RADIO CALLS

[Vance]

I have been intending to write something instructive about radio calls because for some of my clients radio work is the hard part. I have made several aborted attempts.

I find that the subject quickly expands to where it feels unmanageable to me in a short story.

The basics of most radio calls are: Who am I talking to? Who am I? Where am I? What am I intending to do?

An acknowledgement or a clearance is simply a repeat of what I heard and understood.

I also run into divergent cultures at various airports so to avoid all that complexity I thought I would share the radio calls on a recent flight from Santa Maria, CA (KSMX) with an operating control tower to Santa Ynez, CA (KIZA) a non towered airport and the return flight.

Santa Maria Public airport is not very busy and the tower prefers I get everything out on initial contact.

Some busier towers prefer a call sign and request and getting the rest of the information when they are ready. This is particularly true if a controller is working several frequencies.

At a non towered radio work is about communication so it is very much situational.

If I feel there is a conflict I will report more than if the skies are empty.

Because it is about communication I ask questions when I don’t understand something.

There is good guidance in the Aeronautical Information Manual including a pilot/controller glossary.

This is about radio calls and the very basics of aviation; you can see from the pictures it was a lovely flight.

For those not working on their pilot’s certificate or are already proficient on the radio this may be tedious and uninteresting. My hope is to help those who feel unsure on the radio and solicit questions about the why of things. If I included all the whys it would have been much longer so please ask if you have questions and I am open to suggestions if you feel you have a better way. To avoid confusion I did not include the phonetic spelling for the phonetic pronunciation.

It is rare for SMX or IZA to have more than five aircraft in the pattern and this was a weekday afternoon so neither was busy despite great weather for flying.

I did not file a flight plan or ask for flight following.

After doing a careful preflight inspection, checking the weather with flight service and planed my route.

I followed the startup check list in front of my hangar and the engine settled into a steady idle.

Because of the kind of radar SMX has I turn the transponder on but don’t go to mode C (altitude reporting) until I am ready for departure.

I check the ATIS (automated terminal information system AKA current weather at 121.15) at Santa Maria. The current ATIS was Mike.

I made some notes and filled out my radio call sheet on my kneeboard and changed to the ground frequency (121.9).

I taxied up to the non movement area boundary makings being careful to not cross the line with any part of the aircraft before getting a clearance from ground.

I keyed the mike and announced: “Santa Maria Ground, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf at Taxiway Mike with information Mike, request taxi to Runway Three Zero.”

The ground controller responded with: “Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, taxi to runway Three Zero via Alpha, Alpha Eight.”

I acknowledged the clearance with: “Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, taxi to runway Three Zero via Alpha, Alpha Eight.”

It is about a mile from Mike to Alpha Eight so after looking in all directions for conflicting traffic I taxied to Alpha Eight making note of what the winds socks were doing.

SMX has six wind socks and they are often blowing in different directions showing different wind speeds. In this case they were all flaccid because winds were calm.

When I reached Alpha Eight (the run up area at SMX for runway Three Zero) I went through my pre takeoff check list including a magneto check, changed the transponder to mode C which also turns on the ADS-B out and after I taxied up to the hold short line I change to the tower frequency (118.3) keyed the mike and announced: “Santa Maria Tower, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, holding short of runway three zero at Alpha Eight, ready for departure, request a right down wind departure to the South East.”

The Tower controller responded: “Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, runway Three Zero clear for takeoff, straight out for now.”

I acknowledge the clearance with: “Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, Runway Three Zero clear for takeoff, straight out for now.”

After takeoff before I reached the end of the runway Tower controller said: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, right down wind departure to the South East approved.”

I responded with: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, right down wind departure to the South East approved.”

About six miles from SMX over the green hills I heard from the tower controller: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, frequency change approved.”

I acknowledge the call with: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf frequency change approved.”

Ten miles to South East I tuned to the Automated Weather Observation System at IZA (118.075) and It is a week signal with hills in the way so I climbed up to 2,200 feet MSL before I received the signal. Winds were reported 220 degrees at eight knots favoring runway 26 with about a five knot cross wind component from the left. IZA was still about 16 miles away.

After I received the weather and made a note about the wind I tuned to the Santa Ynez common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) (122.8) when I was still about 15 miles out and listened.

At ten miles I keyed the mike and announced: “Santa Ynez Traffic, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, Ten miles to the North West over Highway 101 at one thousand, seven hundred feet, inbound for left traffic runway Two Six to land, Santa Inez.”

I followed the 101 past Buellton and my next call was: “Santa Ynez Traffic, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, Five miles to the west over the quarry at one thousand, seven hundred feet, inbound for left traffic, runway two six to land, slow moving at 65kts, Santa Ynez.”

A Bonanza called; “Santa Ynez Traffic, Bonanza N____ ten miles to the north west descending through four thousand feet inbound to land, Santa Ynez”.

I soon called: “Santa Ynez Traffic, Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf inbound on the forty five over the river bridge, left traffic for runway two six negative contact on the inbound Bonanza, Santa Ynez.”

Mid Field Downwind I called; “Santa Ynez Traffic, Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf left downwind mid field to land, still negative contact on the inbound Bonanza, Santa Ynez.”

Before turning base I called; “Santa Ynez Traffic, Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf turning left base for runway two six to land, Santa Ynez.”

The inbound Bonanza called; “Santa Ynez traffic Bonanza N_____ flying overhead for left traffic for runway two six to land, Santa Ynez.”

I searched the sky where the Bonanza pilot had reported and still could not find the Bonanza.

Before turning final I called: “Santa Ynez traffic, Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf turning final for runway two six to land, Santa Ynez.”

Once clear of runway two six I announced: “Santa Ynez traffic, Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, clear of runway two Six, at Charlie, taxi to fuel, Santa Ynez.”

I was stopped at fuel before the Bonanza made his call to final.

To be continued; the return to SMX

 

[Vance]

After fuelling up and visiting with some friends; I filled out my log book and worked through my preflight check list.

I checked the AWOS and winds were 290 degrees at twelve knots giving me a six knot cross wind component for takeoff.

I keyed the Mike and said: “Santa Ynez Traffic, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf at self serve, taxi to runway Two Six.”

I taxied to the run up area for runway two six and did my magneto check, worked through my pre-takeoff check list and changed the transponder to mode C.

There were three aircraft on the CTAF, a Bellanca was taxiing to depart runway two six, a Cessna 172 ten miles to the North West and a Cirrus making a straight in over the dam for runway two six.

When I was ready I keyed the mike and said: “Santa Inez area traffic, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf lining up for takeoff runway two six for a two hundred ten degree departure with a turn to the west over the riverbed, Santa Ynez.” The two hundred ten degree departure is for noise abatement over the Chumash Casino and puts me head to head with inbound traffic on the forty five for runway two six.

The takeoff was quick and easy and she climbed out nicely. Over the end of the runway I turned to a heading of two hundred ten degrees and called: “Santa Ynez traffic, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf departing runway two six on a heading of two hundred ten degrees, climbing through eight hundred feet and turning west over the river bed, Santa Ynez.”

I heard a radio call: “Santa Inez traffic, Cessna 172 N_______ ten miles to the west at 2,500 feet inbound to land, Santa Inez.”

This indicated to me I would be nose to nose with The Cessna in about three minutes and I expected him to be descending.

I keyed the mike and said: “Santa Ynez traffic, Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf , four miles to the west over the riverbed at one thousand seven hundred feet, departing to the north, Santa Ynez.”

The departing aircraft and three arriving aircraft worked it out as I climbed over the foothills. I found the radio communications to be unusually helpful and was surprised there was not more traffic on such a lovely day.

I stayed on frequency till I was ten miles from the airport turning north west over the foothills changing to the Lompoc CTAF eventually reaching two thousand five hundred feet marveling at the beauty of the Pacific in the distance and the dancing shadows from the hills.

At about twelve miles south of SMX I checked the ATIS and it was information Oskar with winds at two eight zero degrees at ten knots, runway three zero was in use. The altimeter setting was 30.10.

I tuned to tower frequency and after listening for a bit before I announced; “Santa Maria tower, Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, ten miles to the south at 1,300 feet inbound to land with information Oskar.

The tower replied: “Experimental Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf fly direct to runway three zero and report four miles.”

I replied: “Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, I would prefer a left base entry for runway three zero.”

The tower responded: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, expect a left base entry for runway three zero, report the Orcutt Y.”

I responded with: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, expect a left base entry for runway three zero, report the Orcutt Y.”

Over the Orcutt Y I keyed the mike and said: “Gyroplane two Mike Golf over the Orcutt Y.”

The tower responded: “Gyroplane One Four Two Mike Golf, runway three zero clear to land.”

I responded: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, Runway Three Zero clear to land.”

After touchdown tower said: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, Right at Alpha six, left on Alpha right on Mike, monitor ground.”

I repeated: “Gyroplane Two Mike Golf, Right at Alpha Six, left on Alpha, right on Mike, monitor ground.”

I shut down in front of the hangar and sat in the afterglow for about twenty minutes and thought about what I would write and how I would write it. I had all my calls on the video so I used that as my template.

 

[Resasi]

Vance this post is a very good example for many who as beginner gyro pilots will not have had the exposure to radio use as those who have had fixed wing time and operated from tower controlled airports. Use of the radio can be intimidating, even for those who go from a low traffic airport to one that is much busier.

As a PPL holder and having used the radio in UK, on my arrival to Opt Locka in Miami, which at the time was the third busiest airport in the US, on my first exposure to the radio traffic I thought that it would simply be impossible for me ever to be able to manage. Slow steady exposure and soon confidence and ability built.

The sort of example above that you have so clearly given, is clear and an excellent introduction for beginners.

 

[Vance]

Vance this post is a very good example for many who as beginner gyro pilots will not have had the exposure to radio use as those who have had fixed wing time and operated from tower controlled airports.Use of the radio can be intimidating, even for this who go from a low traffic airport to one that is much busier.

As a PPL holder and having used the radio in UK, on arrival to Opt Locka in Miami, which at the time was the third busiest airport in the US, on my first exposure to the radio traffic I thought that it would simply be impossible for me ever to be able to manage. Slow steady exposure and soon confidence and ability build. The sort of example above that you have so clearly given, is clear and an excellent introduction for beginners.

Thank you Leigh, I struggled with this because it quickly became too complicated if I tried to explain everything about radio calls. So much of it is situational so I decided to just do a simple flight and even that expanded beyond a thousand words.

Being at ease on the radio is all about practice and thinking about clearer, quicker ways to communicate.

I was nearly hit on the runway by someone giving great radio calls but not listening.

I feel listening is an important part of communication.

Giving flight reviews I find many people have developed bad radio habits.

I see people struggling with it so I tried to help.

 

[WaspAir]

Vance, what is it about the radar at SMX that changes the ADS-B / transponder usage there? AIM 4-1-20 a. 3. says to turn it all on while on the ground in all movement areas at all airports, presumably to help with ground radar systems to track taxi and for runway incursion prevention.

My glider club has been requested to follow the formation flight rules (AIM 4-1-20 subsection g note) while towing (only the "lead" tow plane squawking) because it sets off collision alarms with two aircraft so close, and towing actually is a form of formation flight, so it makes sense. Is there a local ATC request (maybe on ATIS?) to turn it off?

 

[Vance]

Vance, what is it about the radar at SMX that changes the ADS-B / transponder usage there? AIM 4-1-20 a. 3. says to turn it all on while on the ground in all movement areas at all airports, presumably to help with ground radar systems to track taxi and for runway incursion prevention.

My glider club has been requested to follow the formation flight rules (AIM 4-1-20 subsection g note) while towing (only the "lead" tow plane squawking) because it sets off collision alarms with two aircraft so close, and towing actually is a form of formation flight, so it makes sense. Is there a local ATC request (maybe on ATIS?) to turn it off?

What I have been told is the radar at SMX gives them collision alarms with straight in traffic for runway three zero when I am on taxiway Alpha heading to Alpha Eight with my transponder on mode C so the air traffic controllers request I not turn to mode C until I am ready for departure.

There is nothing on ATIS about it.

I try to get along with the air traffic controllers because I deal with them often and I am trouble when trying to teach radio.

More than once I have been told it is not their job to teach my learners radio.

For transients ground requests that they turn off mode C when on the ground.

 

[WaspAir]

I certainly agree with "getting along" with ATC whenever possible.

At least one of my aircraft has a "gnd" setting on the Mode S transponder that might be intended to address the SMX situation.

 

[Vance]

I certainly agree with "getting along" with ATC whenever possible.

At least one of my aircraft has a "gnd" setting on the Mode S transponder that might be intended to address the SMX situation.

It seems to work if I have the transponder on but not in mode C.

The SMX radar was the latest radar at one time and they never learned to use all its features. It is no longer the latest and they still have not learned to use all the features.

 

[Sv.grainne]

Vance:

Calls here marginally different. Non towered airfields, students announcing touch and goes, me announcing stop and gos but lots of other traffic announcing full stop when coming in and ending. Helps sort out what's going on.

 

[Eric S]

One of my early CFIs described radio calls this way:

"Hey you, this is me, I'm here, I'm going there, hey you."

Llano traffic, white gyroplane 5 miles SE, entering a left downwind on a 45 for 13 on the grass strip, Llano.

Llano traffic, white gyroplane at the fuel pumps, taxiing to 17, Llano

 

[FarmerTed]

Thanks Vance! I definitely would need help in radio communication when the time comes. I downloaded an app on my phone to listen to airports but seems like so many pilots talk so fast I can't understand what they're saying. Like deciphering a Dr.'s handwriting.

The basics of most radio calls are: Who am I talking to? Who am I? Where am I? What am I intending to do?

With this statement you could almost turn it into Who, What, Where and Why...the four things you need to remember. (Who) you're talking to. (What) am I. (Where) am I. (Why) you are communicating.

 

[Vance]

Thanks Vance! I definitely would need help in radio communication when the time comes. I downloaded an app on my phone to listen to airports but seems like so many pilots talk so fast I can't understand what they're saying. Like deciphering a Dr.'s handwriting.

Your welcome Ted.

What you will find with practice is there are than many different things said so it become multiple choice.

Even if you miss some it you can figure out what the communication was.

 

[BEN S]

Kings Ground School ised to say "Order a Pizza"
Who you are, where you are, what you want before hang up make sure they know who you are again"

 

[nishanh]

Did all my helicopter training at Torrance airport (KTOA). The format I was taught is:

Who you are talking to
Who you are
Where you are
What you want to do

"Torrance tower, helicopter 8491A, Rolling Hills Aviation, Northeast departure with Delta"

I also recommend the very helpful book "Say again, please" as a guide to radio comms.

 

[Grodou]

Interesting thread, Vance. Thanks for sharing.

Could not help to notice difference with European communication pattern:
When acknowledging clearance or giving read back, we don't start but close the msg with our call sign.

"Cleared to land, runway zero six, gyroplane fox golf echo."

Have a tendance to say European as this was standard communication on a recent trip across 4 countries.

 

[Vance]

Interesting thread, Vance. Thanks for sharing.

Could not help to notice difference with European communication pattern:
When acknowledging clearance or giving read back, we don't start but close the msg with our call sign.

"Cleared to land, runway zero six, gyroplane fox golf echo."

Have a tendance to say European as this was standard communication on a recent trip across 4 countries.

Your welcome, It was mostly aimed at FAA pilots.

In the USA everything is mean sea level and we are not interested in above ground level except for ceiling.

Many pilots in the USA put the call sign last..

My reason for the registration first is so the controller knows who is talking before they attach a meaning to it.

To many air traffic controllers it makes no difference and there is no rule about it..

 

[Sv.grainne]

I always start with Kerrville traffic, experimental Gyro 46 Lima Whiskey....

 

[WaspAir]

There are several possible ailments to consider in radio use. One is "mic fright", which has featured in the discussion here. Another is "ATC overload", in which the torrent of rapid fire information from a controller is too much to process in a timely manner.

For the second ailment, knowing what response / instructions are likely to come, and what order to expect for the information, helps a great deal. I used to fly rotorcraft around the JFK LGA EWR airspace, and those controllers talk faster than an auctioneer who has an urgent need for a bathroom (ORD has the same affliction). When they start dumping numbers at you for call sign, heading, altitude, squawk code, speed restrictions, victor route, and frequency change, you need to know their standard order so that you can keep it straight and make sense of it.

 

[okikuma]

Back in the 1970s to about the mid 80s, Van Nuys Airport was experiencing 500K - 600K take offs and landings a year with weekends being the busiest time in operations. At that time, Van Nuys was a joint Military/Civilian use airport. There were six flight school/rental/FBOs on the airfield with 30 - 60 aircraft in each fleet. Close to a total of 2,000 GA aircraft were based on the airfield. There were three Business Jet charter operations, and the 146th Airlift Wing, CA ANG with 16 C-130s. LAPD and LAFD based their maintenance facility on the airfield long with other commercial helo operators. It was not uncommon to have up to 20 students working the pattern practicing touch and go(s) on 16L and multiple arrivals and departures (VFR & IFR) of GA, Business Jet and C-130s on 16R. Needless to say, radio traffic was extremely high. Nevertheless, there were few if any incidents due to miscommunication. All radio procedures were concise and tight. To all who regularly flew in and out of Van Nuys including myself, that was completely normal. All the controllers during that time were absolutely fantastic. They were always professional and calm.

Wayne

 

[DavePA11]

Don’t forget some aircraft do not have radios like the old 1946 Piper Cubs if not using a handheld radio so keep looking for traffic at uncontrolled airports!

Flying out here in Colorado I had my first experience having the tower request a 360 while on downwind. Wonder what other requests I haven’t experienced? I wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted so asked to to repeat…