Extraneous useless radio phrases

[Booker]

Supposedly, one of our crews was very recently intercepted after turning the transponder to standby and not turning it back on after a squawk change was issued by Mexico. They were never handed off to ZHU, and a few hundred miles into the US (situational awareness, anyone?), the fighters showed up. We have the ability to change the code via the FMS, and that's how most folks change it in flight.

 

[critterair2]

Going back to the very first post. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you check in with tower, WITH, what approach your doing. ie. visual or ILS....based on a go around or missed approach. Tech. on the ILS you perform the missed app. proc. however we all know tower gives you something different. If you check in with a visual app to 9L doesn't that tell the controller in the event of a missed app, or go around if you will, he has to give you instructions

 

[Mach 80]

These days, most published missed approaches are actually scripted out in the event of radio failure. It's very rare that you'll actually do a published missed approach. The exception might be in very special terrain environments or in a non-radar environment. Otherwise the tower will usually give you an initial vector and altitude regardless of whether you are doing the ILS or a visual. His needs will be the same either way -- traffic avoidance and management.

 

[ex_nyer]

Nothing is better than "November" flights attempting
to give non-radar position reports on HF!

 

[Rizzo]

So I"m gonna jump in with my thoughts.

1. Please listen before transmitting when switching to a new frequency. Make sure you aren't interrupting a transmission.

2. Please use your full call sign. "climbing to FL350" doesn't cut it. I need to know who you are.

3. Please acknowledge when I give you a freq change...don't just leave. It makes more work for me when I have to call the next center to make sure you checked in and aren't NORDO.

Other than that, I'm pretty laid back. I'll give ball game scores...hell, i'll even flirt with you if it's slow. Just pay attention. And fly the damn plane. If you insist on climbing at 500 feet per minute when you can do 2000fpm, you're going to get vectored.

I know I veered off topic a bit.....

 

[Citrus1]

"Meow"

 

[CallmeJB]

Heh, I'm sorry, are you saying "meow"?

 

[Citrus1]

Meow? Do I look like a cat? Jumping around all nimbly-bimbly from tree to tree???


Usually only the BOS center guys catch that one, a couple at ATL Apch do too.. Always fun to hear "Citrus xxx you are meow cleared direct xxx" as a response.

 

[Mach 80]

Do you guys think it's professional to respond to "cleared for take-off" with "cleared to go"? I don't.

 

[Booker]

I don't.

Neither do I.

 

[Clyde]

Do you guys think it's professional to respond to "cleared for take-off" with "cleared to go"? I don't.

I have to agree Mach80 on this one. While I understand that some of you may peg Mach80 for being too anal or uptight with regards to proper phraseology on the radio, I think he is bringing up a good topic of discussion. And I believe many of you would be doing yourselves a disservice by ignoring it.

I will bring up a good case in point as to why one should aim to practice proper phraseology and good radio technique: habits.

Another case in point is flying in the international arena. Most controllers in foreign countries don't speak conversational english. Rather, many know rudimentary english and others may only have an understanding of basic english with regards to ATC. In other words, they only know proper ATC phraseology. Anything other than that may confuse them.

"on the hold" may work for you in a Cessna 152 at the local rural airport in the middle of nowhere. If the controller in Hong Kong tells you to "Line up and wait, zero seven right", you will respond with "line and up wait, zero seven right". If you respond with "on the hold", the controller may ask for confirmation until you get it right.

On a previous post in this thread, someone brought up the words "tree" and "fife" for 3 and 5 respectively. Here is what was said:

Who keeps saying "fife" and "tree"... that's so last year!

Well, open up your J-Aid and look in the section titled "Tables And Codes". You will find a section which contains the Morse Code, Phonetic Alphabet, and numbers with HOW TO PRONOUNCE THEM.

9 = Niner. Guess what else it says?
3 is pronounced as TREE
5 is pronounced as FIFE
And even 4 is technically pronounced as FOW-er.

So much for being "so last year!".

 

[Midnight Flyer]

Well, open up your J-Aid and look in the section titled "Tables And Codes". You will find a section which contains the Morse Code, Phonetic Alphabet, and numbers with HOW TO PRONOUNCE THEM.

9 = Niner. Guess what else it says?
3 is pronounced as TREE
5 is pronounced as FIFE
And even 4 is technically pronounced as FOW-er.

So much for being "so last year!".

Here's some of my favorites I love to poke fun at:

When saying "PAPA", there's always that one guy you hear pronounce it something like "ph-paah"
(with emphases on making the "puh" very short and extending the "paah".)

Another one is "QUEBEC". I've always pronounced it "kuh-beck" but every now and then you'll hear somebody say "kay-beck".

I know the pronounciaton police will probably be quick to respond and say those silly pronunciations are indeed the correct one's to use, but right or wrong, those two pronunciations make me smile.

Like someone else mentioned, it's funny to hear pilots respond with "here we go" when given an altitude change.

I guess the only thing that actually does annoy me is when you're flying along and ATC asks somebody else on the frequency to "say speed" and the guy you're flying with thinks he's being cute and looks at you and says "SPEED".

 

[Citrus1]

From a pilots side, we usually notice when a controller has his ICAO on...fife, tree, niner etc.

I flew a flight a few years ago as TRS985 into Atlanta, TRS95 (with a thick southern accent) came on frequency and took one of our radio calls, then another. We heard what was going on.. the ZTL controller didnt. We switched frequency and checked on with no response, gave it a few seconds; then TRS95 checks on the controller hears his accent as my flight, and gives him a clearance intended for me. Squealing and stepping on everyone so I could get a word in to clarify my clearance and within 10 seconds I get an RA. I got violated, it all started with someone who couldn't speak clearly.

Although I did find out who the other pilot was and cellophane his car in the employee lot in the middle of July, so that was good.

 

[PURPLEHAZE21]

In there best Charlton Heston voice...." Ahhhhhhhhhhhh we got'em on the fish finder...."

"STFU Over" !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bknight_c50]

While we're on the subject of radio calls that seem unnecessary, I have a couple questions for a couple airports I go into quite often, and there are some radio calls that seem specific to these airports that I don't hear everywhere else. It's not a complaint, I've just kind of always wondered why these places consistantly give me information that others don't...

The first one is at CLT. I get turned onto final for runway 36L, I check in with tower and am cleared to land. Then tower clears an outbound flight to taxi into position and hold on 36L. After the exchange with the outbound flight, the tower then makes a special radio call back to me saying that "traffic departs before your arrival..." I understand this call when I just check in, and the other plane may have gotten the "position and hold" clearance before I checked in, and maybe I didn't hear it. I also understand it if I'm checking in and the outbound plane hasn't gotten the clearance into position and hold yet, but they're going to get it as soon as tower's done talking to me...But when I've already checked in, and I just heard a plane get cleared into position and hold, I already know that they're going to depart before my arrival...They're not going to clear them into position just to make them sit there til I go around...The special call to tell me that seems a little excessive, and clogs up the radio on a busy day just to tell me something that's obvious. Like I said, I'm not complaining, just wondering why it's done this way here, and not usually anywhere else. Everywhere else it's done when I check in, if at all, and if someone's cleared into position after I've checked in, they know I heard it, and don't bother telling me.

Another question is in PHL. I'm on downwind for 27L or 26, and it's a busy day with long finals, and I get a call telling me "you're leaving class bravo airspace..." I'm still talking to the same controller, still getting vectors and traffic advisories from them, and bascally nothing's different from my standpoint...Why do they need to tell me this? It doesn't change anything for me. Maybe I need to be more vigilant for VFR aircraft, but I'm supposed to be vigilant all the time anyway.

I'm sure these calls are information that the FAA requires them to tell me, but I don't notice it as much at other airports. To me, these calls are just as useless as some of the examples from pilots mentioned earlier in the thread. Do they seem useless to you too? If not, please tell me what I should do differently when I temporarily leave class B airspace, or give me an example of when a plane might be cleared into position and hold on my runway with me on frequency that won't "depart before my arrival."