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Radio calls, how to Communicate as a Pilot in command.

54.9k Freerider2142  5.6 years ago

I would like to talk to you about Aviation Communication and Radio Calls.
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I will be writing these Radio calls as if they were done in a Simpleplanes Multiplayer session, using real life Radio Communications.

Aircraft come in different shapes, sizes and speeds.
Hot air balloons, gliders, Helicopters, Prop planes, Jet planes etc..

When you are in a 3D environment it is very important to not only to Communicate between the plane You are flying and the Tower.
But also to Communicate Between Your Aircraft and Others that are flying around you.
Communication is Important to prevent Crashes, and to allow continuous takeoffs and landings, but also to Understand where Your aircraft position is compared to Other aircraft in the same Airspace.

In Airports with an Active Tower, almost all communication is relayed through the Tower.
The Tower has Authority over all aircraft flying in it's airspace and all airport operations such as Taxiing, Clearance for Takeoffs and Landings etc.

To communicate, Radio calls are usually built out of these 5 steps:

1- Who are you talking to: Tower, ground, other aircraft i.e "Wright Tower"
2- You: Your Aircraft Name i.e. "N566JK" or "Badger 1"
3- Your Location: Your Current Position in either Ground or Air.
4- What do You want : Your request, i.e. "Request Permission to Land"

5- Other: Weather and Extra information, like wind other aircraft etc..
The 5th step, is not always used but can be very important

So let's say you Start at Wright Airport.
at Apron B, and you want to fly to Yeager Airport.
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-The Tower will be "Wright Airport" or "Wright Tower" (they are the same thing)
-Your Aircraft name is "Hawk3" (for this Radio simulation)

so following the Radio Calls steps, Your first call will be:

"1-Wright Tower, 2-This is Hawk3, 3-at Apron B, 4- Request permission to Taxi to Runway"

In Helicopters, some Airships, and Vtols, You can Request Takeoff from almost anywhere that you can takeoff from, So in that case the call will be:

"1-Wright Tower, 2-This is Hawk3, 3-at Apron B, 4-Request permission to Takeoff"

Now the Tower knows exactly Where you are, and where you want to go.
and will tell you where to go, how to get there, and give you any Clearances that you Must follow.
You must Radio answer by Repeating what the tower asks of you.

So the Full Radio in an Airplane call will be:

You- "Wright Tower, This is Hawk3, at Apron B, Request permission to Taxi
to Runway"

Tower- "Hawk3, Cleared to taxi via taxiway Alpha, You are Cleared to Takeoff
Runway 36"
(Tower just gave you Clearance to Taxi, asked you to use Taxiway
Alpha to Enter Runway 36, and already gave you Clearance to
Takeoff, so you just need to follow the Orders).

You- "Hawk3, Cleared to Taxi to Alpha, Cleared to Takeoff from Runway 36"
(no need to call "Wright Tower" because they Are talking to you)

*you can add "Thanks" or "Have a nice day", tower operators are people just like you and me ;)

in a Helicopter or VTOL, the call will be:

You- "Wright Tower, This is Hawk3, at Apron B, Request permission for
Takeoff, heading East"

Tower- "Hawk3, You are Cleared for takeoff from Apron B, Climb to 3500 You
are cleared to Cross runway 36, Maintain heading 090"
(Tower Just Gave you Clearance to Takeoff, Gave you Clearance to Fly
across the Runway, and also instructed you to Keep flying East)

You- "Wright Tower, This is Hawk3, Cleared for Takeoff, Cleared to Cross
Runway 36, will fly heading 090 Thank you."

Well that's the basics for Taking off, so lets continue and fly to Yeager Airport.
well we need to look at Landmarks and our instruments, to figure out our position in the sky:

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so the 4 Step call is a little longer:

"1-Wright Tower, 2-This is Hawk3, 3-about 3 miles North of Wright airport Heading North going 433mph , at 2550 ft Climbing to 5000 ft, Heading 0 (north) to Yeager Airport"

*note that this is just a position call, you are just continuing, your not Asking to do anything that requires Clearance, Your just letting them know where you are and that your leaving the Area

Tower will most likely just respond with:

"Hawk3 have a safe flight" or "Hawk3 Watch for other Aircraft flying North of Wright, have a safe flight"

now you just wait to contact Yeager for Landing Clearance, I'll use 10 miles to start Radio calls to Yeager:

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To request a landing for this position:

"Yeager Airport, This is Hawk3, 10 miles South of Yeager Airport, at 840mph Heading to Yeager at 10,000 ft, requesting Clearance to Land"

Yeager tower now knows yous location, and all relevant information to your location, and That You want to land.

"Hawk3, Yeager Tower, Reduce speed to 200, You are Cleared to Land on Runway 01L."

Very simple and to the point ;)
once you Touchdown , they might have extra instructions for you:

"Hawk3, Proceed taxi to Apron 3, watch for other taxiing aircraft or vehicles, Welcome to Yeager Airport"

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Well these are the Basics or how to Radio call.
It take some time to get the hang of, but it's not that hard :)
just remember these 5 steps ;)

if you liked this one, check out my other posts :)
Navigation/Position Lights

Runway Numbers.... What How and why

Traffic Patterns... Left, Right, up and down

Airport Lights basics

Uncontrolled Simpleplanes Class G Communications... wait what?

Ohhh almost forgot Thanks KingHandspider on his awesome:
Airfield Charts and data

Remember:
Be polite, be quick, and DO NOT interrupt other pilots to finish their Calls before you make your call :)

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    35.2k V

    @robloxweponco

    5.3 years ago
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    @Al3jandro6304 DCS is a Great place to learn Radio communications, but that's mainly in a Military aircraft... unless your playing with a Live FAA style ATC.
    In DCS you learn a lot about military Air comms, but not too much about civilian Airport and Ground comms...

    but you make a good point, I guess I can make a Military Radio calls basics, AA/AG Engagement as a wing basics, Carrier operations Basics, Formation flying basics...
    All these can be great for the Community...

    Thanks for the Ideas, now I know what to make my next "lessons" about :)

    5.5 years ago
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    i already know most thanks to DCS. Like: "Flight, Engage bandits"(Your wingmen engage air enemies) "Flight, Engage targets of opportunity.(Your wingmen engage ground targets)" "Overlord/Dodge/etc, Request Picture"( Asking AWACS to show enemy altitude, speed, flanking/Hot/Cold/etc.)

    5.5 years ago
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    My cowboy rear would get chewed out by a ATC in SP MP.

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    Np comrade! @Freerider2142

    5.6 years ago
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    1,125 SaturnV

    @Freerider2142 INformation Alpha

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    @SaturnV XD
    did you set wind speed and direction to get your ATIS tho?
    ;P

    5.6 years ago
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    1,125 SaturnV

    "November Xray 56 Sierra, requesting IFR clearance to Wright Internation via the Jundroo1 Sid departure"

    ATC: Cleared to your destination, 18R in use,, 1,2 minutes expect 5000ft, and 10 minutes in expect 28000ft, squawk 5141"

    Lol, Switch to Unicom on ummmmmmmmmmmm,, 122,8? xD

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    1,125 SaturnV

    @Freerider2142 :D

    5.6 years ago
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    @jamesPLANESii Yeah My next subject is gonna be about Airspaces and Uncontrolled airspace communication works ;)
    and Thank you :)

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    @SaturnV I'm really Happy you did, that the whole point of these :)
    and thank you!

    5.6 years ago
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    Calls when you are coming to land at my glider club are this: “Papa Juliet, downwind, right hand, landing runway 21” and that’s it XD

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    Very educational and useful. :)

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    1,125 SaturnV

    @Freerider2142 Hi there, thanks for the tutorial, I learnt some new stuff, which is always great!

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    @GreatHenry thanks, but I don't know a lot.
    I'm just happy to share what little I know :)

    5.6 years ago
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    5,274 GreatHenry

    You know a lot ...

    5.6 years ago
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    @Chancey21 almost every Runway can be used In both Directions i.e. 36 or 18.
    IRL Wind and obstacles Dictate which runway you use, and it can vary from day to day.
    But, even with no wind, only One Runway is usually used to make takeoffs and landings more efficient and flowing, and to keep the Traffic pattern going in one direction.
    but if there's not a lot of traffic, the tower will let you takeoff from both directions ;)
    Some runways are one directional, usually on the side of mountains and such.
    and thank you for the Upvote :)

    5.6 years ago
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    @Strikefighter04 thanks :)
    @BaconEggs yup :)

    5.6 years ago
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    @Texasfam04 Glad you liked it :)
    and yeah, those 35's got a Big Burner on'em ;)

    5.6 years ago
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    69.2k Chancey21

    You have to have different and opposing compass directions for each direction if the runway IE:
    Requesting clearance to land at Wright airport runway 36 (from final approach)
    Or
    Requesting clearence to land at Wright Airport runway 18 (from ships/bandit)

    5.6 years ago
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    5,841 FastDan

    @BoeyingOfficial XD So sad...

    5.6 years ago
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    125k BaconEggs

    Uh-huh

    5.6 years ago
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    Cool!

    5.6 years ago
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    15.2k Texasfam04

    Im posted at NAS Fort Worth. It's quite interesting hearing some of the flight / tower ops traffic. especially when the 35 takes a flight everybody loves to see that thing hit the air. Thanks again for posting this its very helpful and I think stuff like this is really desirable on here.
    @Freerider2142

    +1 5.6 years ago
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    @JohnnyBoythePilot That's awesome flight times m8!
    I have logged 78 hour on Robinson R-22 and R-44, plus idk how many thousands of hours in simulated games like DCS world, IL-2 1946, IL-2 BOS, FSX, and a couple more, flying most of the aircraft except in FSX, need to work on Embraer module in FSX ;)

    +1 5.6 years ago
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