When do I change frq?

[ianbennett]

Hi,

I just completed my first flight on PE. It is fantastic, my stress level was so high, and my please also.

Down to my question: When should I change frq? In real life I am a VFR pilot in France, never flyer in the US.

Let's take an example and maybe someone can answer to me in each case:

1) I contact clearance, get my clearance. Will I be instructed to contact Grd to start up or should I switch to Grd by myself.
2) I contact Grd request startup, taxi to the holding point, when at the holding point should I switch to tower or wait for Grd to hand me over.
3) I contact twr, line up take off, should I switch to dep. or what for tower to hand me over.
4) I contact dep. fly up and away. Ddo I switch to centre or wait for dep. to hand me over.
5) Same question from centre to Arrival.
6) Same from Arr to Twr
7) I land exit the rwy, should I switch to Grd or first inform twr that the rwy is vacated and what for twr to hand me over to Grd.
8) I contact Grd taxi to ramp, during this taxi Grd says: " taxi to ramp, and have a nice day", when at the ramp do I call back Grd to confirm I will leave the frq or is it not necessary.

Thank you very much for your answers, from my experience in most cases I am to what for the tower to hand me over but I had the impression that I should have switch frq myself more often.

Regards,

Ian Bennett

[Steven Winslow]

As I understand and have learned by doing the ZLA ratings flights, these are the answers to your questions:

1) I contact clearance, get my clearance. Will I be instructed to contact Grd to start up or should I switch to Grd by myself. You contact Ground on your own. You will not be told to switch to Ground.
2) I contact Grd request startup, taxi to the holding point, when at the holding point should I switch to tower or wait for Grd to hand me over. You switch to Tower on your own when you reach the holding point. You will not be told to switch.
3) I contact twr, line up take off, should I switch to dep. or what for tower to hand me over. You do NOT switch to Departure UNTIL you are instructed to do so. Remain on Tower until you are told to switch to Departure.
4) I contact dep. fly up and away. Ddo I switch to centre or wait for dep. to hand me over. Wait for Departure to instruct you to switch.
5) Same question from centre to Arrival. Do not switch until told to do so.
6) Same from Arr to Twr Do not switch until told to do so.
7) I land exit the rwy, should I switch to Grd or first inform twr that the rwy is vacated and what for twr to hand me over to Grd. Do not switch to GND unless told to do so.
8) I contact Grd taxi to ramp, during this taxi Grd says: " taxi to ramp, and have a nice day", when at the ramp do I call back Grd to confirm I will leave the frq or is it not necessary. You do not have to make any further contact after GND says goodbye.

[Jason Baxter]

Generally you'll contact the next controller when you're leaving the controllers authority, how do you know. Well, usually you don't. Contacting delivery is usually the first point of contact when IFR, they don't controller ANY area whatsoever and are solely responsible for issuing (sometimes relaying) IFR clearances.

By and large control towers do not exercise control over non-movement areas, in real life these areas are clearly marked however as a general rule if it isn't a taxiway or a runway you don't need to talk to anyone to conduct your operations. The two exceptions are KSAN and KLAX, however, we don't simulate those operations so there isn't a need to call for pushback UNLESS you will enter a movement area in which case you would need controller permission.

Since Delivery isn't responsible for an area you can contact Ground on your own, when calling for taxi---or for anything in general you should be ready to perform that action right then. That is to say you should contact ground holding just clear of a taxiway and ready to move as opposed to when you're facing the gate haven't pushed back and the passengers are still stuffing their luggage.

After you're given taxi instructions and you make you're way to the runway and are holding short (or approaching and number 1) you may AUTOMATICALLY contact Tower, you need not receive a prompt from Ground, afterall Tower owns the runway and you're facing the runway with no place to go. It would be as though you were directed to someones house, make your way there then knock on the door. Taxiing outbound these 'doors' are obvious, in the air and inbound things aren't quite so simple.

Once tower gives you takeoff clearance floor it, once again do be actually ready for departure. A common error is for people to pull onto the runway and sit for minutes presumably performing the 'Before Takeoff' checklist, before calling ready for departure you should have radios/fmc etc. Once airborn remain on the tower frequency, a number of options are at Tower's disposal: they may have traffic, need to restrict your altitude, etc. You will be advised when to switch and likewise throughout the remainder of the flight you will be instructed when to change over.

As you approach the airport GENERALLY you should be in touch with Approach within 30nm of the runway and below 10,000 if one exists. You should GENERALLY be in contact with Tower 5 miles out below 3000. If you're near the final approach fix and still with approach a gentle prod to the controller may be in order. On landing remain on Tower frequency they usually issue taxi instructions off the runway and will pass you to Ground when needed, Tower DOES own taxiways these are generally the ones between close parallel runways but regardless remain on the frequency until instructed. If/When in contact with ground inbound you only need to be on the frequency until you leave the movement area, there is no need to call Ground or Delivery for flight plan closure or to request 'engine shut-down'.

[ianbennett]

Thanks Steve and Jason this is a very good help

Regards

Ian

[TexFly]

Great post. I'm going to create a cheat-sheet from this and bring it with me during flight! I have cleaned up the text a bit.

Anyone...feel free to pitch in and adjust...until is right! So we can share if interested.

*****************************************
1) I contact CLEARANCE, get my clearance. Contact GROUND on your own. You will not be told to switch to Ground.
2) I contact Ground request startup, taxi to the holding point, when at the holding point switch to TOWER on your own when you reach the holding point. You will not be told to switch.
3) I contact tower, line up take off. You do NOT switch to DEPARTURE UNTIL you are instructed to do so. Remain on Tower until you are told to switch to Departure.
4) I contact dep. fly up and away. Wait for DEPARTURE to instruct you to switch to CENTER.
5) Same question from centre to ARRIVAL. Do not switch until told to do so.
6) Same from ARRIVAL to TOWER Do not switch until told to do so.
7) I land exit the rwy. Do not switch to GROUND unless told to do so.
8) I contact Ground taxi to ramp, during this taxi Ground says: "taxi to ramp, and have a nice day". You do not have to make any further contact after GND says goodbye.
****************************************

Thanks.

[TexFly]

Here it is a new version:

******************************
ATC COMMUNICATION SEQUENCE LIST
1)Contact CLEARANCE, get clearance.
2)Contact GROUND on your own. You will not be told to switch to Ground. Request startup, taxi to the holding point,
3)When at the holding point switch to TOWER on your own. You will not be told to switch.
4)Line up and take off after authorization. Remain on TOWER, DO NOT switch to DEPARTURE UNTIL instructed to do so.
5)Contact DEPARTURE fly up and away. Wait for DEPARTURE to instruct you to switch to CENTER.
6)Same protocol from CENTER to ARRIVAL. Do not switch until told to do so.
7)Same from ARRIVAL to TOWER. Do not switch until told to do so.
8)After landing on the RWY still TOWER. Do not switch to GROUND unless told to do so.
9)Contact GROUND, taxi to ramp, during this taxi Ground says: "taxi to ramp, and have a nice day". You do not have to make any further contact after GND says goodbye.
******************************

[arb65912]

You can also say "have a nice day" after Ground says bye.

[TexFly]

...no waste of time here. We are flying, tower is busy, cut out the exceeding words!

[arb65912]

...no waste of time here. We are flying, tower is busy, cut out the exceeding words!

After the Ground says good bye, you are not flying anywhere, you shut down the plane and pay landing fee...