Roger

[Avijeet]

I have a question. It goes as follows:- Why does the pilot everytime after he gets an order from the ATC he says Roger
e.g. ATC:Your cleared to land.
Pilot:Roger

Please reply!

[ChuckMajik]

It's used to indicate that you have recieved and understood the message.

[Wing Nut]

Yeah, but where did the term 'Roger' come from?  :)

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Uuu.... little Jonny Roger.... duh...  ::)

[C]

I hate the term "Roger". It has the potential to be the cause of loads of accidents. Certainly this side of the pond you never say the "r" word unless it is replying to something very menial or trivial. When receiving a message from ATC you should always read it back as you understand it - then if you have misunderstood the message then ATC can correct you.

Eg, "Hotel Alpha Charlie 1-7, cleared land, wind 250/15"

Reply, "Clear land, Hotel 1-7"

Charlie

[Boss_BlueAngels]

I agree with you.  During my private pilot license my CFI kept telling me to just use "roger" all the time.  But I think it's because when I was repeating everything, I was getting it all bass ackwards and guming up the airways. lol  And it usually was stuff that wasn't too critical to safety, such as wind advisories.  

but in my instrument rating I usually never use roger, except when I get a clearance, and they say, "3 miles from Donny, wind 240 at 16, cleared approach"  then (as I've been told to do) I'll just report back, "roger, cleared approach"  But as for any numbers they say, I ALWAYS repeat those back, such as altitudes, frequencies, headings, etc.  

[Politically Incorrect]

Yeah, but where did the term 'Roger' come from?  :)

 ORIGINS OF ROGER WILCO  

Incidentally according to the

[Politically Incorrect]

Good God you didn't think I wrote a actual clear explanation now did you?
I forgot to mention this was found here
http://ac6v.com/73.htm#roger

Along with other interesting facts!!

[jknight8907]

You should never use Roger to reply to things like landing clearances, and especially not hold-short clearances. In fact most ATIS recordings say to "readback all hold-short instructions".

This is a vital step in making sure that you didn't mis-hear the controller's instructions. Also, if you DON'T readback your instructions the controller will usually ask you to readback anyway.

[beefhole]

Okay, but why say "nine-er?"  It appears as though most pilots eventually drop the -er later in their careers, but what's the point of it in the first place?

[OTTOL]

Wull, I'll tell ya.......


It's because English is the international aviation language.

[OTTOL]

I've heard some pilots and controllers(especially the older generation)take the "niner" to extremes. There's a first rate controller at KRDU that talks just like a robot except when he hands you off to the next controller.  I used to fly N99NJ in there and every call would be......."NINE-UR......NINE-UR...november...juliet-TA...turn-na right-ta.....heading TREE-FIFE-zeeeer-wo.."  Then after he'd "worked" us and gave us the handoff, we'd confirm the frequency and say "take care....see ya'.....adios....etc."    and he would reply "Y'all take care now"?!

Just for argument sake......."niner" and "fife"
are in the AIM........

[MattNW]

[quote]I've heard some pilots and controllers(especially the older generation)take the "niner" to extremes. There's a first rate controller at KRDU that talks just like a robot except when he hands you off to the next controller.

[Mobius]

A good rule of thumb I learned/figured out is to read back anything that has a number in it (e.g. cleared to land runway 18, fly heading 090, at or below 3000 ft, etc..) and to use roger after short clearances with no numbers (e.g. ATC calls your base turn or when ATC tells you to make a turn to avoid traffic or something).

[chomp_rock]

What Mobius said is correct, you read back anything that has numbers in it to avoid mistakes. I rarely (if ever) use "roger" it is always something like "turning right to heading 2-9-0, skyhawk 73M".