ATC Communications and Radio Basics | Talking to Air Traffic Control 1

LINKS
---------------------------------------------------



FOLLOW US ELSEWHERE
---------------------------------------------------

Purchases made through some links may provide some compensation to Fly With The Guys.

#atc #talktoatc #pilotradios


CHAPTERS
---------------------------------------------------

Corrections
---------------------------------------------------
When using your abbreviated call sign, you should wait to use it until after ATC does. It’s written in the AIM this way in case there are other aircraft in the vicinity with a similar call sign.

[austinb]

For anyone that sees this, just tell ATC that you're a student pilot, and we'll make sure we take care of you

[tinahyder]

I am so happy to know that we can actually tell ATC to speak slower! I feel like I discovered electricity. :-)

[Magictrainer]

On a slight sidenote, when I was starting my first radio transmissions, some 40 years ago, I was daunted by all the complex terms and sequences.
1 little trick, was getting these terms in memory and I would often do this while driving. If I was about to start a trip to work, I would state my intentions out loud in ATC terminology.
My local streets became taxiways and the main road, the runway! (I abbreviated the first letter of the street or road and the compass heading of the main road) using my vehicle rego number, as I was about to depart or arrive, I would even ask for clearances and do a readback. When sitting at traffic lights, I would look at the reg/tag of the car in front and recite it phonetically. It is surprising how quickly your mind adapts to projecting future instructions and listening for phonetically received letters.


It may sound silly, but it really helped out with forward thinking and fluid communication (even after many years, when looking at and remembering from a map, I could navigate in my car, "left on Hotel, right on Bravo, right on Charlie" etc...I identified the street names I needed easily)

[agussigaming]

I work as an ATC and although it happens all the time and no one is offended by it. It actually isn't allowed for the pilot him/herself to abbreviate their callsign. Pilots can only abbreviate the callsign after ATC has done this themselves. If ATC doesn't abbreviate your callsign, you are actually not allowed to do it (according to AIM). It is just that you as a pilot don't know if there might be another acft in the control area with almost the same callsign and then someone can mistake the instructions as to be for him/her.

[heRedBaron]

“Okay buddy. Now a simulated engine failure.” Unsimulated panic attack follows immediately.

[mrAZcardinal]

As a private pilot currently, I will attest that talking to ATC is a little terrifying. They talk so fast sometimes using so many numbers; it's hard to mentally assign meaning to the numbers.

[jamesjanisko]

As a former controller, I very greatly appreciate this video. If it helps, remember that while a pilot may transmit to ground, tower, and ACDC several times in a flight, a single ATC will most likely transmit upwards of 500 times that amount in a single shift. This affords us MUCH more practice in relaying information on the radio. I have caught myself blazing through clearances only to have to repeat myself slower to be understood. It’s not intended to seem superior, though that can be the perception. Typical ATC speech rate is significantly faster than typical pilot speech rate simply by repetition.
To all those learning to fly, I would offer this suggestion: Be clear and concise. The less errrr and uhhh and dead air in your transmissions, usually the quicker you will be received.
Unless you are Mayday or Pan, take a moment to think about what you’re going to say. Say it clear and concise and you will most likely not have to repeat yourself or get flustered. The language of Aviation has been honed to get the most information out of the least words/air time as possible. Take full advantage of that.
One of my biggest pet peeves as ATC was aircraft calling up before they had really figured out what they wanted. I wish you all safe flight with no incidents and as always (unless you’re a helo) check wheels down.

[DeltaCharlieABI]

As an ATC'er for 13 years and CFI for four, may I share a few pet peeves. Sometimes you just read back "six zero zero". Please, please, please, always use your aircraft type. Cessna or Skyhawk, I don't care, but that does many things. One, it puts your student into the habit. The tower may know what you are, but when you go to a non-towered field, it gives situational awareness to whoever else is on the frequency. Secondly, the controller must read back your type or November. If you don't do it, you are setting up the controller to break a rule. It is broken all day long every day, but it is a rule (2-4-20). Finally, you are not supposed to go to the last three until the controller does. Also broken daily, but another rule. I have a much longer list of pet peeves. For anyone out here, visit your local tower and ask them for their pet peeves. They may be different, they may be locally specific, but I'm sure they have them. Build good habits from day one, please!

[DIYOneForAll]

I am not even a student pilot and still enjoyed watching this video.

[CramcrumBrewbringer]

I did my first traffic pattern with radio calls yesterday. Needless to say I messed it up immediately by hot micing while taking off. And it didn’t matter at all. I think it’s important to know that you WILL mess up, and that’s just something you’ll get better at over time.

[flywiththeguys]

Hey Guys! I know this is a long one, but there's lots of great information in it. Hope you like it! Please let me know what you would like to see on our channel. I've got a good list going and want to make it longer! THANKS!

[daffiid]

"Don't feel stupid" ... that was some great advice.
I have wanted to be a pilot all my life and decided to start making the dream into reality by joining a student gliding club while I'm in university. The mentality in this club, however, is not constructive at all and I (am made to) feel stupid in everything I do, both during instructed flights and on the ground. Even though I really and seriously want to learn. This has really drained motivation to pursue flight. It has made me question whether I will encounter this in the entire aviation industry and whether I'm really suited for aviation or if I've been fooling myself about it my whole life.
Seeing the amazingly enthusiastic, supportive, constructive aviation community on channels like this one restores hope!

[foesfly]

A pilot who can keep up with, understand and communicate accurately with the controllers at Deer Valley, you can fly anywhere in the world. I operate out of Mesa Falcon Field and I love my controllers for actually enunciating words and not spewing words at the cadence of a county auctioneer. Thanks for the video. Other life matters have prevented my flying for about a year and this has been a good refresher.

[paulele]

This is literally the only part of getting my private license I find intimidating, because my school is based at a main airport. Having to jockey for space to talk and such to ATC between 767 and airbus pilots is freaking me out. Thank you so much for this video!!

[thomaswells]

"recommend saying them out loud... To build muscle memory" so true. Countless times sadly where I've pressed the radio button and then stuttered trying to think of what to say!

[aacuna]

For me communications was by far the hardest thing. Had a lot of trouble understanding. Sounded like a whole bunch of static and mumbo jumbo.

[scsirob]

One more tip; Don't rush your readback. No problem to take a few seconds before readback. Use some shorthand to jot down the information you received, then read back from the notes. That way the information doesn't fade from short-term memory by the time you're done reading back.

[ThisisJohnWilliams]

great video! I am in the process of getting my private pilots license now.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

A little pointer for British student pilots:
The convention for shortening a tail-number is a little different on this side of the pond. Rather than using the last three digits, it works as follows.
Our "numbers" take the form G-ABCD. When abbreviating your callsign they will call "Golf" then the last two of your callsign, eg. "Golf Charlie Delta". Of course if you happened to be flying a Canadian-registered aircraft, they would call "Charlie" rather than "Golf", abbreviating "C-WXYZ" to "Charlie Yankee Zulu".
And DON"T abbreviate your callsign unless you hear ATC do so first and then, only use the same abbreviation that they use because they might want to differentiate between "G-ABCD" and "G-XYCD", for example.

[impeccablevoice]

I am a 68 years old retired man and I find this very helpful and inspirational. Thanks so much for your efforts and sharing. This is so valuable to anyone that is trying to challenge himself by learning how to fly.

I know I could give up at any point but so far I am not yet.

Thanks so much!