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The four Ws of aviation radio communications

What is the hardest part of pilot training? Almost everyone will say, “Talking on the radio.” However, even beginners can sound good on the radio if they apply a few simple rules. I will first discuss those rules and then give some tips that all pilots can use to improve their radio skills.

The four questions of radiocommunication

Usually the most difficult radio call for a pilot to make is the first one: the “initial call.” However, each initial call (and many subsequent calls) only needs to remember the four Ws:

  • Who do I call?
  • Who I am?
  • Where I am?
  • Where am I going, what am I doing or what do I want to do?

Let’s take two examples of this, one for an uncontrolled field and one with a control tower.

As you prepare to enter the traffic pattern in an uncontrolled field, you will typically make an announcement like:

“Milltown traffic (who am I calling?), Cessna 12345 (who am I?) Entering 45 Lee (where am I?), Runway 22 to land at Milltown (what am I doing?).

With a control tower, you could say instead:

Ocala Tower (who am I calling?), Cessna 12345 (who am I?) Eight miles north to 2,500 with Charlie (where am I? – and add the ATIS), landing in Ocala (what do I want to do?) .

Once you have established communication, you do not need to use all four Ws for all your communication. Instead, it will simply read the critical instructions to the controller so that it knows that it has received them. For example, if the controller asks you to enter right downwind for runway 24, you will respond, “Cessna 12345 will enter right downwind for 24.”

Try different scenarios with your friends or with a flight instructor and very soon you will know what to say at all times.

Advice

Even when you know what to say, speaking on the radio takes some practice. Here are some tips that will have you speaking like a pro in no time.

  1. Listen to ATC communications. If you don’t have a radio that receives aviation frequencies, see if you can borrow one from another pilot or your flight school for a week. Hear what pilots tell ATC on their initial call and how they respond to ATC instructions. Try to listen to the ground, tower, approach and center frequencies if you can.
  2. Write down what you are going to say before making your initial radio call. You can even create fill-in-blank scripts to do this. After a few weeks of this, most people can make calls on their own, but you may still want to write down complicated calls.
  3. If you are a student pilot, be sure to say so on your initial call so ATC will be more careful in how it handles you.
  4. Don’t worry if you forget something. Even experienced pilots sometimes forget to tell the controller their altitude or that they have the ATIS. Don’t worry, the drivers will ask you for something if you’ve forgotten.
  5. Study Chapter 4 and the Pilot / Controller Glossary in the Aeronautical Information Manual for recommended phraseology.

If all else fails, use plain English! Not all situations lend themselves to recommended ATC phrases, or you may just forget how to say something. I was leaving an unfamiliar airport once, and when I called the ground, I suddenly realized that I had no idea where I was at the airport. The call went something like this, “Littletown Ground, Cessna 12345, ummm …” (at this point I was looking madly around me) “I’m at the Chevron sign, ready to roll with Delta, heading west.” Whoops, saved by the Chevron gas sign! Ground found me and let me roll.

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