Kevin gave me an idea

Timbeck2

Timbeck2

Final Approach
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Timbeck2
I was watching one of @Radar Contact 's videos, the one where he flew into Kansas and although it turned out to be NOT the case, it gave me an idea. Although Kevin knew the departure procedure "like the back of his hand" he had his phone out to look at one of the departure fixes. What I THOUGHT he was doing was texting (nobody) on his phone, hitting the microphone button for the text and recording the full route clearance. He wasn't but now I want to try it. Of course it would have to be on speaker with a quiet airplane or hooked up to the audio somehow.

Anyone else do this? To those who may ask, "How hard is it to copy a clearance?" It isn't. But as a controller and a pilot, I have found that some controllers like to read a clearance as fast as possible and many times have to read it again because the pilot couldn't write as fast as the controller was talking.
 
I thought about connecting my phone to the mic and using a speech to text for clearances but there I don't think it could possibly transcribe it and make it less confusing.
Now I am thinking of just recording it as audio, hitting the PTT and playing it back. Then I can listen to it a few times and figure out what it says.
 
jrcox19 said:
You know a lot of audio panels already do what you're suggesting, right?
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Yep, but mine doesn't. Plus few controllers are going to be patient enough to let you replay the whole clearance and then read it back. Sure as Briany suggests, some of the weird fixes won't translate accurately, but maybe well enough to figure it out. It's only a thought.
 
Timbeck2 said:
I was watching one of @Radar Contact 's videos, the one where he flew into Kansas and although it turned out to be NOT the case, it gave me an idea. Although Kevin knew the departure procedure "like the back of his hand" he had his phone out to look at one of the departure fixes. What I THOUGHT he was doing was texting (nobody) on his phone, hitting the microphone button for the text and recording the full route clearance. He wasn't but now I want to try it. Of course it would have to be on speaker with a quiet airplane or hooked up to the audio somehow.

Anyone else do this? To those who may ask, "How hard is it to copy a clearance?" It isn't. But as a controller and a pilot, I have found that some controllers like to read a clearance as fast as possible and many times have to read it again because the pilot couldn't write as fast as the controller was talking.
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Would be interesting to see if you can figure a way to make that work. I agree about controllers not waiting for you to replay it...my audio panel has the option but I’ve never used it.

In my case, from working there, I figured the computer would give a PDR (preferred departure route...for the non-ATC types) matching the OBENE SID and that’s what I had pulled up on my phone.

You should figure it out, patent it and make some $$ :)
 
Timbeck2 said:
Yep, but mine doesn't. Plus few controllers are going to be patient enough to let you replay the whole clearance and then read it back. Sure as Briany suggests, some of the weird fixes won't translate accurately, but maybe well enough to figure it out. It's only a thought.
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Yeah, those controller guys can really be annoying; can't they?
 
danhagan said:
You'd think they'd come up with a way to just TEXT it to you in the first place ...;):confused::cool:
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ForeFlight will get you the PDC via iPad and you simply press to acknowledge at the busy airports. Will be nice when it rolls to all of the other ones. I rode with a friend in his Baron out of DFW and it works nice.
 
I'm not sure speech-to-text is remotely useful for clearances. Have you seen some of those wonderful click-bait sites full of auto-correct and text recognition fails.

*I was going to post, but most were not family friendly.
 
I went to liveatc.net, played some ATC audio through my speakers to see if phone could properly transcribe it....no dice. The AI needs it to be common phrasing , which pilot lingo is not.
 
Record what they say, play back what they say. You’ll never have to ‘read back’ another clearance again!
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I went to liveatc.net, played some ATC audio through my speakers to see if phone could properly transcribe it....no dice. The AI needs it to be common phrasing , which pilot lingo is not.
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You'd need to create a custom AI model specific for aviation lingo.
 
danhagan said:
You'd think they'd come up with a way to just TEXT it to you in the first place ...;):confused::cool:
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I agree. Even though I'm VFR it would be nice if they could display the message up on my EFIS or GPS along with traffic & weather ...

I also tried the talk to text experiment some months ago with several different apps on my iPhone. Yeah it didn't work out like I planned!
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I went to liveatc.net, played some ATC audio through my speakers to see if phone could properly transcribe it....no dice. The AI needs it to be common phrasing , which pilot lingo is not.
Click to expand...

That's what i figured. Oh well. Keep the videos coming Kevin, I learn something just about every time I watch. I could easily cheat; drive to work, put my clearance in and print out the strip and have it loaded before I even call clearance delivery but that would only work when I left Tucson.
 
My Lightspeed PFX headset supposedly will record using the Lightspeed app if it’s paired to either my IPhone or IPad. I have never tried it. Has anyone tried recording ATC clearance using the Lightspeed app?
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
The AI needs it to be common phrasing , which pilot lingo is not.
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No, its not. But it also wouldn't be hard to create a database of all the published fixes, airport ID's and standard acronyms used in clearances and then teach an AI model to recognize it all.

I bet an enterprising grad student could build an app that could listen to clearances, transcribe them and pars them for you instantly or nearly so. Have the app present the output in such a way that if part of the transcription/readback is incorrect, its easy to tap that part of the clearance and insert the correction.

Add a button that will push the transcribed clearance to your flight planning app once you've verified its correct and I think you'd have an app lots of folks would be willing to pay for.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
No, its not. But it also wouldn't be hard to create a database of all the published fixes, airport ID's and standard acronyms used in clearances and then teach an AI model to recognize it all.

I bet an enterprising grad student could build an app that could listen to clearances, transcribe them and pars them for you instantly or nearly so. Have the app present the output in such a way that if part of the transcription/readback is incorrect, its easy to tap that part of the clearance and insert the correction.

Add a button that will push the transcribed clearance to your flight planning app once you've verified its correct and I think you'd have an app lots of folks would be willing to pay for.
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Yeah, if we can all agree on how a fix should be pronounced. For example here's 5 fixes that sound alike/exact:

DEEER
DEERE
DEERR
DEREE
DERRE

DEERE and DERRE are pretty close in distance (112nm) and so are DEEER and DEREE (142nm)

There's also DEERY, DEARY, and DERRI to add to that list.

DEWAR and DEWOR are only 95nm apart.
 
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I have FlightAware email me the flight plan. Unfortunately it doesn't always include the SID, or Clearance gives me something slightly different. Most of the airports I use don't have a SID, so that issue doesn't come up much. It works the vast majority of the time. So I have the fixes for the flight plan already written down. Then I make minor additions/corrections and add the rest from Clearance; altitudes, departure freq, squawk code.

Yes, a text/email message from ATC would be great. Or something to a device that I could then directly feed into my GPS navigator even better.
 
Now if you could do something like this on the fly, it would just be to much fun.
 
Timbeck2 said:
That's what i figured. Oh well. Keep the videos coming Kevin, I learn something just about every time I watch. I could easily cheat; drive to work, put my clearance in and print out the strip and have it loaded before I even call clearance delivery but that would only work when I left Tucson.
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Thanks Tim, glad you think so! We were just planning a trip to Tucson next month and I was going to see if you wanted to grab a coffee or a beer. COVID just cancelled it unfortunately. Hopefully we can get out that way next year.
 
Radar Contact said:
Thanks Tim, glad you think so! We were just planning a trip to Tucson next month and I was going to see if you wanted to grab a coffee or a beer. COVID just cancelled it unfortunately. Hopefully we can get out that way next year.
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Of course. I wouldn't be here a large part of next month anyway since I'll be deer hunting in upstate NY.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Of course. I wouldn't be here a large part of next month anyway since I'll be deer hunting in upstate NY.
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In my best adolescent Scandinavian voice: "How deer you!"
 
Radar Contact said:
Thanks Tim, glad you think so! We were just planning a trip to Tucson next month and I was going to see if you wanted to grab a coffee or a beer. COVID just cancelled it unfortunately. Hopefully we can get out that way next year.
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did one of you's get the 'rona?
 
Timbeck2 said:
Of course. I wouldn't be here a large part of next month anyway since I'll be deer hunting in upstate NY.
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Good luck! I’ve sat a couple times this year. Let 3 walk. Waiting on one bigger than this one.
image.jpg
 
EdFred said:
Yeah, if we can all agree on how a fix should be pronounced. For example here's 5 fixes that sound alike/exact:

DEEER
DEERE
DEERR
DEREE
DERRE

DEERE and DERRE are pretty close in distance (112nm) and so are DEEER and DEREE (142nm)

There's also DEERY, DEARY, and DERRI to add to that list.

DEWAR and DEWOR are only 95nm apart.
Click to expand...
That's were the grad students would start earning their money: the voice-to-text would narrow down possible fixes, but AI would highlight the most likely fix based on its sequence within the route and/or airways...alerting the user that there may be some fix ambiguity that would need to be clarified with ATC regardless.

I think it would be a neat app but I doubt it would make anyone rich, however. Perhaps a fun pet project for a voice recognition enthusiast/pilot.
 
I don't get how PDC isn't a thing everywhere. It is almost MORE important at small airports.

I do use the playback on my audio panel, but usually to check if I missed a call.
 
N1120A said:
I don't get how PDC isn't a thing everywhere. It is almost MORE important at small airports.

I do use the playback on my audio panel, but usually to check if I missed a call.
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M O N E Y.

LOL.

Besides the gear required in the aircraft (which I’ll grant an EFB could easily handle but won’t ever be allowed ...), the ground equipment ain’t free.
 
denverpilot said:
M O N E Y.

LOL.

Besides the gear required in the aircraft (which I’ll grant an EFB could easily handle but won’t ever be allowed ...), the ground equipment ain’t free.
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PDC is already available through EFBs.
 
N1120A said:
PDC is already available through EFBs.
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True ... kinda. Was thinking more CDPLC functionality. Certified and integrated with the avionics.

Having to type stuff from one to the other is silly.
 
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