Expert: D. Norkus - 1/19/2007

Question
Dottie,
I have been monitoring some of those websites that give you the direct feeds into ATC towers.  It's good to be able to hear how the pilots communicate with ATC but it gets a little dry after a while of listening to the same tower.  I noticed that when ATC passes a plane onto another controller they instruct them to tune into a different frequency.  Unfortunately, when listening online you can't switch to that frequency to track a particular aircraft.  
Anyway, I was wondering if you had a transcript of an entire flight of any aircraft which I could read in order to get an idea of what communication goes on between that aircraft and ATC.  It's kind of a gray area for me, and I would love to learn more about it so I can be prepared and not make an idiot of my self when I start taking flight lessons.  Thanks for your help.
Dan

Answer
Dan

Sorry, I have not seen any transcript of a flights communications from beginning to end. Not to worry though, you won't need any such thing to get you through training. While you may have a small case of "mike fright", you will get over it soon enough. Talking on the radio really won't be that big of a deal, especially if you remember what they want to hear and use the correct terminology to tell them.

While listening in to a freq on ATC online, you are probably hearing airliners and phraseology pertaining to instrument approach proceedures that you won't need to bother with as a PPL student. It would probably be a better idea to tune into a smaller tower and listen to the General Aviation traffic calls. Get the smallest, cheapest VHF receiver (not a transceiver) you can find, go sit at the airport during a busy day and listen up. You will learn a lot about what is said and when. (You will also learn when other pilots are using incomplete call ups, usually ATC must query them for additional information.)

The Airmans Information Manual is available online and that contains pilot/ATC communication guidelines. If you want to learn more, this is the place. You should become very familiar with Chapter 4, sections 4-2-1 through 4-2-12. Once you have mastered that, you will have NO problem talking on the radio:

http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim/chap4...

You should read this article, as it explains a lot-

Learning the Right Words: A new pilot's guide to ATC communication by Robert I. Snow

http://flighttraining.aopa.org/ft_magazine/special/9702_atc.cfm

I also suggest getting a subscription to AOPAs Flight Training Magazine if you want to get ahead of the game. It is like getting a CFI in your mailbox every month. Student pilots get 6 months free-

http://www.aopa.org/flight_training

Dottie