Not So Lucke (Gate)

I completely forgot about this until this evening, when John asked me to take a picture of “LUCKE GATE” on the Washington Terminal Chart.

As we were fueling up the airplane on Sunday, John kept getting “diverted” notices from FlightAware.com, where we both have alerts set up based on our tail number (so I know where he’s headed…. “just in case”).  We weren’t sure why, since he hadn’t actually filed a full flight plan; just a “VFR ADIZ” plan.

Around 5pm Sunday evening, John got a call from the FAA.  They wanted to know where we were and if we were ok.  Apparently the FSS entered his exit point as “LUCKY” instead of “LUCKE”.  FlightAware was sending “diverted” notices because the Washington Center system was looking for our plane, even though it had exited the proper point at “LUCKE GATE”.  They were waiting for a handoff from Potomac Tracon that never came, and were fully expecting us to continue on to … get this… Las Vegas, home of “LUCKY”.

So, how did this happen?  When we were ready to depart KGED Sunday morning, John discovered that he couldn’t access the DUATS website from the FBO, so he called a Flight Service Station (FSS), which was staffed by Lockheed Martin.  The employee who took the request likely spelled “LUCKE” the way they thought it should be spelled instead of using the published name, and then didn’t notice that “LUCKY” is not only not one of the eight approved ADIZ exit points, but doesn’t even exist anywhere near the ADIZ (which only covers Washington and Baltimore).   We’re not in any trouble, but I can imagine that the guy who answered the phone is probably being re-educated.

How can you keep this from happening to you?

• Whenever possible, filing online via DUATS should be your number one choice.
• When you have to file over the phone, carefully spell out everything, and ask for the person you’re talking to to spell it back.  Be aware of names that can be confusingly similar.
• If you call the FSS toll-free number, you could get anyone, anywhere in the country — including someone who isn’t actually familliar with the ADIZ.  Call a local FSS using their direct number, which you can look up here, courtesy of AOPA (this is the kind of helpful stuff that your dues helps to pay for — so pay your dues!).
• Set up an alert for your tail number on FlightAware.com — it will be the canary in the coal mine when things are amiss.

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