Simviation Forums

im fine with shooting approaches with an ILS, VOR, NDB, and GPS(RNAV) but im on stage 3 and doing cross country flights and talking to center and tower is kinda overwhelming me. I started instrument after i got my private in feb. so i havent really been into many controlled airports lol.

It all comes with practice really.

I used to get overwhelmed, too. Flight following can be a small burden, and my biggest problem there was remembering the hand-off frequencies... that just takes practice...

...don't you just wish that the ATC radio communications in real life were as clear and precise as they are in the Flight Sim (FS 2004).... ...!

In real life, while I am quietly cruising along, whistling to myself, admiring the scenery evolving slowly below me, the sudden, unexpected blast of unrecognizable garbage, without any warning,  emanating from my headset, always requires a confused;  " Sorry...would you please repeat that again!"...  :-[...!

I always reckon that the "transmitter bloke" should always blow into his Mic first, to gain my attention/wake me up, etc, before telling me "something". (Like the Folks on Stage do....testing...testing))... ...!

Communication "Radio Mush" is the bain of Pilots.... ...!

Paul...G-BPLF... 8-)...!

I also think it's something that just sort of soaks in over time.
During your flights, just relax and listen, and always run your transmissions through your head first before you key the mic. Only takes a second or so.

But one thing you can do is get a scanner, or listen to any of the live ATC feeds available on the Web; eventually you may find yourself answering ATC correctly before the pilots do... as Brett pointed out, it's like a play. In a way, the conversation with ATC is part of the flight plan you made earlier: there are small variations, but each basic part is pre-written, so to speak.


I'm still VFR-only, and have been avoiding controlled airspaces for years now, but I have never felt overwhelmed, even in the NYC area.

Remembering freqs is as easy as writing them down. I often write them on my hand if the kneeboard is a bit cluttered.

I know there doesn't seem to be time to write it down when you first receive it- sure, you should read it back correctly right away. But I find that if I take a sec to jot it down, I will remember it better.

That's another thing- there's always a second or so available, no matter how busy it is. a second to write down a number, to think, or to quickly "rehearse your lines".
 And you don't need to talk too fast... when I first got the "flow" flying out of KTEB, I quickly reached a point where the tower controllers or NYC ATC would ask me to repeat myself because I was going a little too fast.
And I still occasionally hear others- pilots, usually- going faster than they should; not everybody is intelligible at an auctioneer's pace, and being understood is more important than being quick (up to a point).

not everybody is intelligible at an auctioneer's pace, and being understood is more important than being quick (up to a point).

So true..

not everybody is intelligible at an auctioneer's pace, and being understood is more important than being quick (up to a point).

So true..    

At busy airports, the tower guys HAVE to commmunicate EVERY detail. Those communications are taped and archived. You however, as the pilot, need only acknowledge them. You don't HAVE to read back every instruction (excpet for ground, taxi and ESPECIALLY hold-short instructions). If it's a long-winded, but routine request.. a simple "wilco" will suffice.

Not long ago, I had to deal with a transmision that went something like this:

Tower:  Five eight fox-trot, fly a modified base for nine-right, traffic is a Skyhawk on a 3-mile final same runway, report the traffic, expidite the approach, turn final at the numbers, cleared to land, number one, nine-right.

Me:  [verbatim read-back that even amazed me, and left my passenger dumbfounded (and he's flown with me quite a bit)]

Obvioulsy that was anything but routine, and a prompt read-back was in order. Not only to make sure we were on the same page, but it helped cement the task in my mind.

Turning final at the numbers in a stiff cross-wind  8-)

That was a weird one...almost too much information.
Even at TEB, they would usually just say "Drop it in if you can; best possible...Citation on 10-mile final..."  ;D

They were usually satisfied, at a moment like that, with "will do" or "clear to land" and the runway number.

It was a common scenario, when the wind prohibited them from landing jets on one runway and props on the other... or when it was so busy they were using one for takeoffs and the other for landings.

I got an early education in nonstandard patterns and procedures: modified bases, straight-ins with runway changes at the last minute, midfield takeoffs and landings, land-and-hold-shorts, etc.

Those cab controllers, as I recall, were real sticklers only about two things:
1) DON'T make them repeat themselves
2)DON'T fail to do precisely what they tell you

Communications was never my best skill either. I guess that can happen while learning to fly at an uncontrolled airport out in the country. I remember on my first night cross country flight to Spokane Int'l with my instructor, ATC would quickly spit out commands over the radio, and poor me would look over at my instructor with the 'Uhhhh' look on my face...

I did finally get the basics down, but when they don't stick to the 'script', unexpected commands can throw me off a little

One of the strangest requests I ever got, was to do a 360 for spacing,, WHILE I WAS ON SHORT FINAL  :o

That was the closest I ever came to saying, "cannot comply".

I'd have rather just gone around, even if it meant getting vectored 5 miles out, to get back in. A climbing turn, initiated at about 500 agl (I could see what the tower guys were wearing), right back into a short final, was something I'm not keen on doing again.

One of the strangest requests I ever got, was to do a 360 for spacing,, WHILE I WAS ON SHORT FINAL  :o

That was the closest I ever came to saying, "cannot comply".

I'd have rather just gone around, even if it meant getting vectored 5 miles out, to get back in. A climbing turn, initiated at about 500 agl (I could see what the tower guys were wearing), right back into a short final, was something I'm not keen on doing again.

the main thing to consider is this... if ATC gives you something your not sure about or dont understand, request something different.

and dont forget, ATC works for YOU not the other way around, so when in doubt one word will suffice...

"Unable"  ;)

I got a wierd one the other day too at DFW on 18R

it was windy as hell as we were crossing the numbers tower says

"Minimum time on the runway... MD 80 on a half mile final"

i thought to myself OK! its gusting to 40 knots and im 20 knots faster than normal to correct for that and besides IM NOT EVEN ON THE RUNWAY YET!  ;D

Where do you fly in northern Iowa?  I live there myself.

Estherville     KEST

Any tips to become more comfortable with ATC?  Thanks

Yeah, watch out for Waterloo. Those yahoos were the worst I ever dealt with. THey made me very UNcomfortable.  They had really distorted communications one day (actually, every time I flew in there), and I had to ask them several times to repeat. I finally had to turn the plane so that I could receive clearly, but they were NOT happy with me. Tough.

Another time I flew in there, there was another aircraft with a similar tail number, and in the confusion, they were not keeping up with my intention of touch and go. I told them, but they directed me to turn at first runway after I  touched, throttled up, and left the runway, and we ARGUED?!? while I was flying out. I finally had to ask permission to touch and go and leave to the SW after I was several hundred feet off the ground.

Mostly, controllers are a pretty friendly lot, per my experience. Even Kansas City ATC when I flew into the Wheeler downtown as a newbie. But Waterloo totally earned their town name more than once.