Say Again, Please: Flying and Hearing

If you don’t think hearing is important, try flying IFR into Chicago Bravo Airspace some afternoon. We were slated to land at Midway taking the OHHMY transition on the ENDEE SIX ARRIVAL. I dutifully plugged in all that info into my trusty Garmin 430, and felt I might be on top of things.

No sooner had the buttons cooled than TRACON proceeded to reroute me not one but two times. More button pushing and a few steep turns. Finally I was instructed to “follow the Airbus on final.” Not high tech, but it worked. Bottom line, flying in our complex airspace, ATC often issues complex instructions at th...