Radio Clarity

[dmccormack]

Yesterday my student pilot and I flew to a local "Intense student pilot activity" airfield.

That's usually not a problem, but at this field it seemed everyone wanted to sound like an airline Captain at Kennedy with the quick, clipped chatter that runs all words together.

That's fine when an FO is reading back a clearance and both know what's supposed to be said, but when itinerant traffic is trying to enter a pattern and all you can make out on the radio is "threesieerachachooshuuufield" it takes a while to fit in.

There's no reason to RUSH the transmission if it's unintelligible. It's even more important for foreign students to speak slowly (I think some of these students were rushing to get it over with).

The accent may be difficult to pick through on the first listen, and so speaking more slowly will help others understand and help reduce the total time on the radio (avoiding about three sessions of "Say agains?" per transmission).

Use of local landmarks without standard references also don't help ("Over the Walmart" coupled with "Left downwind" may help me know where you are -- "Over Cubby's" tells me nothing).

We picked up our PAX and gave them a sightseeing ride and then returned to the airport. The combination of "overflyingthenumberszerotree" and "righttwentyfivehunnertnumber 2" (Number two behind who?) made it less then comfortable.

Only after positive visual ID (which had NO relationship to what was being said on the radio) did I let my student join the pattern. It was a lesson in good operating practice to visually verify and good experience for him, but it was still unwarranted confusion.

After we dropped off the PAX we hightailed it out of there.

And if you think I'm picking on foreign students, I'm not. My first language is French --it's not about foreigners -- it's about all pilots being clear and concise on the radio to help maintain separation and situational awareness.

I'll stop now before I mention the Space Shuttle patterns those students were flying.....


It was my student's first 6 mile final....

 

[Ted]

Yep, I'll take slow and clear any day over rushed and unintelligible.

For me it's taken a bit to be able to understand center/approach/tower when whoever is talking to me is speaking fast, and those people actually know what they're saying. For a student (I include myself in that category), it is less likely that you know exactly what you're saying. It is another language, and clear communication is important.

I tend to get annoyed at tower/whoever when they use local landmarks, because they'll do it for everyone. Flying into and out of IPT, "the mall" is a frequent reference, so is "Maynard St. bridge". If you aren't from the area, it means nothing. When I flew into FRG a month or so back, they also told me to report "the mall." Duh... I have no idea where the mall is. I responded with however many miles out I was instead, and that I wasn't from the area.

 

[sba55]

Another good thing about IFR. Unlike VFR, everything is standardized, so everyone knows what to expect.

 

[ErikU]

The local references used by tower save time when 90% of the traffic knows the area. If you don't just say "unfamiliar" and they will change it to something that you will understand.

 

[dmccormack]

The local references used by tower save time when 90% of the traffic knows the area. If you don't just say "unfamiliar" and they will change it to something that you will understand.

At an uncontrolled field, incomprehensible pronunciation of dubious landmark references save no time for anyone.

"Did he say 'Wal-Mart' or 'parking lot'?"