Ask a Controller

[Echo Tango]

New to the forum, looking to build a Onex in the near future, but thought I'd introduce myself by giving back the only way I know how- offering insight into the world on the other side of the radio.

Fire away, but keep in mind the scope of my knowledge is limited to low altitude radar/tower stuff. I also do not work in a busy class bravo, but I'll do my best to answer those types of questions if they come up. Hopefully I can learn from you guys not only during the build process, but also from the pilot's seat. I do have my private, but flying right now is limited to about an hour of ground and flight instruction every two years ;)

-- Frank

[chris]

Welcome Frank.

Its good to have a controller here. I can't think of anything specific to ask because my current flying is similar to yours.

Can you give us a top 10 or 5 or 3 pet peeves/mistakes that you hear frequently on the radio from pilots?

[Echo Tango]

lol, Sure can!

Read-backs. It's my job to ensure everything you say back to me as a pilot is correct. Some pilots feel very adamantly that they only need to say the last three digits of their callsign, which is correct (the only readback requirement is a runway hold-short instruction), but you're sticking your own neck out when you do this. And it happens to me almost every week at work, where I give an instruction, I get an incomplete readback or a "One-Hotel-Xray," and the pilot doesn't do what they were instructed. That's a pilot deviation. While most go "unnoticed" or ignored, if someone wants to bust you for it, they can. The solution is to just toss the information back to the controller, and then the controller is liable for verifying the information coming back to him is correct.

Lengthy calls on initial contact. While this might sound contrary to what was just said about readbacks, we need very little information when you call for flight following/landing/entering airspace. The old addage "Who you are, where you are, and what you want," while good advice, sometimes gets expanded on to the point where it becomes a disservice to the others on the frequency (missed approach clearances, control instruction, jets leveling off at low altitudes, etc...). A good rule of thumb is to simply state "XXX approach, experimental 123, 20 south, landing with kilo," or
"XXX approach, experimental 123, 20 north, request flight following Bravo India Victor." To which I reply "experimental XXX approach, squawk 4503." I then radar ID you, read you the altimeter, and give you any appropriate instructions or advisories. Done. It's all too common to get a person's whole life story (where they departed, what lake they are over, why they are going to their destination and that they will be transitioning my airspace, which is a given or they wouldn't be calling me ;) ). If I'm not busy, sometimes it's nice to talk conversationally, but OSH week isn't one of them! ;)

The only other thing I can think of switching frequencies without notification, or when given a frequency to switch to, not replying. Both end up with me making calls to adjacent facilities and multiple transmissions to try to re-establish communication.

Hope this all doesn't sound too negative!

[radfordc]

One question...why do controllers talk so fast! I understand needing to keep the freq open but it's to the point I can only understand about half what I'm hearing.

[chris]

"XXX approach, experimental 123, 20 north, request flight following Bravo India Victor."

Flight following question. I've heard some people suggest just saying "XXX approach, experimental 123, VFR request" for the initial contact before going on with the flight following request in case the controller is busy. What do you think of that?

It looks like what you said would be much quicker or the same time even if you have to repeat it once.

[Mike53]

One question...why do controllers talk so fast! I understand needing to keep the freq open but it's to the point I can only understand about half what I'm hearing.

Reading your question reminded me of this from Avweb.
August 1, 2011




Back in the mid-'80s, Piedmont Airlines began flying out of Worcester airport (ORH) in Massachusetts to Baltimore/Washington International airport (BWI). A flight crew requested their IFR clearance, and I dutifully rattled it off to them in typical New England air traffic control fashion. As I concluded, the response I received in a thick Southern drawl was priceless:

Airplane 1234:
"Woostasure clearance

[Echo Tango]

I'm one of the worst offenders of talking fast at my facility, but I do have some methodology behind it. Research has demonstrated that adults can listen with full comprehension at 300 wpm. Auctioneers generally speak in the 250 word per minute range. I'm probably somewhere around 180-200 if I'm hopping. The reason that I, personally, talk fast is that about 50% of what is coming out of my mouth has little to no use to the pilot. For instance, on a departing aircraft, about 50% of the phraseology is facility identification, radar identification, your callsign, and then two simple instructions. I might rattle off the first part so fast your head spins, but when it comes to the important things like "Turn left heading (slow speech rate) three-two-zero" and "climb and maintain (slow speech rate) eight-thousand," I generally slow the cadence down so that the emphasis is on the slow words.

Let me show you in a different way. I will make the words with little to no use to you in upper-case. "CESSNA TWO TWO XRAY, XXX DEPARTURE, RADAR CONTACT, CLIMB AND maintain 8-thousand, turn left HEADING two..seven..zero." 8 words are of use to you, 11 are not. In other words, you hear the unimportant things like your call-sign, and my identification, and it goes through your head, but the brain really has no reason to actively process it, so sometimes we just don't feel the need to say them slowly.

On the other hand, if i'm issuing a clearance to a pilot, it doesn't do anybody any good to talk quickly. If you're writing something down, the controller shouldn't be talking quickly, because you're just going to ask for it to be repeated. Some controllers will say everything too quickly (and often-times not very clearly), and it can be to the point where it is counter-productive. I try not to do that. Sometimes all hell is breaking loose, and some people will react by naturally talking faster as adrenaline kicks in (unintentionally). That's generally the time to slow things down and work BETTER, not faster.

I will certainly take any input you have on the matter. Half the controllers are on one side of the issue and half are on the other.

[Echo Tango]

Back in the mid-'80s, Piedmont Airlines began flying out of Worcester airport (ORH) in Massachusetts to Baltimore/Washington International airport (BWI). A flight crew requested their IFR clearance, and I dutifully rattled it off to them in typical New England air traffic control fashion. As I concluded, the response I received in a thick Southern drawl was priceless:

Airplane 1234:
"Woostasure clearance

[Echo Tango]

"XXX approach, experimental 123, 20 north, request flight following Bravo India Victor."

Flight following question. I've heard some people suggest just saying "XXX approach, experimental 123, VFR request" for the initial contact before going on with the flight following request in case the controller is busy. What do you think of that?

It looks like what you said would be much quicker or the same time even if you have to repeat it once.

Absolutely. If we're busy, that's all we need to know. Just make sure you're not about to fly into class C/D/B before we get back to you. The other stuff is just controller preference. Your mileage will vary. I PREFER to know distance and direction from an airport/navaid and where you're going, because I can usually look up, see your "V" before I give you a code, formulate a plan, and then Radar ID you. But like I said, that's preference. Both ways are 100% correct. The issues arise when the transmissions become 30 seconds long and the information is incomplete. Keep it around 5 seconds, and nobody will bat an eye. In fact, you'll probably get excellent service as a result because we'll know we won't have to hold your hand.

[Andy Walker]

Absolutely. If we're busy, that's all we need to know. Just make sure you're not about to fly into class C/D/B before we get back to you. The other stuff is just controller preference. Your mileage will vary. I PREFER to know distance and direction from an airport/navaid and where you're going, because I can usually look up, see your "V" before I give you a code, formulate a plan, and then Radar ID you. But like I said, that's preference. Both ways are 100% correct. The issues arise when the transmissions become 30 seconds long and the information is incomplete. Keep it around 5 seconds, and nobody will bat an eye. In fact, you'll probably get excellent service as a result because we'll know we won't have to hold your hand.

I know you get it when we squawk, but I thought a flight following request includes altitude, something like:

"Experimental 123X, two south of Podunk, level five thousand five hundred, request flight following."