Barry McDay was easily bored. His instructing job at The Flying Circus kept him busy but he also worked as an air traffic controller in the local tower. The Circus Airport was not the world's busiest. There were no scheduled flights. The tower staff had to be content with handling training flights until they built enough seniority to move to a larger airport.

Henry, Ray and I were booked for lessons on the school airplanes one morning. All three students were scheduled for take-off and landing practise at the airport. Barry was working in the control tower.

Ray and his student went first in the Cessna 172, C-LUFT. They called for taxi instructions for circuits. The wind was calm. Barry assigned them Runway 06. Henry and I followed closely behind in the two Cherokees. Barry gave us Runway 06 as well. The three aircraft taxied out and were given take-off clearances at intervals to provide adequate separation. There was no other traffic.

The Circus Airport had three runways forming a triangle: 06/24, 01/19 and 10/28. The layout was a legacy of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan from World War II. The three strips of asphalt gave the airport six runways counting each in two directions.

Barry called Henry when his Cherokee was number two behind Ray on the downwind leg for Runway 06.

"Charlie Uniform Sierra, Circus Tower, the winds are calm. If you'd like your own runway for circuits, you are now on a base leg for Runway 10."

There was a slight pause. "Sure," Henry's student replied. "We'll take Runway 10."

"Charlie Uniform Sierra, keep it in tight, you're cleared touch and go Runway 10."

"Charlie Uniform Sierra."

"Uniform Foxtrot Tango," Barry said to Ray's airplane, "you're number one for Runway 06, traffic ahead on the touch and go on Runway 10."

"Uniform Foxtrot Tango."

"Lima Alpha November Delta." Barry was calling my student and me in our other Cherokee. "The wind is calm, would you like your circuits on Runway 01?"

"Affirmative," I told my student to say.

"Alpha November Delta, roger, turn left now to put you on a downwind leg for Runway 01, you're number one for that runway, traffic on the touch and go Runways 10 and 06."

"Alpha November Delta."

By flying circuits on separate runways, the three aircraft crossed the other two twice during each five-minute circuit. Barry had set it up so we were spaced properly to cross paths at different times during our landing practice and at different altitudes when crossing in the air. The arrangement gave each student more landings. We didn't have to extend to follow another aircraft. It made the lessons more interesting for the instructors and the radio work kept Barry six times as busy.

"Foxtrot Tango, cleared touch and go Runway 06."

"Foxtrot Tango."

"November Delta, expect your clearance shortly for Runway 01, traffic crossing left to right on Runway 24."

"November Delta."

After a couple of circuits, my student was catching on to watching in all directions for the other traffic. Barry called us when we were climbing out from a touch and go.

"November Delta, Circus tower, the wind is calm, will you accept teardrop circuits on Runway 01/19?"

Teardrop circuits involved taking off, leveling at 500 feet, turning around and landing on the same runway in the opposite direction. Barry was upping the ante on his anti-boredom exercise considerably. Teardrop circuits more than doubled the takeoff and landing practice per hour. Each airplane would be crossing the paths of the other two every two minutes.

I told my student to say, "Affirmative."

"Teardrop circuits on 01/19 approved November Delta, I'll tell you when to start the turnaround."

"November Delta."

"Foxtrot Tango, will you accept teardrop circuits on Runway 10/28? The winds are calm."

"Foxtrot Tango, affirmative."

“Foxtrot Tango, roger, you're cleared touch and go Runway 10 for teardrop circuits on 10/28. I'll call the turnaround for Runway 28."

"Foxtrot Tango."

Barry gave Henry and his student the same offer for Runway 06/24. They accepted. By calling the turnarounds, Barry had some control over the separation of the three airplanes. This helped the pilots since we would have our backs to the airport half the time.

"November Delta, start your turn now, you're number one for Runway 19, traffic crossing right to left on Runways 10 and 06."

"November Delta."

"Foxtrot Tango, cleared touch and go on Runway 06. You'll see traffic left to right off Runway 10. I'll call the turn around after you take off."

"Foxtrot Tango."

Illustration by Francois Bougie

And so it went. Barry kept up a continuous flow of clearances and advisories. He was doing a marvelous job of timing our turns so the student pilots could practise normal departures and approaches without worrying about the other traffic. The control tower was located on the south side of the airport and had no radar. Barry was orchestrating this web of circuits from a two-dimensional vertical view.

Ray was operating on the longest runway. He decided to test Barry's limits.

"Foxtrot Tango requests a double touch and go."

"Multiple landings on Runway 24 approved Foxtrot Tango. I'll call the turn on the climbout."

"Foxtrot Tango."

Henry and I joined in.

"November Delta requests stop and go on this one tower," I said.

"November Delta is cleared a full stop on Runway 01, I'll advise the go. Check traffic crossing ahead on Runway 10."

"November Delta with the traffic."

"Uniform Sierra, we'd like to practise a simulated engine failure after takeoff," Henry said.

"Approved, Uniform Sierra, I'll call the turnaround on your climbout."

"Uniform Sierra."

"November Delta, you're cleared for takeoff Runway 01."

"November Delta."

Barry took the variations in stride. Ray turned the heat up further. When Barry called his next turnaround, he took over control of the aircraft from the student, did a steep turn and kept his speed up on the approach.

Barry saw it coming.

"Foxtrot Tango, cleared full stop Runway 06. I'll advise the takeoff, traffic crossing right to left on Runway 28."

"Foxtrot Tango."

Henry pulled the same stunt on his next turnaround. I had my student extend full flaps and slow to minimum approach speed to compound the problem Henry was creating.

Barry handled it.

"Foxtrot Tango, cleared for takeoff Runway 06, I'll advise the turnaround, no reply required, break, break, Uniform Sierra, you're cleared full stop on Runway 10."

"Uniform Sierra."

"November Delta, start your turnaround now for Runway 19."

"November Delta."

The three of us tried every combination of tight turns and slow approaches to mix Barry up. It was a clear day so we knew we could avoid each other visually. We made a game out of trying to force Barry to lose control of the situation and issue an overshoot clearance to at least one of us. Ray found the way.

"Uniform Sierra, start your turnaround now for Runway 28," Barrie radioed to me.

"Foxtrot Tango," Ray replied.

"Foxtrot Tango, that was for Uniform Sierra."

Ray turned anyway.

"November Delta, you're cleared touch and go Runway 19."

"Foxtrot Tango."

“Foxtrot Tango, that was not for you. Foxtrot Tango fly a 360 degree turn for spacing and re-establish yourself on final."

Ray ignored the instruction and kept coming.

"Foxtrot Tango, cleared touch and go," Ray said.

"Negative Foxtrot Tango, you're not cleared touch and go. Foxtrot Tango, pull up and go around, conflicting traffic on Runways 19 and 28."

Ray had his student start an overshoot.

"Foxtrot Tango," he replied. I could hear the smile in his deep voice.

Barry got the last laugh.

"I'll advise the turnaround for Runway 06, Foxtrot Tango," he said to Ray.

"Foxtrot Tango."

It was the end of an hour, time for all of us to do a full stop. Following Ray's missed approach and a touch and go for both Henry and I, Barry had us all flying away from the airport waiting for turnaround instructions. The tower frequency was silent. I tested the squelch on my radio. It worked. The volume was up.

"Circus tower, November Delta ready to turnaround for a full stop on Runway 01."

There was no reply.

Ray tried it. "Foxtrot Tango requests a full stop on Runway 06."

No reply.

Barry had one over on us now. We were stuck explaining to our students that our fooling around had turned their circuit lesson into a cross-country flight.

Henry pretended that he had cleared the five-mile control zone and turned around. "Circus tower, Uniform Sierra is approaching the zone from the west, landing Circus."

"Uniform Sierra is cleared straight in to Runway 10, the wind is calm. Call one mile final."

Ray and I tried the same thing and were given straight-in approaches to Runways 06 and 01. The timing had the three of us arriving at the airport at the same time. Barry said nothing about the conflicts. We called one mile on final within a few seconds of each other. Barry didn't reply. Now he had us pointed at each other with no clearances or instructions.

"Ray," I said on the frequency, "I'll overshoot high, you overshoot low and Henry can do a climbing left turn."

The reply was a big squeal on the radio indicating two pilots were transmitting at once. I repeated my instruction and added, "Ray you reply first." He did.

"Is that all right with you, Henry?"

"Affirmative."

It was a good lesson on the importance of the control tower in a traffic conflict situation.

"Have you guys had enough?" Barry asked on the frequency.

The reply was a loud squeal on his receiver when the three of us transmitted, "Affirmative," at the same time.