In almost every Kennedy Steve clip he’s directing traffic to “cross 22 Right Shortened” or “31L shortened”. A bit of googling reveals “shortened” means part of the runway is temporarily closed. But, he uses it that way in almost every clip I’ve come across, so I suspect there must be some other meaning. Is it shortened because they’re only being cleared to use a portion of the runway (as they cross from one side to another)?
Would you care to offer more context for this question? I for one haven’t a clue as to what you’re talking about.
Apparently he’s a popular air traffic controller (who knew there were popular ATCs?) with several youtube videos John F. Kennedy International Airport - Wikipedia
I think JFK has just had a lot of construction work going on in recent years.
For example, poking around on google I found this:
Note that the article mentions several phases of construction.
I also recall Steve saying shortened only to have a pilot questioning it, and Steve admitted that it was a mistake and he was just used to saying shortened because it had been shortened for so long. So apparently the construction work had finally completed on that runway.
Kennedy Steve retired a while back, so any audio you are hearing on youtube is several years old.
For those who don’t know the context, Kennedy Steve is a popular air traffic controller on youtube due to his frequent humorous remarks, like “Qantas 12, follow the single engine Cessna, caution propwash.” He worked at JFK for many years until finally retiring.
Thank you. Yes, Kennedy Steve is an air traffic controller at JFK airport. He’s developed a following for his clever quips when directing ground traffic. For example, when one tug was going to slow he remarked “super tug? I think we should call you mediocre tug instead.” In another video he had to repeat himself because a pilot was chuckling too hard over the first part of a comment to hear the last part. Here’s a video where he says “31 left shortened”. KENNEDY STEVE: Sneaky pilot tries to jump the line!! - YouTube
On a related note, can somebody explain the runway designations there? It has 2 physical runways running perpendicular to each other (I managed to find a chart of JFK online a few days ago), but I’ve heard 4 designations, which include “left” and “right”. the numbers aren’t opposite headings (unless I’m misunderstanding the numbers which is VERY likely), and I thought left and right were only used when you had multiple parallel runways.
I don’t know what chart you are looking at, but the images I see online show four runways.
If you don’t believe me, the port authority seems to agree:
https://www.panynj.gov/air-cargo/jfk-runways.html
This picture has each runway marked at each end:
https://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/profiles/media/JFK-Airport-Capacity-Profile-2014.pdf
This chart shows all of the taxiways as well as the runways. You can use this if you want to see exactly where Steve is routing the planes.
I see some pictures online showing six runways, but I think those are for proposed expansion.
If you don’t understand the numbers, runway 4 points at 40 degrees, and if you come at it the other way it is runway 22, or 220 degrees. There are two parallel runways, so if you are coming at it from one direction they are runways 4L and 4R, and if you are coming at them from the opposite direction they are 22L and 22R. So 4L and 22R are the same runway.
They don’t user zero for runway numbers. They use 36 instead (360 degrees), or runway 18 (180 degrees) if you are looking at it from the opposite end. Runway 36 points directly north, runway 9 points east, 18 south, and 27 west.
When it comes to airport construction, “temporary” can last a long time.
An air traffic controller friend I haven’t seen in a long while explained a term to me years ago which may apply here.
The term was “hold short”. It describes how two intersecting runways may be used at the same time. Many runway patterns are laid out perpendicular with 20 to 30% of the runways occurring after an intersection.
Both the runways can be used at the same time if the aircraft using them are capable of stopping before they reach the intersection. It would take two stopping failures (double contingency) that would put both of the landing craft through the intersection. Couple that with the aircraft landing x seconds apart it would take a third coincidence to cause a collision.
So aircraft are advised to use runway x and hold short while other aircraft are advised to use runway y and hold short. If they can’t comply they respond back that they are unable to hold short and they get reassigned whenever the controller can halt landings on the other runway.
Even a single contingency to not hold short brings a lot of headaches and bad marks upon a pilot so they very much do whatever they can to comply.
“Hold short” simply means “stop before.” If you are told to hold short of Runway 5, it means you are to stop before you come to the runway hold position line (a double-solid and double-dashed yellow line 250 feet from the centerline of the runway). If the controller says to hold short of Taxiway Bravo, you must stop before you get to Bravo.
The term “Land and Hold Short” is for crossing runways. That clearance allows you to land, but you are committing to stopping your aircraft before you reach the 250 foot runway hold position line for the crossing runway.
I have nothing interesting to add, but I found the nickname of the guy amusing because I had a professor in college named Steve Kennedy.
blinks
That’s … ummm … air traffic control humour??
The rest I don’t get, but that would be like cautioning a battleship about a speedboats wake.
Well, yes. It’s not just his quips that make Kennedy Steve popular; it’s his unflappability. Most of his YouTube videos are of him directing ground traffic at JFK; it’s his ability to handle the chaos of one of the world’s busiest airport, while being relaxed enough to make dad jokes, that is the source of his appeal (at least for me). Another of his well-know jokes is his response to a pilot who asked what direction he should face: “Well, don’t face the passengers; that makes them nervous”. I fully admit that Steve’s fame is an odd phenomenon.
I might be getting whooshed, but the humor in the Cessna joke was Steve warning a big jet liner to beware of the turbulence produced by a small single-engine prop plane. It’s like warning a semi about getting knocked off the road by a moped.
That third link is the one I remember looking at. Somehow I totally missed seeing 31R, and 4R. :smack: In my defense, I was mostly focusing on the taxiways and trying to follow the directions from a particular video (which didn’t work because I was thinking the letters referred only to a specific intersection or segment).
Thanks for the help and information all. Feel free to keep posting any tidbits or details about taxiing you think might be interesting to a curious outsider.
“Normal” tugs connect to a fitting on a planes nose gear included just for that purpose.
“Super” tugs actually clamp around the wheel assembly and lift it up. (Here’s a great video of one in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIdirHpDheM).
Nope, no whoosh, just a staggering amount of ignorance in need of instruction 
There is another more serious scenario. If both aircraft conduct a missed approach, there is a fair chance of a loss of separation and possibly a midair collision unless the controller acts fast. An unlikely scenario you would think? It happened in Melbourne, Australia a few years back. No collision but it put a stop to Melbourne LAHSO (Land And Hold Short Operations) for a while.
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2015/aair/ao-2015-084/
FYI: Runway numbers represent the magnetic heading, not the true heading. The direction of runway 9 (or 9L or 9C or 9R) is somewhere between 85 degrees, magnetic, and 95 degrees, magnetic. Runway 9 points to magnetic east, not true east. Occasionally, runway numbers have to be changed as magnetic variations change over time.