Talking on the radio improvements

[eman1200]

....and if you know an experienced pilot (or CFI but you know how the want money and whatnot...) who'd be willing to play atc with you and go over some realworld scenarios, that'd be very helpful.

...If I am picking up flight following at my airport it might go like this:

Exec. Tower this is Skyhawk N25XXX at Ambassador with Kilo, requesting Flight Following to KSAT at 4500, ready to taxi...

while I did make the recommendation to find a pilot to play atc, I should mention that you can also pick up bad habits like saying "this is..." and requesting taxi on initial call before you've even received FF. saying "this is" is completely unnecessary, makes you sound like a 5 year old talking on a CB radio* (I know, right?), isn't recommended anywhere I've ever seen, and is just poor form. while requesting taxi on initial call may work at some fields, at others where you have a clearance freq and a ground freq it won't and you should just learn the proper way from the get go and not this poor form. requesting taxi on your readback call would be the better option than the one stated above.


*yes, when I was 5 I was at my cousins house and he had a CB radio for some reason. he gave me the handle of "funny face" (because......I have a funny face) and I would call people saying "this if funny face, 10-4, what's your 20?"

 

[Walboy]

I should mention that you can also pick up bad habits like saying "this is..." and requesting taxi on initial call before you've even received FF. saying "this is" is completely unnecessary,

saying "this is" used to be standard phraseology in USN radio coms, at least back in my day mid 80s. I still say it because it's so ingrained, so I guess I sound like a 5 year old.

 

[eman1200]

saying "this is" used to be standard phraseology in USN radio coms, at least back in my day mid 80s. I still say it because it's so ingrained, so I guess I sound like a 5 year old.

Nah, when you say it it’s fine.

 

[RyanShort1]

while I did make the recommendation to find a pilot to play atc, I should mention that you can also pick up bad habits like saying "this is..." and requesting taxi on initial call before you've even received FF. saying "this is" is completely unnecessary, makes you sound like a 5 year old talking on a CB radio* (I know, right?), isn't recommended anywhere I've ever seen, and is just poor form. while requesting taxi on initial call may work at some fields, at others where you have a clearance freq and a ground freq it won't and you should just learn the proper way from the get go and not this poor form. requesting taxi on your readback call would be the better option than the one stated above.


*yes, when I was 5 I was at my cousins house and he had a CB radio for some reason. he gave me the handle of "funny face" (because......I have a funny face) and I would call people saying "this if funny face, 10-4, what's your 20?"

Ok, you caught me. But you also managed to do what often also happens on the radio, expending 90% more transmission time to correct a 5% slip.

 

[RyanShort1]

requesting taxi on your readback call would be the better option than the one stated above.

Except of course if your local controllers prefer it and it saves a second radio transmission. I think sometimes the extra “this is” is also to get their attention early in the morning when they often miss the first few words of our transmission.

 

[Palmpilot]

You can learn a lot by listening to radio calls. Go to www.liveatc.net and select a location that is moderately busy. Avoid the big ones; they will just confuse you with rapid-fire calls. A Class C airport, maybe one not far from you, will be useful. Just enjoy a beverage and listen for an hour or two when you have time. It will do wonders.

This helped me, although in my case I had to buy a scanner to listen because it was long before LiveATC.net existed.

 

[Palmpilot]

...I tell them just talk like they would be talking to a bartender....

"Last call."

 

[Gary Ward]

I didn't read every reply so if I am repeating I apologize.

I bought a handheld radio and sat in my truck at the airport before and after training and listened to it and then repeating what I heard on the radio to myself out loud in my truck. I helped me a bunch and was worth the cost of the handheld that I still carry in my plane today.
I learned to fly at a class delta airport which I think gave me an advantage over a student pilot that didn't have to talk to the tower just to taxi.

 

[Palmpilot]

Remember you don't have to read back exactly what you heard.

This brings up one of my pet peeves. In recent years, students in my area are apparently being taught to read back every single word, which goes well beyond what the AIM recommends, and WAY beyond what my home airport's ATIS instructs us to do*. At a super-busy airport like mine, it chews up a lot of airtime, leading everyone to talk really fast.

*What the ATIS here says on this subject is "Read back all runway assignments and hold-short instructions."

The AIM has additional recommendations, such as this from section 4-4-7:

b. ATC Clearance/Instruction Readback. Pilots of airborne aircraft should read back those parts of ATC​

clearances and instructions containing altitude assignments, vectors, or runway assignments as a means of​

mutual verification. The read back of the “numbers” serves as a double check between pilots and controllers and​

reduces the kinds of communications errors that occur when a number is either “misheard” or is incorrect.​

​

1. Include the aircraft identification in all readbacks and acknowledgments. This aids controllers in​

determining that the correct aircraft received the clearance or instruction. The requirement to include aircraft​

identification in all readbacks and acknowledgements becomes more important as frequency congestion​

increases and when aircraft with similar call signs are on the same frequency.​

​

EXAMPLE−​

“Climbing to Flight Level three three zero, United Twelve” or “November Five Charlie Tango, roger, cleared to land runway​

nine left.”​

​

2. Read back altitudes, altitude restrictions, and vectors in the same sequence as they are given in the​

clearance or instruction.​

​

3. Altitudes contained in charted procedures, such as DPs, instrument approaches, etc., should not be read​

back unless they are specifically stated by the controller.​

​

4. Initial read back of a taxi, departure or landing clearance should include the runway assignment,​

including left, right, center, etc. if applicable.​

There's also this from section 4-3-18a:

9. When taxi instructions are received from the controller, pilots should always read back:​

(a) The runway assignment.​

(b) Any clearance to enter a specific runway.​

(c) Any instruction to hold short of a specific runway or line up and wait.​

In addition, there are some readback requirements for "land and hold short clearances" (LAHSO) in section 4-3-11.