Real-Life Communication
Communication between pilots and the air traffic controllers is
absolutely critical to a safe flight. To make sure everybody understands what
is being said, a standard terminology is always used. And it's mandatory to
double-check procedures.
For example, if the controller says, "climb
and maintain 12,000," the pilot repeats back, "climb and maintain 12,000."
The
system is meant to eliminate confusion and save lives.
One tragic example
of a failure to communicate was a Korean Air jet that crashed in 1997. The
controllers were saying one thing, and the pilots were repeating back another.
It's
clear that communication problems played a part in the crash. Mechanical failure
was another factor.
You're a pilot. You know that there are accepted
patterns of communication that must be strictly followed. The basic guidelines
for initial contact are:
- Give the name of the facility being called, plus the word radio
- Give your full aircraft identification
- Identify the type of message to follow
- Say the word "over" at end of communication
Now that you have the structure, here's the situation:
- You are flying your small prop-engine Arrow airplane. There is just yourself
and one passenger on-board. It is not a commuter flight.
- You are six miles away from your destination airport, and you need to
know what the air traffic is like. This is important because you need to know
if you can fly right in, or if you should slow down or circle for a while
before making your final approach.
- You open the radio channel to make contact with the Phoenix Tower. Create
a message to the air traffic control tower using the following information:
- You are calling Phoenix Tower.
- Your plane is called Arrow fcrf.
- Pilots and control towers use the phonetic alphabet when spelling out
letters. Therefore, A B C D E turns into Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo....
An aircraft registered as FCRF would become "Foxtrot Charlie Romeo Foxtrot"
on the radio.
- You need traffic advisory information to land.
Here's the conversation. Fill in your side:
You:
Tower:
"Arrow fcrf Phoenix radio go ahead."
You:
Tower: "crf altimeter
is 29.91 wind is 170 at 8 active runway is 16 we have 3 in the circuit report
joining will report joining crf."
You:
"On the first call to
the tower, pilots must fully identify themselves," says flight instructor
Russell Yuen. "Therefore, they have to introduce themselves as 'Foxtrot Charlie
Romeo Foxtrot.' After initial call is made, we can drop the first letter.
It's kind of like human conversation, when you are introducing yourself to
someone, you might say, 'Hi, I am Joe Smith.' After initial conversation,
your friend will start calling you Joe."