Why do pilots say.......(uncontrolled)

[NJP_MAN]

"N12345 Is taking/clear of the ACTIVE (followed by rnwy #)" ?. Is there really an active runway when it's uncontrolled? What might be a good runway to me might not be so much for you, so are there multiple actives?

 

[Jim Logajan]

In retrospect the glider training I did at a private airfield where we had no radio was quiet bliss. No engine noise. No radio chatter.

If I must engage in radio chatter when I fly an airplane these days, I try to keep it informative. Even when I flew to 00S (McKenzie Bridge, OR) and 8S3 (Santiam Junction, OR) where you must land to the east and take off to the west, and there typically isn't another aircraft for miles, I still name the runway numbers:

"McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction] traffic, Cessna six two hotel landing runway 6, McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction]."

"McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction] traffic, Cessna six two hotel clear of runway 6, McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction]."

"McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction] traffic, Cessna six two hotel back-taxiing runway 24, McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction]."
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[/SIZE][/FONT]"McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction] traffic, Cessna six two hotel departing runway 24, McKenzie Bridge [Santiam Junction]."

I'm nothing if not pedantic. Now back to work for me - someday I'll get weather and enough free time to coincide to actually fly rather than post to PoA.
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[Jim Logajan]

The 1996 Quincy,IL commuter crash is a good illustration why being concise in communications at a non-towered field is a good idea.

You mean this accident?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Express_Flight_5925

As best I can tell, among the many things that might have changed the outcome, one would have been for the pilot of the Cherokee to not transmit when another aircraft was being asked his intentions, another would have been for the King Air pilot to have been properly monitoring and responding to the CTAF.

"X traffic, Y clear of [the] active[, X]" and "X traffic, Y clear of R[, X]" are so close in time consumption that the difference is never going to be causal to anything.

 

[Jim Logajan]

But only when you are over Macho Grande.

I don't think I'll ever be over Macho Grande.