communicating with the airport

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stapler101

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stapler101
As a new pilot I don't suffer "mic fright" but I am overwhelmed by the many different contact options.
Can someone point me to reading material that helps me understand when to contact the tower vs. ground control vs. delivery etc.

thanks
 
stapler101 said:
As a new pilot I don't suffer "mic fright" but I am overwhelmed by the many different contact options.
Can someone point me to reading material that helps me understand when to contact the tower vs. ground control vs. delivery etc.

thanks
Click to expand...

Do you have a pretty good handle on Chapters 3, 4 & 5 of the AIM?


Trapper John
 
Find some Class D and Class C airport towers on LiveATC.net and listen to those as well. You can repeat some of the pilot calls and eventually they'll become pretty comfortable to you. When you get back to real thing, you may still be a little nervous but don't let it stop you from trying.

Most controllers are pretty good about the stumbles. Don't let the speed intimidate you. Say it at your pace. Be patient with yourself while learning. Don't force yourself to speak faster than you're ready to. Controllers would rather know they heard you correctly than try to interpret something badly tongue-tied. As time goes on, the communication and terms will become more comfortable and you'll feel more natural at it.

Keep in mind, there are professional pilots out there who still stumble on occasion. No one's perfect all the time. Even the best among them stumble now and then. Just do what you're capable of and relax.

As for the software and books, I can't say anything about them as I've never used them nor known anyone who did. I have heard good things about the software so that may very well be an option for you if expense isn't an issue. Either way, add to that with immersion into the real thing either as a passive listener or during your actual operations. You'll get there with some patience.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I will get the book ordered.
I am looking for the software squawk vfr and comm1 (used). I posted a wanted notice in the for sale forum here.

thanks again
 
common sense order of priority:
AWOS, ASOS or ATIS
Clearance
ground
tower

Do all available in that order.
 
jmaynard said:
...but if the ATIS says to do something else, follow those instructions.
Click to expand...


And that default order only applies to departures. Arrivals have a different sequence:

ATIS
Approach (if applicable)
Tower (when handed off)
Ground
 
Here's how I would put it:

1. Always start by obtaining the correct weather information. At tower-controlled fields, this is generally an ATIS. Pilot-controlled fields (aka uncontrolled) will often have an AWOS or ASOS.

2. For the following, if you're departing go top to bottom, arriving go bottom to top:

Class D:
Ground
Tower

Class B or C:
Clearance (only when departing)
Ground
Tower
TRACON (either Departure or Approach, as appropriate)

Note that a class D that's within the area of a C or B may be a little more like the C or B procedure. For example, if you're flying into KADS Addison, TX they'll want you to contact DFW Approach for sequencing before you contact the tower. The ATIS probably mentions that, though.

Anywhere else, you'll be talking to Center.

2. For weather information out of the area of an airport, you talk to "Radio" which is Flight Service.

Hope that simplifies it a bit. For examples of what to say to each of these, use the search function to find previous threads on radio communication - I know we have 'em!
 
I'll point out something else out here. A few weeks back I took off from Morristown airport (KMMU). It's right under the NY Bravo, and is considered a class D. It has Clearance, Ground, Tower. Working it like I work standard airports with that setup, I called clearance (VFR flight) to be told "Oh, we don't have anything on file for you, you should have just called ground first." Meanwhile, I got yelled at once for doing the reverse (which was legitimately wrong).

So, in other words, understand that each airport may have the way it does things. I've found a number of airports where convention is slightly different from standard. If you follow standard procedure, though, you're pretty much good to go, even if you may from time to time sound like you're out of place to locals.
 
This is all great info!
thanks for all replies.

mike
 
Ted DuPuis said:
So, in other words, understand that each airport may have the way it does things. I've found a number of airports where convention is slightly different from standard. If you follow standard procedure, though, you're pretty much good to go, even if you may from time to time sound like you're out of place to locals.
Click to expand...

There's another variable from airport to airport. Some want you to get the ATIS before calling clearance and report the ATIS ID to CD on your first call but at some places CD doesn't care about the ATIS and expects you to report that to ground instead. If you don't know which is expected it won't hurt to report the ATIS ID to both.

Listen carefully to the ATIS itself as it may contain specific instructions regarding the comm procedures in effect at that airport (at that time). You will also find that most Class D airports underneath Class B don't have a discrete clearance frequency, but some do.

Finally at many airports the positions of clearance and ground are combined especially when things are not busy so don't be surprised if you get taxi instructions from clearance.
 
Excellent point, Lance. Listening to the ATIS first is always a good move and likely provides necessary information.
 
Oh, and one more thing: Don't think of it as "communicating with the airport" because that's more than a little intimidating. You're communicating with a living, breathing, imperfect, human being. I've heard that a lot of people start doing better on the radio after they visit the tower and really see this for themselves, so maybe you could give that a try. :yes:
 
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