Peter Westergren 1455787 Posted November 2, 2019 at 10:44 AM Posted November 2, 2019 at 10:44 AM Hi! I think vatsim is a fantastic community and i really love to fly online here. Until now i have used text only communication. Mostly the reason is that i cant simply hear what some controllers say. Either they talk to fast or there is jitter. With the better audio for vatsim the voice is clearer. But i still have problem when controllers talk to fast. Maybe its My brain that aint compatible with the fast talking some do. but now to the question. Is there some way to train the brain to keep up with the fast talking controllers? I understand fully the text written instructions but when it get to voice i have problem keeping up. I understand that there is need to talk fast in busy airspace. I would really like to try voice only but IF i cant hear the instructions there will be problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Board of Governors Simon Kelsey Posted November 2, 2019 at 11:56 AM Board of Governors Posted November 2, 2019 at 11:56 AM Hi Peter, Speaking too fast is very much a controller trait - in real life and on VATSIM! Reminds me of the story about a busy day at JFK - ground controller firing out clearances and directions at a hundred miles an hour as is the JFK way. "Cactus456taxiviaAlphaBravocross31leftrightNovemberJulietleftonZulugivewaytothecompanytrafficonVictorthenholdshort22left." After a short pause, a slow Texan drawl comes back over the radio... "Ah, Ground... could you just say that again there? Ah've just picked up mah pencil..." Fortunately there is a published standard radio phrase which can be used in these sort of situations: "SPEAK SLOWER" - meaning (oddly enough!) "reduce your rate of speech"! The best thing to do is to study the radiotelephony manuals (the UK's is available at http://caa.co.uk/cap413 -- I'm sure your local aviation authority will have something similar) and try and learn and use the standard words and phrases -- which are designed precisely to make communication across sometimes less than ideal radio links and between people of multiple different mother tongues clear, unambiguous and efficient. Each word or phrase has a specific meaning and by everyone sticking to the standard R/T you have a much better chance of understanding and being understood. The 'bread and butter' routine communications for a typical IFR flight are fairly standard in their format although there are regional variations. As you get to know the format and the standard words and phrases and the airports and airspaces you are operating in you will get attuned to knowing what specifics you are listening for rather than trying to decode and process the whole of every message. The only way to improve is to practice! Practice makes perfect so don't be afraid to jump in and give it a go, even if you make the odd mistake or find it difficult at times. We all make errors and I'm not ashamed to say that having been doing this VATSIM thing for 20 odd years I still occasionally struggle to understand what is being said if a controller or pilot goes 'off-script', particularly if it is in a location/procedure I am less familiar with or the controller has an accent etc - just like in real life if someone throws a random comment at you that you weren't expecting or isn't in sequence with the rest of the conversation you may not catch it! One other thing worth doing if you aren't already is to stick a note in your FP remarks along the lines of 'new to voice, please be patient' and try and get some consistency - so perhaps best to stick initially to a particular 'home' airport and area until you get more comfortable and then you can start branching out to other destinations where the procedures and phraseology may differ slightly! Good luck! Vice President, Pilot Training Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Board of Governors Simon Kelsey Posted November 2, 2019 at 12:08 PM Board of Governors Posted November 2, 2019 at 12:08 PM Oh, and just to pick up on your comment about it being necessary to speak fast in busy airspace... No! It is a total false economy for exactly the reason you have posted this. It's all very well a controller rattling off instructions as fast as they can possibly get the words out, but if they have to repeat even one transmission two or three times because the pilot couldn't understand them, or a pilot does something they weren't expecting because they missed or misunderstood part of the transmission, the few tenths of a second supposedly saved by all that rapid-fire speech are gone instantly (and then some). Speaking clearly at a sensible, even pace (note the UK manual says "not exceeding 100 words per minute" - which is SLOW! For comparison, a normal conversational rate of speech is circa 180wpm and BBC World Service news bulletins are read at about 120wpm, so 100wpm is consciously slower than normal) and using standard R/T phraseology is by far the most effective way to push the most amount of tin by ensuring that everybody can clearly hear and understand what is going on. Vice President, Pilot Training Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Shearman Jr Posted November 2, 2019 at 01:00 PM Posted November 2, 2019 at 01:00 PM Simon gave you a lot of really great information, but the one piece he buried in there a little bit is that it does get easier the more you do it. The flow of an IFR flight is fairly standard, so once you know what to expect it becomes easier to hear it. (That introduces a whole new set of possibilities for error, though, so always make sure you heard what you were told and not what you expected! ) Cheers, -R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Westergren 1455787 Posted November 2, 2019 at 08:01 PM Author Posted November 2, 2019 at 08:01 PM Thank you for all your answers! Maybe its training and training and training to make the hearing better. I found a site with live atc and maybe i should listen there while at the same time looking at Flightradar24. Maybe that can give some brain excersise to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orjan Polman Posted November 2, 2019 at 10:06 PM Posted November 2, 2019 at 10:06 PM Hi Peter. So much great advice here! One other thing that helped me with learning to understand what is said online, is youtube. Search for "High pressure aviation" I think it was. A lot of cockpit landing and takeoff videos from all around the world, good training for understanding different accents! And of course the phraseology Cheers, Orjan. Regards Orjan Polman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Christie Posted November 3, 2019 at 12:57 AM Posted November 3, 2019 at 12:57 AM Speaking faster is a sign of controller workload overload. Kirk Christie - VATPAC C3 VATPAC Undercover ATC Agent Worldflight Perth 737-800 Crew Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Ogden Posted November 3, 2019 at 06:05 AM Posted November 3, 2019 at 06:05 AM Speaking faster is a sign of controller workload overload. ...or perhaps they naturally speak fast, like me? Cheers, Andrew Ogden Gander Oceanic OCA Chief Vancouver FIR Senior Instructor Visit us: https://ganderoceanic.ca Contact: [email protected] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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