Ready For Departure

[Ecko]

Hey Guys!

There is a thing about FS9, that I have been wondering about for a long time now.  It's just a little thing, but I want to know if I'm the one with the wrong information, or if ts M$.

When you have done your taxiing, and you call the tower for clearence, the ATC sometimes says ready for for takeoff, and sometimes ready for departure.
And what I have learned from real life aviation, you can't say ready for takeoff. It's always ready for departure.

Is this M$' mistake, or have I been wrongly informed?

[beefhole]

From my RL experience, I can tell yout that ATCers are not automated robots like in FS-they don't always say things exactly the same, or in the exact same order.  In RL, there's several ways to say the same thing-not true in FS.

SO 'ready for departure' is fine

[Ecko]

What I meant was that it is prohibited to say 'ready for takeoff'.

This is to lower the level of misunderstandings.

[Rocket_Bird]

I don't think its necessarily wrong.  I mean, i think i must have used it at least once in real life, and they didnt say anything, so i guess it was all right  

[beefhole]

Ready for takeoff is fine too, I've heard that used before-there's several liberites taken with ATC lingo (stateside at least), for example the vast majority of pilots do not say 9 nine-er, they just say 9.  There's more where that came from.

You're supposed to talk to ATC like they're a person-not like an automated amchine that will only respond to specific voice commands.  'Ready for takeoff' means the same thing as 'requesting clearence for takeoff', so its fine.

[Foxtrot Sport]

Well from MY rather short RL experience.  I found that the ATC is really not subject to ONLY saying things that are found in FS.  For Example.  We were cruising over Lincoln Field in Sacramento Valley, (I'm sure Fozzer knows) and some other aircraft was trying to access in on the frequency we were on.  As he finally left, and the static cleared.  ATC said "Finally that aircraft got off the freq." or something like that.  It was much like a conversation.  So I truly believe that anything will do as long as ATC gets your intentions of what you're asking.  I also found this is the same way from Pilot to Pilot, commenting each other's planes and such.

-HF

[beefhole]

EXACTLY highflyer.

ATC isn't going to just reject something that you said because you didn't use the exact right terminology-so long as you get the point across, it's fine.

Just like you said, it's supposed to be like a conversation.

[hatter]

beefhole and highflyer are certainly correct.

There's a lot of chatter (well, not a lot) on ATC, esp. on ground, as I learned tonight leaving Philadelphia (KPHL to KORD on UA 519, a Boeing 737-300) after 2 hrs of rain delays. As usual, I tuned into the ATC channel on my armrest. Two particular instances stood out:

Taxiing, err, waiting at Philly, a certain US Airways pilot was requesting a reroute, and the controller suggested to him not to. The pilot said "I've never heard that one before." The controller said something along the lines of "...Well, I understand you might be a bit unfamiliar, but that's how we do it in the northeast." Sometime later, some other pilot said "Ooooooh!," as if the controller just made a major diss.  ;D

Sometime later, approaching KORD, an AA pilot, apparently in a 777, said something about "Chicago center,  I can't handle this this late at night. What's the runway?" The controller chuckled, on the air, and repeated "expect 22R". The AA pilot replied a simple 'roger'.

These guys are human, expect some wit. Too bad you could realistically never simulate that in FS. So ready for takeoff can easily be taken as ready for departure. These guys want to leave as fast as possible, and stopping to correct someone for a technical error isn't really in anyone's best interest.

[Ecko]

Yes, I know that. The other day when I went flying with a friend, he recognized the ATC's voice, and it turned out it was one of his old friends from the military.

But STILL, I don't think it's allowed to say 'ready for takeoff'.

[beefhole]

But STILL, I don't think it's allowed to say 'ready for takeoff'.

Well, you are allowed.

[beefhole]

Just looked it up-according to the AIMs, "ready for takeoff" is the correct terminology for both pilots and controllers.  I can get the exact section for you if you want when I get home.

[Calb]

In the real world, the *main* purpose is to *communicate*. There is no room for hair-splitting over terminology.

In RL, when I was ready to go I switched to TWR freq, listened for at least 5 seconds to ensure nothing was going on and simply said, "TWR, is ready to go" and awaited his/her instructions. Brief and to the point. Having been on GND freq during taxi, they already knew what my intentions were after takeoff and would clear me for a left or right turn or tell me which way to make my circuits if I was staying in the pattern.

Sometimes "aviation-ese" is necessary but most of the time, plain language reigns supreme.

Cal (CYXX)