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Posted

Hello! Some of you may have seen my introductory thread in the Flight Training forum, which began my first post on this site, and I thought I'd like to ask you been-there, done-that Pilots a question or two (for the sake of curiosity and conversation about Helicopters).

 

The only experience I myself have with talking over Radios "professionally" is as a Security Guard. I was wondering what Radio Traffic is like for a Helicopter Pilot--is the Pilot required to learn a slew of new terminology, are there required ways of responding/talking, is ACT difficult to understand or (at first) intimidating, and et cetera?

 

I haven't found a thread on this site covering this kind of thing, so I thought I'd ask!

 

Thanks for your time!

Posted

As a security guard, you probably use police alphabet codes vs. world or military phonetic alphabet. It is slightly different. When I was flying as a cop, the hardest thing was when talking to dispatch it was police alphabet, then when talking to ATC it was world/military....no big deal though.

 

It may be intimidating at first, but don't let this get to you. Your CFI will be there and instructing you on what to say at first. You'll catch on after a while. You may miss your call for a while, but the CFI will remind you, "hey, you gonna answer that?" to which you'll reply, "to what?"

 

When you need help on what to say, do this: ASK YOUR CFI. You are learning. Do not ever be afraid to ask a question or get help!

 

As far as ATC, they are very forgiving on new as well as old pilots. We all make mistakes.

Posted (edited)

this will help you understand the radio traffic for airfields

 

www.atclive.net

 

their site says it's under new construction, check back later. ( via www.atclive.cim)

Edited by 67november
Posted (edited)
As a security guard, you probably use police alphabet codes vs. world or military phonetic alphabet. It is slightly different. When I was flying as a cop, the hardest thing was when talking to dispatch it was police alphabet, then when talking to ATC it was world/military....no big deal though.

 

It may be intimidating at first, but don't let this get to you. Your CFI will be there and instructing you on what to say at first. You'll catch on after a while. You may miss your call for a while, but the CFI will remind you, "hey, you gonna answer that?" to which you'll reply, "to what?"

 

When you need help on what to say, do this: ASK YOUR CFI. You are learning. Do not ever be afraid to ask a question or get help!

 

As far as ATC, they are very forgiving on new as well as old pilots. We all make mistakes.

 

That's very welcome wisdom, Boatfixerguy, thank you much! I'm looking forward to all aspects of Flight Training, even the Radio part; I want to understand it all.

 

67 November, did you mean www.liveatc.net? That one worked for me, and I'm streaming ACT Radio from Seattle (I'm near Olympia) at the moment. www.atclive.net just redirects to other searches.

 

Thank you both! The Radio stream I'm listening to is... a bit overwhelming; everyone talks so fast.

Edited by Auladan
Posted
That's very welcome wisdom, Boatfixerguy, thank you much! I'm looking forward to all aspects of Flight Training, even the Radio part; I want to understand it all.

 

67 November, did you mean www.liveatc.net? That one worked for me, and I'm streaming ACT Radio from Seattle (I'm near Olympia) at the moment. www.atclive.net just redirects to other searches.

 

Thank you both! The Radio stream I'm listening to is... a bit overwhelming; everyone talks so fast.

 

 

you got it, just had it bakurds that's all :D

Posted
you got it, just had it bakurds that's all :D

 

Wow, this site is great! Thanks again 67november! Some of these ATC controllers are hilarious. Who's "above" ATC controllers, and how much... individuality do they generally allow? (I understand this is probably a stupid question)

Posted

What I like is when I forget to say something while transmitting. The tower then asks what it is that I forgot to say. I go "Oops, um... south departure.". Well, the guy in the tower is good about it, he even chuckles while talking.

 

These are good people and they're very helpful. I'll tell ya'll about the Napa incedent one of these days.

 

All-in-all, don't worry about screwing up. It'll get figured out in the end.

 

Later

Posted
Wow, this site is great! Thanks again 67november! Some of these ATC controllers are hilarious. Who's "above" ATC controllers, and how much... individuality do they generally allow? (I understand this is probably a stupid question)

 

The FAA is "above" all ATC facilities. there are a couple of private towers around, but 99.9% of all ATC is run by FAA people employed by the FAA. While they do grant ATC people a little bit of leeway, generally they have a strict phrasology they are supposed to keep to. FAA Order 7110.65, and the Pilot/Controller Glossary. Which both can be found HERE. Now granted, most will stray from the exact phrasing sometimes, and I've had plenty of weird and funny conversations with them. But there are some things they can't miss, otherwise it's bad news bears.

 

Good news though, you as a Pilot don't have to follow the exact phrasing like they do, you should do your best to learn it though but don't be afread, one thing I learned early on is even if you don't know the exact words for what you want, just do your best, and the controllers will figure it out, or ask you further so they can give you it. Don't worry about the radio, they are not gods, and they are human also, just speak up, tell them what you want even if it's as simple as "Tower, Copter16757, I'd like to move over to that one strange looking area just to the south of that big green building." they'll do their best to get you over there.

Posted
These are good people and they're very helpful. I'll tell ya'll about the Napa incedent one of these days.

 

DO tell about about the Napa Incident Witch.........

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