ATC Speak Quick Reference

[Kirk Bauer]

I'm just starting real-world flight training and so far VATSIM has been super helpful. Although even with the basic VATSIM training and real-world ground school I'm still a bit unsure of myself on radio communications. I can usually effectively communicate, but I worry that (especially on VATSIM) people are being lenient on me and I'm not saying things exactly right.

I'd love a quick list of examples of what you should say in certain situations. For example I know I'm close on these but not quite right:

Ground, Cessna XYZ located in general aviation parking, requesting taxi for VFR departure to the north.

Tower, Cessna XYZ with Alpha holding short on runway 12 for VFR departure to the north.

Center, Cessna XYZ 12 miles northwest requesting permission to enter Class Bravo airspace for landing at ABC.

Tower, Cessna XYZ with Alpha requesting full stop landing.

[James Drake]

This was a good video to watch for me:

 

[Kirk Christie]

https://www.vatsim.net/pilot-resource-centre

[Kirk Bauer]

James that video was great, but I should have specified US VFR. I'll be coming back to that video in the future for IFR 🙂

Kirk I dug through all of the docs under the VFR section and I can't find  what I'm looking for. There is a great section on Flight Following for VFR and I'm looking for exactly that for departures and arrivals.

[Kirk Christie]

Go to my.vatsim.net and log in, on the left hand side menu, Select Learning Center, then from the top menus select Basic Aviation skills, then ATC Communications USA from the drop down menu.

[Kirk Bauer]

That was perfect, thank you "other" Kirk! I didn't understand how to navigate through the documentation.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

 

[Faiz-ur Rahman]

Here's the ATC for dummies guide I have open on my second monitor whenever I use VATSIM. 🙂

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=845407804

[Charlie Fripp]

Hi all,

New VATSIM member but been flying since 2009. 

I'm glad somebody else asked this question, so I was also about to ask something similar. When talking to ATC, some operators talk faster than what I can remember or write down instructions. So for my question, I wanted to know if there is an online resource or an app that will make the ATC procedures easier. Say... if the ATC give me instructions, I can just punch it into the app while I'm listening. Does that make sense? But like a calculator of sorts that has numbers for runways, L, R, cross, A,B,C and all the data they will give you. As they talk, you press the buttons - and bam! It tells you what to say back to ATC. 

 

I'm not sure if I'm making sense - its been a long day. Maybe it will be easier if I draw a picture of what it could look like. 

Edited September 11, 2020 at 12:49 PM by Charlie Fripp

[Evan Reiter]

I can't think of anything like that Charlie. Though, I'll say in general that what you say back to ATC is what they say to you. Ideally, you're just repeating their instructions as close to verbatim as you can (you can omit weather information like wind or altimeter/QNH settings). The more you do it, the easier this will become. (The one exception is making your initial call...but since you're the one initiating that, you have plenty of time and can even write it down before you start.)

A few things you might consider doing as you gain more practice: 

1. Identify as "student pilot" or "new pilot" on frequency when you check in ("Boston Ground, N12345, student pilot, Cessna 172, GA Ramp, request taxi for VFR departure to the east, at 5,500")
2. Include "student pilot" or "please speak slowly" in your flight plan remarks
3. Ask ATC to speak slowly as part of your initial call ("Boston Ground, N12345...I'm about to make a request. I'm still learning ATC. Would it be possible for you to try to speak at half speed for me?")

The more you hear instructions, the easier things will become.

[Lauri Uusitalo]

On 9/11/2020 at 6:37 PM, Evan Reiter said:

 (you can omit weather information like wind or altimeter/QNH settings).

Omit QNH?

 

4.5.7.5.1 The flight crew shall read back to the air traffic controller safety-related parts of ATC clearances and instructions which are transmitted by voice. The following items shall always be read back:

c) runway-in-use, altimeter settings, SSR codes, level instructions, heading and speed instructions and, whether issued by the controller or contained in automatic terminal information service (ATIS) broadcasts, transition levels.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Are there maybe special FAA-rules in the US? Under ICAO/EU Air Ops rules the QNH certainly has to be read back, although some countries overdo it (UK), where you need to readback the QNH on almost every single frequency.

[Charlie Fripp]

Thanks for all the replies. I did find a thread on Steam where someone posted the general conversation for each ATC (clearance, dep, TWR, etc) which helped a lot. While I think I have the language down now, some ATC talk fast and I can't keep up - especially when its busy. I learnt this the hard way, as I decided to take off from Seattle and couldn't follow instructions. I had to excuse myself and log off and I didn't understand.

I'm also using Little Nav Map to plan my route and use it to take down notes. If anybody is interested, here are the two Steam threads:

[VATSIM] How to talk to ATC - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=750969555

How to talk to ATC (for dummies) - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=845407804

 

[Andreas Fuchs]

1 hour ago, Charlie Fripp said:

some ATC talk fast and I can't keep up - especially when its busy. I learnt this the hard way, as I decided to take off from Seattle and couldn't follow instructions. I had to excuse myself and log off and I didn't understand.

You should not logoff, but request ATC to talk slower. They need to adapt to your current experience and if you are able to follow instructions when they are issued in clear and slow language, you will be fine. Of course, if you are not able to understand "'turn left heading 250", then it's a different story, but I understand that you are above that level already.

[Evan Reiter]

I haven't looked into this in the FAA AIM but in my experience, the altimeter setting or wind is almost never read back in a landing/takeoff clearance. I have never heard a controller query a pilot and request a readback of an altimeter setting in Canada or the United States. Interesting to know that is a requirement in Europe. 

If anyone is worried about this, let me know and I'll have a look through the AIM.

[Andreas Fuchs]

4 hours ago, Evan Reiter said:

the altimeter setting or wind is almost never read back in a landing/takeoff clearance

The QNH/altimeter setting is not stated during landing or takeoff clearance, since it it is obsolete information (should have been issued with IFR clearance or first descent instruction to an altitude).

[Robert Cohen]

What did that guy in the video say for the phonetic for S? Sounded like "Sheeaaa", but I don't think it was Sierra. Is it different in Europe?

[Lauri Uusitalo]

8 hours ago, Robert Cohen said:

What did that guy in the video say for the phonetic for S? Sounded like "Sheeaaa", but I don't think it was Sierra. Is it different in Europe?

It is Sierra even in Europe. Dutch accent is strong on this one.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Some Dutch have a very strong accent and in their language "S" isn't pronounced "Es", but more like "sh".

Edited October 14, 2020 at 09:13 AM by Andreas Fuchs

[Dennis Saunders]

I know this thread is pretty old, (like moi) and some of you may find this solution helpful or even amusing, but I've got the absolute perfect answer, for me anyway, to get read back instructions no matter what length, complexity, speed or accent of ATC controllers right first time without writing anything down on paper or worse, "say again".. It's something I put together myself which I call "Read Back Correct" and it really does the trick like magic. Here's how:  £10 hand held Dictaphone from ebay with its mini mic placed in my headset ear piece.  After my request to ATC for whatever, on release of PTT immediately press REC on above device.  When he's done saying his stuff to you and himself actually, release REC and device auto rewinds in a second or two.  Lean forward to device (secured next to my keyboard), so that my headset mic is near the device speaker, press device REP and my PTT together.  At the end I chip in my callsign, release PTT.  Result, after a moment of stunned surprise, the only possible reply from ATC: "Read back correct".  Of course you may not have understood a word of what he said, but now you've got it on tape you can replay ad infinitum and even slow it down.  Now that's magic!

Cheers, Dennis

[Martijn Rammeloo]

15 minutes ago, Dennis Saunders said:

I know this thread is pretty old, (like moi) and some of you may find this solution helpful or even amusing, but I've got the absolute perfect answer, for me anyway, to get read back instructions no matter what length, complexity, speed or accent of ATC controllers right first time without writing anything down on paper or worse, "say again".. It's something I put together myself which I call "Read Back Correct" and it really does the trick like magic. Here's how:  £10 hand held Dictaphone from ebay with its mini mic placed in my headset ear piece.  After my request to ATC for whatever, on release of PTT immediately press REC on above device.  When he's done saying his stuff to you and himself actually, release REC and device auto rewinds in a second or two.  Lean forward to device (secured next to my keyboard), so that my headset mic is near the device speaker, press device REP and my PTT together.  At the end I chip in my callsign, release PTT.  Result, after a moment of stunned surprise, the only possible reply from ATC: "Read back correct".  Of course you may not have understood a word of what he said, but now you've got it on tape you can replay ad infinitum and even slow it down.  Now that's magic!

Cheers, Dennis

From a controller perspective, hearing back the clearance in my own voice, will probably not give me the warm fuzzy feeling that the pilot actually understands the message. Obviously, many text pilots do the same thing (copy/paste the message), but still ...

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Now if only the same device could be used to make the pilot *comply* with the instruction when reading it back, we'd all be golden.

[Andreas Fuchs]

...you mean: remote controlling all aircraft? That would be cool 😄