You can always ask ATC to “Say again,” or “Can you say that a little slower?”

If that’s too much for you to digest in one transmission, Cleared ILS Runway 21Īpproach.” Depending on location, you might even get a “Contact Tower whenĮstablished” or for an uncontrolled field, “whenĪble cancel IFR with me or call flight service.” Yes, there’s a lot going on Maintain 2500 until established on the localizer. It normally goes something like, “Cessna 12345, five miles from DAFIX. Use when setting someone up for an instrument approach procedure. For those unfamiliar, PTAC is an acronym that controllers Now, let’s briefly get into something a little moreĬomplicated, a PTAC. Incursions have gone down since then, but we’re always striving to improve Funįact: the main reason this rule was added as a requirement and put on the taxiĭiagrams was due to the increase in runway incursions back in the day. When we are talking to each other for a while without the required call. Stepped on the frequency and Tower did not hear it. It is because you may not have read back the entire clearance or maybe someone If you’re told to read back hold‑short instructions, Short of the left,” is insufficient because the runway name isn’t explicit. Note that a common variation, “Cessna 12345 holding Words “hold(ing) short,” and the precise runway name, otherwise, we go back andįorth until you say it.

Controllers are required to hear the call sign, the Pilots who don’t reply explicitly like to play what I call Says the word “runway” you should read back the explicit instruction: “Cessna 12345, holding short Runway 14L.” This is the proper Runway 14L.” The caution below appears on many charts, but have you reallyĪssimilated what it’s telling you? It’s simple. One of the most‑used examples is, “Tower, Cessna 12345, ready for departure, Runway 14L.” “Cessna 12345, Tower, hold short Let’s start out with a few simple examplesĪnd work our way up. You apply it? Does it require a readback? What do the books say, and what does One of the first things a student pilot learns is to listenĬarefully to an instruction and read it back. Wrong usually-but not always-has minor consequences. Of aviation, skipping the confirmation step and ultimately getting something Something and repeat it to make sure it’s right,Īnd the person who said it carefully listens to what you’ve repeated.

Hear back, read back is exactly what it says. A simple miscommunicationĪnd you are headed to a party in the wrong part of town. Hearing the information repeats it for confirmation. We both want to get it right, so the person We all do it often-we’re on the phone and want to write down important information

Pilot atc communications