Golfer, in this clip the ATC and a JB pilot (im noticing a lot of JB clips) get into a arugment over speed when nearing approach. Since the charts only say expect and are not assigned is the ATC wrong for not assigning airspeed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul7Yg5PmUZA&feature=related
If the JBU wasn't assigned CAMRN at 11,000 and 250 knots (it's very common to be given the altitute without the speed) then they're not obligated to do it. Typically in that situation most jets will continue to go fast because I'd rather hum along at 320-330kts than 250 when I can (or 320 if this guy was an E190). If they were coming up the CAMRN arrival into JFK they probably had a good tailwind pushing them and you can get going quite a bit faster for vertical planning which would require you to either slow down or have a higher than comfortable vertical speed meeting your crossing restriction. I don't know why there were at 220 I don't even know where they were in relation to any fixes but the guy behind them sure as hell wasn't at 250 knots either if there was a 100 knot difference between groundspeeds. Like I said it seems that the NY Center guys weren't issuing speed restrictions over CAMRN so JBU went slow and the airplane behind them went fast and the approach controller didn't catch it in time hence his grumpy demeanor.
I'm led to think that they were not given a speed restriction just as the airplane behind them wasn't given one and for whatever reason JBU went slow while the airplane behind went fast. There are numerous factors possible including being light on fuel and wanting to fly efficiently so they don't cut into their legal reserve. There's no way to really know why from just the tape. That said, like the JBU pilot on the radio said "assign a speed, sir."
The controller was out of line for his little blowup and for letting airplanes following one another get 5 miles apart with a 100 knot overtake in the first place. There are some damn fine NY Approach controllers out there, there are a lot of trainees and there are their share of bad ones. We all have our days but one of my peeves is lax radio discipline. Sounding like a trucker on a CB, acting like a child and whining on the radio among them. Lots of guys get away with it in the domestic USA but when they take those habits overseas where English is not someones first language it causes all sorts of issues.
You'll hear a lot of JBU clips because they fly a lot into JFK which have some of the most monitored ATC frequencies out there. There are also a lot of things that are not big deals that spotter geeks get off on and like to talk about so you'll see those out there too.
Oh, CAP...Philly sucks on a good day. A few weeks ago they had the piston twin gear-up on 26 and they threw in a ground stop program which caused all sorts of issues when none of their primary airline runways were affected. If there's a cloud over Harrisburg they'll want 20 miles in-trail in every direction, the terminal designed with their alleys so that only 2 airplanes can start up at a time and also not allow any airplanes in to the gate is a masterpiece of inefficiency and the art of sequencing traffic to land on 35/27R crossing runways isn't quite mastered yet by all parties involved which results in a lot of go-arounds. The candy store in C terminal made these little chocolate covered cookie dough things that make good christmas gifts as well as gate agent and flight attendant appeasers however. That's about the extent of good things I have to say about that airport.
