I have been working with a 63 year old student pilot. His flying skills are top notched, but his communications are different story. He does just fine until we have to deal with ATC then his communication and his flying ability just fall apart. We discuss the communication flow each lesson, but just does not sink in
communications
- Thread starter proheff
- Start date
"Say again please..." Tell him to read that book and then to sit at home and practice it. There are 100s of examples in there he can have any person play the roll of ATC and read off commands and he can practice. Repetition tends to be the easiest way to get students to handle radios in my experience for two reasons. The first is of course repetition and the second is comfort.
You can also try having him make pilot reports and get weather from FSS and EFAS just to practice talking to someone.
Make sure he is giving his read back before his tail number as saying the tail number first can result in forgetting the rest.
One last thing you can try is have him bring notes up with him for radio calls and have him just do the radios, you fly. This way he can sit and work with the radio calls, if he want he can take notes and he can really spend time to think about what is happening instead of dividing his attention. IMO it is always easier to teach something if it is the only thing the person has to do, I apply this to many aspects of my teaching, this being one of them.
tgrayson
New Member
I have a card with a complete script for each phase of flight; I just point to the particular line on the card and say "read it." I gradually wean them off the card as solo approaches.
BillPerryCFI
Well-Known Member
One of the techniques that I use all the time and I believe has become a very effective tool is www.liveatc.net or similar websites. Have him pull up the local ATC traffic online and listen to it while he is studying or doing other things around the house.
I've found that not only does this help improve ATC skills but it also improves their multi-tasking ability because they regardless of how, they are either actively or passively listening (both of which are required in an airplane) and can begin to understand it or pick up on things while doing something else.
The only thing I would caution about just flying and having him listen to radio calls is that this can result in somewhat un-necesary cost increases by running the hobbs to listen to ATC. I certainly don't discount the practical aspect of this but it sounds like he is having to actively focus on the ATC and his flying becomes second in priority.
I've found that not only does this help improve ATC skills but it also improves their multi-tasking ability because they regardless of how, they are either actively or passively listening (both of which are required in an airplane) and can begin to understand it or pick up on things while doing something else.
The only thing I would caution about just flying and having him listen to radio calls is that this can result in somewhat un-necesary cost increases by running the hobbs to listen to ATC. I certainly don't discount the practical aspect of this but it sounds like he is having to actively focus on the ATC and his flying becomes second in priority.
Stomp16
You mean Shennanigans?!?!
If he's in PHX, tell him to only fly out of Stellar or Carefree. Or out of Deer Valley/Scottsdale/Falcon/Chandler after 2100 only.
Stellar is nice! We stopped there to reset a camera system and get some fuel. I was impressed with the scenery at that particular air park.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
I do the same. It works wonders with foreign pilots as well. It has the script like a play, with a line from them, and a response from the tower. That way, they can take it home and practice with their roomate/girlfriend/whatever.
The script is a good idea to show him what kind of information he needs to let ATC know but, another thing I would tell him is that there is no set script. I remember a CFI told me " just talk to them like you would talk to a person face to face" and it helped me out. He may be getting caught up with trying to say everything "perfectly" which is inturn distracting him when he could just relax and get out what needs to be said in his own way.
Comm is key, and clear/concise/correct comm is even more so. If you can even improve your student's ability to at least be managable on the radio or at least have the SA to be able to think before he speaks, while still controlling the plane, you'll make life for him easy as well as everyone else. Want an example of how it could be if you weren't successful? Just listen to most TransPac planes at DVT and their stumbling and bumbling through radio calls that can't even be understood often; then done at 15-20 second keyed intervals at that. All at one of the busiest GA fields in the nation.
I didn't know it was even possible to take that long
I flew out of KASH which on busy weekends had 15 or so in the class delta, if they took more than 3 or 4 seconds ATC usually had a chat with them. There was one occurrence where it took close to 10 seconds for a simple downwind request to land, that student/CFI were told to leave the airspace and were not let back in for over 15 minutes.
I didn't know it was even possible to take that long
I flew out of KASH which on busy weekends had 15 or so in the class delta, if they took more than 3 or 4 seconds ATC usually had a chat with them. There was one occurrence where it took close to 10 seconds for a simple downwind request to land, that student/CFI were told to leave the airspace and were not let back in for over 15 minutes.
It's not all the time and not with everyone, but it happens often enough to become a pain, and usually happens during peak traffic periods, go figure.
Don't you fly planes with missiles and guns and s**t? :bandit:
Are you implying that I should "self correct" the problem?
:rotfl: Well the news reports would certainly provide me with some stimulating reading material.