ATC Help (Progress Update Day 2 of PilotEdge)

[Miniwebbs]

Just after 2 days of watching all of the VFR PE workshop tutorials I can now read a chart distinguish all the different airspace's on the chart I can also now do a proper flight plan avoiding MOA's, restricted areas, prohibited areas and military training routes and the whole lot. But I am still a bit lost when It comes to ATC communication. I found a great "ATC cheat sheet" online that helps me out with what to say when entering an airspace and making first contact etc but I would like to learn more in detail. If anyone has any great documents or websites that go into detail about all different ATC communications I would be very grateful.

I did my first ever landing into a towered airport yesterday (Delta Airspace) and my first contact was alright but when the ATC replied with what runway to land on I kind of panicked when I had to reply to acknowledge the info I said "Rodger" and I know that is the NUMBER ONE thing you never do when communicating the ATC but I sort of corrected my self by saying "November 2,1,1,0,0 roger" which I know is still not correct. It is errors like these that I really want to improve on so I can feel more comfortable when contacting ATC as I will know what to do and not panic. I definitely shouldn't of gone to the towered airport in the first place I was just very excited and wanted to experience the realism. But little did know that going to a towered requires a note pad and pen and lots of caution.

Like I said at the start of this post If anyone knows any good websites or any other resources to learn specifically ATC communications please share them I would be very very grateful. I might record my progress as I go on the PilotEdge forums when I learn important things or reach key milestones like a V rating. And also i'm not sure if this is normal but I think I have some sort of weird addiction to learning more I just can stop making random flight plans on fore flight.

[Keith Smith]

The first flight scenario which is posted on our site includes an atc transcript. There is going to be a webinar on atc communication tomorrow evening, keep an eye on the forum for an announcement today.

[Kyle.Sanders]

It really sounds like you have a hold on things. Watching the workshops were a great start. Focus on the pilot requirements for each airspace... This becomes important later on.

Then understand the difference between tower and radar controllers and what services are provided by each. "Flight following" for example.

As Keith suggested- use that "first flight" transcript.
http://www.pilotedge.net/pages/first-flight

Then do the V ratings. They also have transcripts.
http://training.pilotedge.net/page/overview

Once done with the V ratings, try the alphabet challenge. This will give you a wide variety of airspaces and situations to navigate.
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4806#p30864

After just a few flights, everything you learned about the airspaces and communication will start to make sense on its own.

Understanding what class of airspace you are in and what controller you are talking to (Tower or radar), you will be able to form a transmission on your own without any help from any "cheat sheets".

[BFG]

The first flight scenario which is posted on our site includes an atc transcript. There is going to be a webinar on atc communication tomorrow evening, keep an eye on the forum for an announcement today.

This is excellent advice. I found the transcripts very helpful. Also listen to the live PE traffic online and you will learn a lot about the common VFR calls (for landing, clearance, etc.).

[Justin Lerner]

In addition to the resources posted above, there are a lot of great flight training videos on YouTube that cover a variety of topics, and many of them are focused on various radio communication procedures and phraseology. MzeroA is probably the most popular and well known, but they're not the only ones. As well, many users -- past and present -- have their own PilotEdge flights uploaded to YouTube; including "first flight" scenarios and first attempts at the ratings. Check out the directory of Twitch streamers and subscribe to a few that seem interesting to you. Live streaming is a great way to educate yourself because if anything pops up in their flight that you don't fully understand, the chat is at your disposal to obtain immediate answers to your questions. The community is fairly intimate, as well, so everyone is super friendly and helpful to "newbies." You'll notice quickly a lot of the same usernames across different PE streams.

Ultimately, however, you'll never get the hang of things until you actually jump into your virtual cockpit and start flying.

My first flight on the network was actually a dry run of the V-1 rating. I started up at a Class D field in a basic Cessna trainer (any airplane you're already familiar with and can fly at least somewhat proficiently will do) and just ran some laps in the pattern. From there I worked up the courage to go VFR from point A to point B. Just take it slow and work at your own pace. Even if you pass a rating, you don't have to immediately jump to the next one. After each flight, do a little debrief and self-evaluation. Look for any kind of doubt you may have or gaps in knowledge. If something is still leaving you with questions at the end of a flight, then explore those questions until you've satisfied your understanding. Keep running the same thing over and over if necessary until you're confident enough to move on to a new challenge.

Good luck, we're all counting on you.