Afraid of Radio's

[Melly]

I'm doing my flight training, and having a difficult time with it. But nonetheless, I'm still trying to make the best of it. I'm having the most difficulties with my Radio's, and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a website, or a book/manual......that can give me a hand on what to say, or what it all means.....

 

[CitationLover]

i know it sounds dorky...but the easiest way is to immerse yourself in "radiospeak" (ie constantly listen to it).

there are a number of TRACON websites where you can listen to live ATC. you can pickup a lot from listening to these. your instructor should be able to cover w/ you the local jive-talking.

 

[labbats]

If you know what the controller is going to say before he says it, radios are easy, if you don't, it's really tough. Take a day to do a ground lesson with your instructor.
Have him/her walk you through who to call from startup to shutdown on a typical cross country of yours. On each call, have him/her tell you the possible responses from the controller. Write these down and study them. This way, instead of hearing something foreign every time, you know that they'll say one of two or three things.

Best of luck~

 

[Flechas]

Before i started my private, i was kind of afraid of the radios because english is my second language, so i bought a scanner and went to the airport everyday and listened to all the frequencies for a while, until i got used to it. when i did my first flight i was able to talk on the radio. something else that helped me, was watching at the King school videos on communications and airspace, those two are really good.
good luck

flechas

 

[Bill Mostellar]

I'm doing my flight training, and having a difficult time with it. But nonetheless, I'm still trying to make the best of it. I'm having the most difficulties with my Radio's, and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a website, or a book/manual......that can give me a hand on what to say, or what it all means.....

You can look in AIM (Aeronautical Information Manual) Chapter 4, section 2 for the technical stuff. Try a Google search with "Pilot" "Radio" "Communication" "Techniques" etc. You'll probably find a bunch of stuff.

Here's some practical stuff:

Listen before you transmit - ATC may be in the middle of a conversation with another pilot.

Think before you transmit - what do you really want to say?

Don't try to "speed talk," you'll end up taking up more bandwidth than if you talked clearly the first time.

Always read back clearances in the same order in which they were given. Call sign, heading, altitude, frequency...

Don't shorten your call sign or use non-standard terminology, e.g. "Sugar", "five thou", "fiver", etc.

It's trite, but true - "Aviate, navigate, communicate." Don't focus on the radios to the exclusion of the first two.

Finally, "If you can't laugh at yourself, I'll laugh at you." You will make mistakes, but don't sweat it. We've all made them before.

I wish you success!

 

[Lucky]

Comm1 Software

Try the link above. They sell all kinds of communication software, both for VFR and IFR. You put on a headset and mike and talk back and forth with the computer. Ask for the Demo disk. When I got it it was actually the full version. Its a bit costly. If you buy it consider your IP or school helping defray the cost so they can have it for other students as well.

Best of luck!

 

[flywithastick]

Very common fear/issue. couple of things that'll help - some already mentioned. Get with your certiticated instructor or a good text reference, and find out what the basic calls consist of in the various environments. Flight following, Cl B, C, D airports, non towered fields.

make some index cards with the sequences written down. memorize the basics and then give it a try. Once you know the sequences, you can predict what they're going to say to you 95% of the time. When you know what they're going to say to you, you'll know what to say to them.

 

[KickSave]

One thing that helped me a lot was to buy a handheld Tranceiver and sit in the parking lot, watching the pattern, and listening in to the Tower. It helped me learn what to expect, what repsonses help ATC and what repsonses are just clutter, and it also serves as a valuable backup when you fly in case your Comm radios every fail in flight. A decent one costs around $300, but for me it was well worth it.

I learned quite a few things that REALLY irritate ATC by listening in, and not doing them myself.

 

[Airpiraterob]

everyones correct so far. For me i realized for the most part it's knowing what the controller is going to tell you next. You can know this easily by always knowing where you are and what youre doing.

example: you're on left-downwind for runway whatever. whats the tower going to say to you at this point? remember hes there to let you do what you want IF YOUR REQUEST IS SAFE AND LEGAL.....so youre on downwind, for landing on runway whatever. Tell him that. and then If theres no other traffic nearby that could interfere he will clear you for landing. expect that. if not, he will advise you to do something else and usually tell you why. acknolege the information and then do what he asks...

youre 5 miles away comming from a direction, inbound for a landing and you tell the controller that. what is expected in reply? well you want a landing, hes gonna tell you how to enter the pattern and where to report once in it. standard procedure. so just let him know you understand it, and go do it. and then at that point (see the downwind point above) it flows into a landing clearance just like the above process.

remember this one part. people forget it alot. people think too often about the words being almost like code words for something else. dont overanalyze what youre saying. Its a two-way conversation, ask for whatever you want to do in the air and you can get it most likely. if not, theres a reason why and the controller will tell you. the controller is there to approve what you want to do assuming its safe. again, its a two-way-conversation with another guy..sometiems a gal. just happens to be on a radio. dont worry about it. itll come. weve all been there and so has the controller.

at uncontrolled airports? just remove the controller responses and leave the rest of the radio call you make in place. dont change it. (its just traffic instead of tower) and all youre doing is announcing what youre doing at the field. thats it. just keep your eye out for that 1946 porterfield with no radios cutting you off in the pattern.....dont get mad...it just happens. just like radio speak, it just happens. you learn the lingo from being in the lingo.

Overall, it's all about experience and time spent just being on the radios. However in retrospect, all of the above will help.

 

[Toy Soldier]

Another GOOD book is called "Say Again, Please". It is published by ASA and costs about $14.95.

 

[Lucky]

One thing that helped me a lot was to buy a handheld Tranceiver and sit in the parking lot, watching the pattern, and listening in to the Tower. It helped me learn what to expect, what repsonses help ATC and what repsonses are just clutter, and it also serves as a valuable backup when you fly in case your Comm radios every fail in flight. A decent one costs around $300, but for me it was well worth it.

I learned quite a few things that REALLY irritate ATC by listening in, and not doing them myself.

Ever since my radio crapped out in a mooney at ERAU ( lightguns at night are beautiful LOL ) I've always carried a handheld.... speaking of which... it was finally layed to rest the other day... anyone know where to find a cheap one to throw in the flight bag?

 

[Typhoon1244]

Sporty's used to sell a tape called Chicago O'Hare IFR. They may still, but I'm not certain. Listening to it way back when I was learning how to fly IFR gave me a good feel for what to say and when.

I must admit I learned some bad habits from that tape, too:

TRACON: "Pan Am Sixteen-Twenty-One, turn left heading three-five-zero, maintain two-hundred-fifty-knots, contact Center on one-three-two point five-five."

Pan Am 1621: "Uhh, we'll do all that, Pan Am Sixteen-Twenty-One."

 

[flywithastick]

Sporty's used to sell a tape called Chicago O'Hare IFR. They may still, but I'm not certain. Listening to it way back when I was learning how to fly IFR gave me a good feel for what to say and when.

I must admit I learned some bad habits from that tape, too:

TRACON: "Pan Am Sixteen-Twenty-One, turn left heading three-five-zero, maintain two-hundred-fifty-knots, contact Center on one-three-two point five-five."

Pan Am 1621: "Uhh, we'll do all that, Pan Am Sixteen-Twenty-One."

and maintaining 250 kts in a little spam can might be kind of tough, too!

 

[rumorhasit]

I still have a fear of the radio. But my instructor always told me these three things to keep in mind;

Who are you
Were are you
What do you want

it helps to listen to tower when you can

 

[Typhoon1244]

Who are you
Were are you
What do you want

...and don't say "sh|t."

 

[Timebuilder]

Hey, I had that "Chicago O'Hare" tape from Sporty's, too. I liked the little IFR chart that they included so you could visualize where they were.

Listening to the tower chatter on the web is a great idea if you don't have a scanner, but getting up to speed with congested class B communications could be a tall order for a private or instrument student.

Try to find a class D or C tower to listen to. You may be able to understand the slightly slower pace of those fields a little easier.

Say Again and the Comm 1 programs are also good ideas.

 

[CrewDawg]

-Citationlover-

Do you have any links to any of those TRACON websites?

 

[Mogus]

Listen to this while you surf the net. You'll catch on

 

[mudkow60]

Sometimes, when you can't understand or offer a reply back in the preferred pilot-speak manner most are used to, ask or offer a plain English reply. I am not suggesting that you should clobber a busy freq with chit-chatter, just ask for clarification if necessary, and give a plain-language reply.

 

[mattfish42]

What helped me the most was riding along in the backseat on other students' lessons. Once the pressure of having to talk and fly at the same time was removed it was easier to see how the whole conversation worked.