In the real world, would this series of tower communication be typical during the landing phase (IE multiple data items in a single transmission)?
• If so, wouldn’t the co-pilot normally be responsible for radio communications while the PF focused on the airplane?
• As I would like to one day get my real world license, I want to learn how to manage the process of flying. So I’m interested in understanding the ATC/pilot flow. I’m not interested in “special” treatment.
• As a single pilot in a normally two pilot airplane, are there any “tips or tricks” to manage ATC communications during high workload situations? Or is this just an example of “aviate navigate communicate”?
A lot of this comes to experience and expectations. You should expect that tower will give you exiting instructions as you slow down on the runway. Those exiting instructions will frequently contain runway crossings, hold shorts, and a frequency to contact ground.
The only "news" in that transmission is the instruction to hold short of Bravo. The instruction to cross the parallel is expected (it was going to be that, or hold short of 25R" if there were any departures. The ground frequency isn't new...that should be programmed into the stdby slot on the radio after you swap to tower from the approach. The 'exit at the next high speed' is standard, and expected.
One technique to 'remember' all these is to visualize the instructions as they're issued. Then you simply replay the visualization in your mind and readback the various steps ("exit next right, cross 25R, short of Bravo, contact ground").
To your questions, then:
- yes, those are realistic comms, as Ryan responded.
- the PNF would normally work the radios, yes...but single pilot airplanes would be given the same instructions (I've landed a JFK, DFW, & ATL with my airplane and received instructions like those).
- I don't find the workload during critical phases of flying to be much higher in the CRJ than in, say, a Baron. Sure, it takes way longer to run the checklists at the gate for startup, but once you're underway, there isn't a lot more to it. "Aviate, navigate, communicate" is over used, in my opinion. The reality is that pilots have to be good at doing all 3 at once. It's really only when you're at absolute capacity that you need to start shedding load or reducing the amount of simultaneous tasks that you're doing.
I'll give you an example. During instrument training, shortly after receiving the dreaded approach clearance, "N123AB, 5 from the marker, fly heading 330, maintain 2000 until established on the localizer, cleared ILS RWY 30 approach, contact tower at the marker 120.50," it's common for instrument students to wheel out the "aviate, navigate, communicate" clunker from the freezer.... slowly executing the turn, starting a descent, and then eventually responding to the instruction. A more seasoned pilot will start the turn and descent while the instruction is being received, or at the very least, while they're reading it back. And the read back is given immediately after the instruction. That's what you should be aiming for. All of this requires a good amount of training and practice, though, to the point where you can construct the entire approach clearance (sans the altitude, perhaps, because you don't have all the required info to know what alt might be issued on the final vector) ahead of time, before it's given.
That way, when it IS given, you're way ahead of the airplane, and the controller's instruction. In other words, you're not busy that you can't do all 3 tasks at once.
Hope this helps!
Cheers, AJ