fine after getting over the initial awkwardness of trying to start the motor from the right side 😉

    What I find more interesting is that nobody has ever called us on the fact that these instructions he received will not actually get you all the way to runway 25L at LAX although you’d need to use Bravo if you were parked at the international terminal and would want to get there 😉

  6. Paul D. says:

    Your good up till Foxtrot. Golf and Foxtrot are parallel taxiways. He would need to hold short of 25R. 🙂

  7. A version of cover ‘say no more’?? Perhaps, but as Mike says each cartoon by Stefan or ton of or whoever is often a personal interpretation of a certain basic joke. About confusing ground control instructions I can easily show 10 different cartoons by 5 or more cartoonists. Starting with Bob Stevens in the 1950s…….So, good joke, good cartoon, good dialogue!!

  8. mike says:

    HA! As always, I was just messing around. I understand that different artists can come up with the same idea and/or be influenced by what they saw in the past. When we drew this strip we hadn’t even heard of “Say No More” before. Yet I’ve already had plenty of awkward conversations with different towers at that point 😉
    Thanks for the kind words, Martin!

    We do follow strict guidelines when we come up with 3 panel strips. One chicken says something then the other responds and at the end either Chuck or Julio get a punchline. It’s a tough job but somebody HAS to do it 🙂
    LOL

  9. Jan Olieslagers says:

    I think Chuck is lucky to fly at such a big airport at all – over here, the fees (plus mandatory handling) would be prohibitively expensive. Something like 400 € at nearby EBBR, or so I understand.

  10. Rick says:

    Chuck looks pretty serious and professional in this older strip.
    Looks like he has de-matured over the years since…

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