Need help finding resources for communication phraseology. New student pilot.

Posted by Jzerious@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 9 comments

I understand the four W’s no problem, who I’m talking to, who I am, where I am, and what I want. However, I’m struggling to find resources on how to put last W, what I want, into words. I do know what I want but how exactly to say it in a clear and concise way is more specifically what I’m having a hard time finding information on. Flying is a dream come true, anything helps

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9 Comments

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JonEG123@reddit

Listening to LiveATC will help you know how to say what you want by listening to others. It’ll also help you burn off any nervousness because you’ll quickly learn that nobody really knows how to communicate on frequency.

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csl512@reddit

Almost everybody sucks on the radio for a while. Are you talking about basic "VFR [direction] runup required" / "inbound full stop" or something more complex? Run through the scripts with your instructor on the ground not in the airplane. Have a note with the most common requests so you're just reading them off with the blanks filled in vs trying to compose it from scratch. To speed up LiveATC listening, use an audio editor to trim the silences or at the minimum a player that visualize the waveform. I used Audacity and its 'truncate silence' feature. Then you can also pause/rewind as needed.

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cofonseca@reddit

Do you have any specific examples of radio calls that you've struggled with? When in doubt, just use plain English. Here are some real world examples: * "Tower, N12345 is VFR 6 miles south at 2000ft. We'd like to come in and do a few laps in the pattern." * "Approach, N12345, can we get a temporary frequency change to get the ATIS at KABC?" * "Tower, N12345, any chance we could switch over to Runway 16 instead of 23? The winds feel pretty calm." As far as practice, I agree with others here - definitely go to [LiveATC.net](https://LiveATC.net), find your favorite airport, and start listening to radio calls. You can also check out VASAviation on YouTube. If you happen to have a gaming PC, check out Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. The built-in ATC is garbage, but there's a third-party network that you can connect to called VATSIM, which allows you to fly with other live pilots and live controllers using real life phraseology and procedures. It's very realistic, and was by far the best tool that I used during my PPL training.

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foffsrz@reddit

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap4_section_2.html

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burnerquester@reddit

Ditto others. Listen to LiveATC. At big airports a lot of it is IFR traffic and the specific stuff might not make sense, *but listen to how normal everyone sounds*. Just talk comfortably and you’ll be fine.

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wisehope9@reddit

Words hard. * The [Pilot Workshops VFR Manual](https://pilotworkshop.com/products/vfr-communication/) was helpful. * [Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WHW9MTQ/) was okay. * [Simming with PilotEdge](https://www.pilotedge.net/) would have helped. A lot. * watching good youtubers can help. can't go wrong listening to Bruce Williams or others (*cough* mzeroa *cough*). But ultimately: * my CFI was too strict, so I was worried about words and messing up more. * I spent the first 100 hours rehearsing before PTT. "wilbur traffic, N12A21, left downwind 20 [click] wilbur traffic, N12A21, left downwind 20" (or more often "[click] wilbur uhhhhhhhhhh") * I still fuck up. I try to get better. I realized I was just answering a question without giving my tail number so I focused on that for a while.

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spacecadet2399@reddit

Under VFR, most often the last "W" isn't actually what you want, but what you're \*doing\*. So first, make that distinction. You're not usually asking for permission unless you're at a towered airport asking to taxi, take off or land. Even on flight following, you can pretty much just do what you want unless told otherwise, as long as it basically fits what you already told them you're doing. If you are asking for taxi, takeoff or landing, you usually just say the first three W's and then "for taxi, southbound departure", "ready for departure" or "inbound for full stop/touch and goes/taxi backs/whatever". If you just stick with that, you should be fine in those situations. Don't forget to tell them the ATIS identifier the first time you contact ATC. If you're in a class D and talking to tower and you want to do something out of the norm, then just use plain English. In VFR, you often have to do that. Just talk like you're talking to any other person. You'll get it after flying for a while.

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grumpycfi@reddit

Using plain English is fine and encouraged. You'll get a better sense of how to condense things over time and that's okay. "Say Again Please" is also a decent primer if you really feel compelled to read something.

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ainokea-808@reddit

Listen to LiveATC of your local airport and approach/departure control. You’ll get it after listening for awhile.