Newbie question on ATC interaction

[arb65912]

Hello,

I am a student pilot so please be patient with me.

Let's say I was told to contact NorCal Departure on xxx.yy frequency.
I transmit :" N33A, xxx.yy, good day"

I switch to a new frequency and say:" NorCal Departure, Warrior 4333A"
Controller responds:" Warrior 33A, climb and maintain 5000'"

Now the question, when I read back " climb and maintain 5000'" to the controller, do I start the transmission with " NorCal Departure" or just read back :" climb and maintain 5000', Warrior 33A"?

Thank you.

[Nick Adams]

i usually just say "climb and maintain 5k, Warrior 33A"

I don't think there is a need to say the controller unless you are initiating the transmission.

[Andrew Doubleday]

If you're initiating the call, you should start with the facility name you are speaking with, who you are, and what you'd like to do in that order. If you're just responding to a control instruction, you do not need to re-address the facility in the response. Just readback the instruction followed by your callsign as stated above - that should suffice almost every time.'

In the example you posted you would want to check initially check in with the departure controller along the lines of, "Norcal Departure, Warrior 4333A, 1,200 for 2,000" (stating the altitude on initial contact is helpful during the radar identification process to confirm that your mode C is indicating the correct altitude). You may even want to consider tacking on any other restrictions that may have been placed on your aircraft such as a heading assignment off of a departure procedure or a certain type of departure you may be flying just as a helpful reminder in case the controller was not aware of the information... Anything you might feel could be potentially helpful in aiding to the controller positively identifying you is good.

Once identified by Norcal, "Warrior 4333A, Norcal departure, radar contact, climb and maintain 5,000" you could then readback along the lines stated above, "climb and maintain 5,000, Warrior 4333A."

Think of it in more simple terms of you having a conversation with someone that hasn't quite finished yet... You wouldn't say the name of the person you are talking with repetitively if you had already been exchanging questions and answers back to back as it's implied that the question or comment was for you to begin with.

Hope the information helps out.

[arb65912]

Thank you very much.
It makes perfect sense.
If the response ( mine ) is immediate after controller establishes contact with me , no reason to call Norcal departure at the beginning of the transmission again.

[Phil_ANW]

I don't want to hijack this post, but I wanted to ask a question which was along the lines of ATC Interaction. I think one of the confusing things for me with VFR and ATC Interation is when a pilot is NOT doing flight following. My question concerrns pilot contact with ATC when on a a short flight between 2 two towered airports. After the pilot takes off from the departure airport and after being released from SOCAL departure when does he/she next make ATC contact, is it when the pilot is requesting clearance to land at the arrival airport or is it when entering another airspace, such as class C while enroute? This is probably a fundamental question, but one that has been frustrating me for a while. Sometimes I think IFR would be easier because ATC hands you off to the next ATC personnel and there is no guess work involved. Thanks in advance!

[Colin Levy]

It all just depends Phil. If you are flying VFR without flight following, and you are going to enter another airports class C airspace for example, you will need to contact that tower controller for the transition through his airspace. If you will not enter any controlled airspace between takeoff and landing, you will just contact the arriving airport tower controller prior to entering his airspace. I find it fun transitioning through other airspaces on my VFR flights, keeps me on the radio at all times.

[Phil_ANW]

Thanks Colin, that was helpful!

[Daddy O]

Actually I have wondered about that same question when flying between towered airports. In AZ airports are far away from each other so that is rarely a problem.

Riddle me this Batman; what is the current range at which you should contact tower to tell them you are inbound VFR? Is it still 20 miles or less? How does that vary for faster aircraft?

[Peter Grey]

Riddle me this Batman; what is the current range at which you should contact tower to tell them you are inbound VFR? Is it still 20 miles or less? How does that vary for faster aircraft?

15 miles per AIM 4-3-2

Note an informal poll done of towers in AZ by the flight school I work for came up with answers from 5 (generally around busy airspace) to 12 (nothing around airports)

In AZ airports are far away from each other so that is rarely a problem.

Wait there is more then 1?

[Phil_ANW]

Thanks for aking that DaddyO, I had the same question but didn't want to overwhelm the thread - lol! Thanks also for the answer Peter!