RENNURPP, Bob et al,
If you were at a holding point at a CTAF, and saw the preceding aircraft take off and had visible flame coming out the exhaust, would you point that out to them on frequency? Or by your logic of 'I've got a licence therefore I don't need your help' you wouldn't bother because you'd think they'd know by their engine instruments and/or fire alert systems? I'll echo the birds on final statement made before. I'd dare say you've thanked a preceding aircraft for giving you a heads up of the bird activity on short final rather than biting their heads off because 'I know better'.
Like I and others have said before it's just a friendly 'just be aware' statement. No way are we implying that when we hear a take off roll call preceding a bigger aircraft's departure within 2 minutes and we jump on the horn and say 'tisk tisk! you should know better Mr Cessna'.
My company issued a memo to crew a while ago, outlining the considerations we need to look at re. wake turbulence at smaller aerodromes with light aircraft about. Apparently other smaller operators had made specific mention of how much the wake the Q400 produces and took that to the company. So that's just our way of mitigating an incident like this one:
Investigation: 199401475 - Turbulence/windshear/microburst involving a Mooney Aircraft Corp M20J, VH-LOB, Wagga Wagga, NSW on 6 June 1994
I would hazard a guess that other regional airlines would have received the same flack.
Fuel-Off
