Remember better.

[Joel Martinsson 1365065]

Hi, I have been a pilot on vatsim for a few weeks and sometimes I do IFR flights. Almost every time I miss to remember a few letters for the taxi clearence etc anywone got some tips to make it easier to remember everything so I don't have to take it as text instead?

 

/Regards Joel

[Ross Carlson]

Pencil and paper?

 

Seriously, if you aren't familiar with the airport and the common taxi routes, then have a pencil and paper ready (and of course have the airport diagram right in front of you) and write it down.

 

When I fly a real aircraft, I write it down on the kneeboard. When I fly on VATSIM, I type the instruction into the vpilot text box if I'm not familiar with the airport. (I do the same for IFR clearances.)

[Sean Harrison]

Joel,

 

I've made myself a flight card (A4) and then laminated it. I use a whiteboard marker to fill it in, then clean it off for the next flight. Has a space for ATC instructions at Dep and Arr airports.

 

If you are interested let me know, and I can share the doc with you. If you can't laminate it, then another trick is to use a plastic sleeve (used in those display binders).

[Johan Grauers]

Pen and paper (or a notepad or something on screen two) as required but more importantly, briefing!

 

On stand I will always look at my expected taxiway routing, and what options and pitfalls I can spot (runway crossings, complex intersections). As part of my arrival briefing I will look not just at all the airborne bits (approach, MSA, missed approaches, hold) but also the ground bit (where am I expecting to park, what routes can I get there, any standard taxiway routes, what is the ground frequency(ies) I might need, etc).

 

If you're ahead you always know what to expect and that gives you room to compensate when something unexpected is thrown at you. If you just react to things around you will allow the aircraft and ATC to take you somewhere you haven't prepared for, that is generally a bad thing.

 

I belive the saying goes along the lines of "never let the aircraft take you somewhere your brain hasn't been at least 5 mintues before"?

[Simon Kelsey]

As the guys above have said -- plan ahead and anticipate (if you know where you're parked and you know which runway is in use, most of the time the route to get from one to the other is usually going to be fairly obvious). Of course, it is very important that you follow what you are actually told rather than what you briefed if the two are different!

 

A pen and paper are also essential equipment. Just as a tip there as well -- listen to the instruction, commit it to your short term memory, and then write it (or at least the important bits) down as you read it back. I find that sequence generally easier than trying to write as I listen, and it enables me to get my readback in a bit more quickly as well if the frequency's busy (though taxi instructions are easier to scribble A B C D /D1 (the forward slash being my shorthand for 'hold short of')).

[Jonathan Fong]

Make notes somewhere. You can use pen and paper or some other fancy solution, but what I find works best for me is simply to open Notepad and bring it up whenever I need to type down long readbacks. You can also use the built-in text box in the pilot client to make notes of instructions - just type instructions down in shorthand, read it back and delete it when necessary.

[Thimo Koolen]

(the forward slash being my shorthand for 'hold short of').

That's a good one, I'll remember this.

 

I always write it down while the controller is talking and read it back. When I started, I used to write all instructions down (not entire sentences, but keywords). Now, not as much actually. I also changed the way I write it down.

 

Was:

"KLM115, from present position, direct SUGOL. Descent flightlevel 70, speed 250 knots. Cross SUGOL at flightlevel 100 or below."

 

I'd write down "SUGOL FL70, 250K, xSUGOL 100-"

 

Now I generally write down some information about my departure and arrival airport.

 

Departure:

- Gate

- Active runway

- SID

- Squawk

- QNH

- ATIS info

 

The Gate, active runway, QNH and ATIS info can be filled in already. While ATC is reading your clearance, just add the SID and squawk.

 

Arrival:

- ATIS info

- Active runway

- Gate

- STAR

- QNH

 

ATIS, active runway and QNH can be filled in already, often you can fill in the STAR as well. The gate can be filled in when you get it from ATC.

 

On difficult airports, I can write down taxi instructions below it. Or some additional instructions, but in general the above is the only thing I write down.

[Johan Grauers]

(the forward slash being my shorthand for 'hold short of').

That's a good one, I'll remember this.

 

I always write it down while the controller is talking and read it back. When I started, I used to write all instructions down (not entire sentences, but keywords). Now, not as much actually. I also changed the way I write it down.

 

Was:

"KLM115, from present position, direct SUGOL. Descent flightlevel 70, speed 250 knots. Cross SUGOL at flightlevel 100 or below."

 

I'd write down "SUGOL FL70, 250K, xSUGOL 100-"

 

Now I generally write down some information about my departure and arrival airport.

 

Departure:

- Gate

- Active runway

- SID

- Squawk

- QNH

- ATIS info

 

The Gate, active runway, QNH and ATIS info can be filled in already. While ATC is reading your clearance, just add the SID and squawk.

 

Arrival:

- ATIS info

- Active runway

- Gate

- STAR

- QNH

 

ATIS, active runway and QNH can be filled in already, often you can fill in the STAR as well. The gate can be filled in when you get it from ATC.

 

On difficult airports, I can write down taxi instructions below it. Or some additional instructions, but in general the above is the only thing I write down.

 

I wouldn't write down things like levels or headings, simply because they need to be actioned straight away. I write down taxi instructions because on a large airport it can be a 15 minute taxi, which is a long time to remember the entire routing. However if I'm told "descend FL70 direct SUGOL" then I will action it as I read it back. Most the time I'd also spin the heading bug in roughly the right direction first before I go heads-down into the computer to punch it in. However if I write it down the lag from having gotten the instructino to executing can be quite noticeable which is why I don't write that sort of thing down.

 

I also write down clearances sometimes, but it depends. If I'm at an airport I know well then I will tend to enter the exepcted clearance and just crosscheck when I get the ATC one, I also enter the squawk during the clearance (in particular on the airbus which has click buttons for the squawk that's no issue at all) so that saves me writing it down.

 

It's not a bad idea to write things down, I do write a lot of stuff down as well. However in some cases when you're recieving things you set on the MCP then you have a really expensive notepad right ahead of you on the MCP.

[Thimo Koolen]

Yup, I agree. While inflight, I do most actions (heading, speed, altitude) during the controllers instruction and then just read from the MCP. It's faster and really useful.