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How to become comfortable with ATC communication

Many flight schools are located at nontowered airports, and it can be a struggle for their students to learn to use the services of air traffic control (ATC). In fact, one of the great freedoms that we have in this country is that a general aviation pilot can take off in an airplane with no radio, fly from one end of the country to the other, and never talk to a soul. Such a flight would require careful planning, of course, and use of multiple sectional charts to avoid restricted and prohibited airspace — as well as the busy terminal airspace that does require two-way communications. And, of course, good weather briefings.

The sad fact is that many students rarely talk to air traffic controllers, and as a result, develop an unnecessary fear of doing so. This can be a serious obstacle to overcome later in pursuit of an instrument rating, because ATC communication skills are critical in the IFR environment. Inability to comfortably use ATC services may also cut off the VFR pilot from a number of geographically desirable airports.

When private pilots do have occasion to hear transmissions between aircraft and controllers, it's often the fast-paced, machine-gun chatter that occurs between controllers and airline flights. When you hear such pros bantering back and forth, it seems that mistakes are never made, and you may feel that you'll never be able to achieve such proficiency yourself. But anybody who has watched sports on TV has seen the most routine of fly balls get dropped, or the easiest "gimme" putts get missed, and said, "Geez, even I could have made that!" The same is true of radio communications. Pilots and controllers sometimes make some pretty glaring gaffes — some of which are hilarious — and even the new student pilot can honestly say, "Even I understood what he screwed up."

If you are learning to fly at a field that does not have a control tower, you should make an effort to get some experience using the ATC system, especially on longer cross-country flights. Of course, the three solo takeoffs and landings that you must make at a tower-controlled airport provide some good experience, but that alone won't prepare you to operate in the ATC system.

The key to taking advantage of "the system" is to understand how it is structured. Like a house, it's based on a building-block principle. At the lowest level is the air traffic control tower, which controls traffic within a defined radius of the airport and up to a specified altitude (usually 2,500 feet above the airport elevation for Class D airspace, for example), as well as on the airport surface areas. This is followed by approach and departure control, generally associated with larger airports that have Class B or Class C airspace; they control all aircraft from the lower altitudes up to about 12,000 to 15,000 feet, and sometimes even higher. Above that, air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs, more commonly called centers) control en route traffic. There are some exceptions to this rule, but it gives a general idea of the structural make-up. Within each altitude and facility there may be numerous airspace sectors, frequently with separate radio frequencies, that are designed to maximize controller effectiveness and minimize everybody's workload.

Unfortunately, too many private pilots make an effort to avoid tower-controlled fields after they get done with the checkride. If you are a student pilot, perhaps your solo landings at a tower-controlled field have not taken place. Vow to get as much experience — and comfort — as you can in such operations. If you are based at a nontowered field, you probably have at least some experience in talking on the radio to flight service station specialists. Talking to controllers is not a whole lot different.

Your first contact may be with an approach control facility, which is listed on your sectional chart, along with the frequency. The verbiage that you are to use is described in detail in the Pilot/Controller Glossary in the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM), available in the members-only section of AOPA Online.

When you are approaching an area of controlled airspace, your first transmissions will be determined by your objective. You will either be transiting an area and requesting VFR traffic advisories, sometimes referred to as flight following, or you will be landing at an airport with a control tower. Either way, your first transmission will be intended to notify the controller of your presence with your full call sign. You then wait for the controller to acknowledge your call and "say your request." If you are merely transiting an area or looking for traffic advisories, then your second transmission will be a request for flight following from your present position to your destination.

If you will be landing, then you need to have first listened to the automated terminal information system (ATIS), the prerecorded airport and weather information that control towers provide to inbound and outbound traffic. At the beginning and end of each ATIS is the code, which consists of a phonetic letters of the alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.). When the controller acknowledges your first transmission, you can tell him that you are landing and that you have the ATIS. Use the appropriate code to let him know that you have received the most recent information — for example, "Landing Jackson, I have Bravo."

Remember that before entering Class B airspace, you must specifically hear that you are "cleared to enter the Class Bravo" airspace. You do not need permission to enter Class C or Class D airspace, but you do need to establish two-way communications.

If you are receiving traffic advisories, then the controller will provide you with information on other traffic if her workload permits. The only requirement for you is to listen carefully for your call sign when the controller is trying to advise you of traffic. Nothing will tick off a controller faster than a pilot who isn't listening and requires repeated transmissions. It's one thing to misunderstand a transmission or ask a question to clarify something. It is something else to appear to be ignoring the person trying to talk to you.

When you are getting traffic advisories, an approach control facility will follow you for as long as you are within the limits of the facility's radar coverage. If you climb high enough during the en route portion of your flight, you might be transferred or handed off — with instructions to call another controller, possibly at a different facility, on another frequency — to the next tier in the air traffic control hierarchy: the ARTCC, called center. (You will keep your same transponder code unless the controller assigns you a new one, or your radar service is cancelled and you're instructed to squawk 1200.)

Centers generally control the en route airspace between the various approach and departure control facilities. Centers control vast quantities of airspace across the country — hundreds or thousands of square miles — divided into sectors. If you are flying from an airport in central Indiana to Texas, the first center you would talk to would be Indianapolis Center, followed by one or more of the following: Chicago Center, Kansas City Center, Memphis Center, and Fort Worth Center. Go farther south, and you will talk to Houston Center.

Whenever you are given a new frequency to contact, you should write it down and then tune the radio. Listen briefly to make sure that you won't interrupt a conversation or a transmission, then announce to the appropriate facility your full call sign and altitude. If the controller has not already been told where you are going (or forgets), he'll ask. Continue to listen for any transmissions addressed to you.

If the cruise portion of your flight is relatively low, then you might get passed from one approach control facility to another. If you will be out of radar contact, the controller will tell you when you will be in range of another, or instruct you to reset your transponder to 1200 and terminate your radar services (see "Aviation Speak: Squawk, Ident," September 2004 AOPA Flight Training).

There's one thing you need to keep in mind about approach control facilities. When you depart a tower-controlled field, the tower may ask you to "contact departure." Departure and approach are two different names for the same people. Sometimes the frequencies are different, but often they are not. The only difference is that approach controllers handle arriving traffic, and departure controllers handle (drum roll, please) traffic departing the airport. Sometimes, especially late at night, you'll hear the controller talk, and no airplane will respond. What's happening is that the controller is responsible for two or more frequencies, so be more aware of your call sign when this is going on.

When landing at a towered airport, you can expect the controller to give you headings, known as vectors, toward the airport. Some of them may not make sense, but the controller has a bigger picture than you do — they may be to ensure that you avoid other aircraft. In short order, he'll ask if you can see the runway. Make sure it's the right one at the right airport! If it is, you'll be told to "contact the tower" on the proper frequency. The tower will clear you to land when the conditions are deemed to be safe. After landing and clearing the runway, you'll probably be told to call the ground controller, but you may be asked to "stay with the tower" or just "monitor ground."

The U.S. air traffic control system is a marvel. It is the mechanism that allows this country to move more air traffic than anywhere else in the world. Best of all, it isn't that hard to use. If you spend some time listening, you'll find that there is a cadence to it, a rhythm that is easy to discern. While the conversation on a center frequency might be less hectic than that on an approach control frequency, you can easily fit in and take advantage of what the system has to offer. And you should.

Chip Wright is a 5,500-hour airline transport pilot and a captain for Comair. He is a flight instructor with instrument and multiengine ratings. In his spare time, he is building a Vans RV-8 kit airplane.