Good article on radio communications

ATC communication should be easy. Just read back exactly what they said and fly it, unless it puts your safety at risk. If you need something, be ready to concisely ask for it and communicate it when the frequency permits.

As a pilot, I can't tell you how many times I cringe at blocked frequencies when it is blatantly clear that the crew doing the blocking wasn't listening to the frequency. Just wait. If they need you, they will talk to you. Oh, and it isn't just the small VFR weekend warriors who do that - I hear airline and corporate pilots do it ALL THE TIME.
 
So how do you say ‘bag’ and ‘table’ in German?
 
eman1200 said:
So how do you say ‘bag’ and ‘table’ in German?
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Tute (pronounce toot-uh) and Tisch (pronounced as it looks to an English speaker).

Not sure why the magazine author confused those two words, but it reminds me of a story, from a pilot.

He was in a tiny hotel in Germany, with his wife and two daughters. Americans. And he wanted some more pillows for his room, because they were four people. So in German, he asked the old lady behind the front desk for pillows. This request surprised the lady, and she firmly said no. The pilot then insisted that he really needed her to give him some pillows, because he had a wife in his room, and daughters, too. So he really needed the old lady to give him pillows. This made the old lady blush more, and she dispatched him from her lobby. Only later did he figure out that he had mistakenly asked her for kisses, instead of pillows. These two words were easy to confuse, because they differ phonetically only by a vowel sound, u vs i.
 
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Jason Miller made a great point in one of his videos about comms. If they need you, they'll call you. Don't stink up the frequency by just keying up immediately when switching. Do whatever turning/twisting/programming/whatever you need, and give the frequency a little dead time to cool down. Unless you need something from ATC, like a descent or whatever, just be patient.
 
I have noticed recently GA pilots around Chicago have been cold calling with just their callsign. THANK YOU. Life is much easier when I can get the tail number punched into the computer, and then go back and ask what your intentions are after I take care of a base turn, or get a departure climbing off MDW.

To N1120As point. If you’re IFR, and you get ignored on your check in, don’t sweat it...there might be someone checking in on a different frequency, they might be coordinating with another controller, they might have a critical turn to make in a few seconds...ATC will definitely call you when they need you to do something. On the flip side, there might be a nasty buildup that hasn’t shown up yet on the radar screen as precip; get in there with a request for 20 right or whatever as early as you can so it doesn’t become an imminent situation.

Lastly, to expand upon the article...ATC will sometimes give control instructions to VFRs in class E airspace that might not make sense, or seem overly restrictive...there is ALWAYS a reason for such a thing. Expeditious compliance is always appreciated (when able), and then when the frequency is quiet a “how long do you need this?” if it is vastly different from what you want to be doing. I had a Mooney climbing VFR one morning with flight following toward a long line of ORD arrivals descending to 11,000. I restricted him to 9500’ for about 10 miles (he wanted 11,500). He promptly canceled his flight following, squawked 1200, and then the E175 he said he had in sight when I gave him the 9500’ restriction got an RA as he climbed into it.

At least around Chicago, GA pilots seem to be more patient the last couple of months; whether it’s knowing we are working with fewer controllers, or everyone is just enjoying the nicer weather, I don’t know...but all-in-all I think ATC and GA is working really well together right now, and I hope it continues through the summer.
 
Jmcmanna said:
At least around Chicago, GA pilots seem to be more patient the last couple of months; whether it’s knowing we are working with fewer controllers, or everyone is just enjoying the nicer weather, I don’t know...but all-in-all I think ATC and GA is working really well together right now, and I hope it continues through the summer.
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That's cuz I'm back in town. You're welcome.
 
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