Contents

Lesson		Page
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11	Aviation Communication………………………………………..…………. The Flight Plan…………………………………………………..…………. Clearance Delivery……………………………………………….………... Ground Control…………………………………………………….…......... The Control Tower……………………………………………….………... Departure and Approach Control………………………………….……… En-Route ATC……………………………………………….……………... Precision Approaches………………………………………….………….. Non precision Approaches…………………………………….…………… Local Communications During VFR Flights……………….…………............ En-Route Communications During VFR Flights……………………...……... Key to Check-Ups.…………….……………………………...…......... Appendix…………………………….……………………………………. Glossary…………………………………………………………………….	4 8 11 14 18 22 26 29 33 36 39 42 44 45

LESSON 1

Aviation Communication

A. Dialogue

Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor:

Let's look at how the air traffic control (ATC) system operates. Is this information applicable to countries other than the United States? Yes. You'll find that ATC operates in a similar manner throughout the world. As you must realize, standard communication prevents confusion. In this business a wrong altitude or heading could be disastrous. Is there an organization responsible for maintaining standards for communication? Well, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was formed in 1944 in order to establish a standard international system of communication. How many countries does the ICAO represent? Today the ICAO represents approximately 196 countries. It standardizes layout and organization of airports, aircraft certification and airworthiness guidelines, and the types of international personnel at airports. What kind of personnel do you mean? Personnel in areas such as customs, health, and immigration. Are there standards for pronunciation of numbers and letters? Yes, there are. Here are some exercises that will give you practice with numbers and letters. If you learn correctly from the beginning, you'll develop excellent communication skills.

B. Reading

Numbers are used in almost every radio call. Except for whole hundreds and thousands, pronounce each digit of a number separately. The number ten, for example, is pronounced one zero, rather than ten. The number 11,000 is pronounced one one thousand, not eleven thousand.

When a number has a decimal point in it, say the word decimal at the proper place. The number 121.1, for example, is pronounced one two one decimal one. Decimal is the ICAO standard. However, in the United States the word point is sometimes used.

To avoid misunderstandings, the pronunciation of some digits differs from that used in normal conversation. There could be confusion on the radio between the numbers five and nine; these are pronounced fife and niner. The numeral 0 is pronounced zero, the numeral three is tree, and the word thousand is tousand. All other numbers are pronounced in the usual fashion.

C. Number Practice

Read the following numbers aloud. Be sure to pronounce them as if you are making a radio call.

2 (two) 3 (tree) 7 (seven) 9 (niner) 5 (fife) 6 (six) 4 (four) 8 (eight)	0 121 650 8,000 12,000 118.1 109.9 111.1	(zero) (one two one) (six fife zero) (eight tousand) (one two tousand) (one one eight decimal one) (one zero niner decimal niner) (one one one decimal one)
14,500 (one four tousand fife hundred or one four fife zero zero)

***

6 114.7 109.5

115.9 1,187 55

14,000 22,000 248

D. Letters

Letters pronounced on the radio can be difficult to understand due to the similarity of the sound of many letters. To avoid confusion, the ICAO has adopted a system of words, one representing each letter of the alphabet. All letters should be pronounced in this manner. Abbreviations, such as VOR, ILS, and VFR, are the only exception.

Letter	Phonetic Alphabet
A	Alfa
B	Bravo
C	Charlie
D	Delta
E	Echo
F	Foxtrot
G	Golf
H	Hotel
I	India
J	Juliett
K	Kilo
L	Lima
M	Mike
N	November
O	Oscar
P	Papa
Q	Quebec
R	Romeo
S	Sierra
T	Tango
U	Uniform
V	Victor
W	Whiskey
X	X-ray
Y	Yankee
Z	Zulu

E. Letter Practice

Read the following letters aloud. Be sure to pronounce them as if you are making a radio call.

M P O S F I J

U H A T Z N D

R X K L G Q

Y E V B W C

F. Number and Letter Practice

Read the following numbers and letters aloud. Be sure to pronounce them as if you are making a radio call.

108.0 B229 N637 J3VDF AZ44DE

24,000 CGMH UN3K X5WY LIQ

PORS T22A ORK N102FA N176PM

29.92 118.1 123.0 QRM N3559VK

G. Terminology Practice

Air Traffic Control (ATC): a service provided to promote a safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic

Is it difficult for ATC to communicate with a large number of aircraft?

ATC is responsible for the safety of aircraft.

It is ATC's responsibility to provide safe air traffic separation.

altitude: the elevation above sea level

The aircraft is flying at an altitude of 4,000 feet.

What's our present altitude?

The minimum altitude for this flight is 7,500 feet.

heading: the horizontal direction in which an aircraft is pointed, expressed in angular distance from a reference point

Turn left to a heading of 150 degrees.

Will this heading take us south of the airport?

Fly this heading until the airport is in sight.

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): an international organization that regulates aviation

Over 190 countries belong to the ICAO.

Do all nations belong to the ICAO?

International standards regulating air navigation are recommended by the ICAO.

LESSON 2

The Flight Plan

A. Dialogue

Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor: Student: Instructor:

What's the first step of an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight? A flight plan must be prepared. Then it's delivered to the controlling agency. That's right. The flight plan includes the flight's destination, route, altitude, time of departure, en-route flight time, and alternate airport. What factors should be considered in the planning of a flight? Once you've determined your destination, you consider the capabilities of your aircraft and its equipment, and, of course, the weather is an important factor. What type of map is used to prepare a flight plan? A radio facility chart. Airways and their connecting radio navigational facilities, minimum en-route altitudes above mean sea level (MSL), and very high frequency (VHF) communications are recorded on this chart. How is time expressed? We use Greenwich mean time. Airspeed is measured in knots. Is the flight plan written on a special form? Yes, and then it's filed in person at a flight service station (FSS). Must it be filed in person? No. Often flight plans are filed by telephone or aircraft radio. You may begin a flight using visual flight rules (VFR) and decide an IFR flight plan is required. Your flight plan would have to be updated from the air. Is it the pilot's responsibility to file the flight plan? Not always. Often an airline uses a computer to calculate a flight plan. Then it's filed by telephone, without the pilot's input. The pilot reviews the flight plan and makes any necessary changes. Will the flight plan always be accepted as originally planned? The controlling agency will attempt to issue an ATC clearance as close to the original flight plan as possible. You mentioned VFR. Is a flight plan necessary for a VFR flight? Not in the United States. However, some countries have regulations that require VFR flight plans to be coordinated with ATC.

B. Terminology Practice

airspeed: the speed of an aircraft relative to the air through which it is moving

The airspeed was 200 knots.

Airspeed corrected for altitude and temperature is called true airspeed.

What's this plane's airspeed?

alternate airport: an airport, designated in the flight plan, to which an aircraft proceeds when it is unable to land at the originally designated airport

Our destination was fogged in, so we proceeded to our alternate airport.