Need help with Comm

[Adam]

Can anyone recommend anything to help me with talking on the radio. I recently started flying at a towered airport and Im not used to the terminology. Is there anything on the internet, a book, or anything that could help.

 

[kellwolf]

Not sure if anyone has used it, but there is a program called Comm1 that is supposed to help with that. Other than that, listen in on a scanner or something. That helped me out.

 

[rhs]

You just need practice. I went from a non-towered airport to a towered airport inside the Baltimore-Washington ADIZ that requires LOTS of talking. I was very nervous at first, but got used to it pretty quickly. Actually, now I look forward to landing at Class C & D airports cause I get to talk to the controllers! I think it's fun...especially listening to the big boys.

Bottom line...I would definitely not spend any money on a training aid.

 

[Tim06]

I've learned from listening to a scanner. Now I'm better than my instructor at the comms. In your free time, just tune to the tower's frequency and listen in for a while. You will get the hang of it eventually

 

[Mongoose]

Find a place where you can listen... and do... as much as possible.

I trained in a very sparsely populated part of the UK, and then came to the NorthEast of the US shortly afterwards. The pace, the accents and the terminology (although it is supposed to be standard) was different.

So, I found the best practice was just to listen... trying to understand what was going on... building the mental picture of the situation in my mind. Then formulate reponses to ATC requests in your head, see whether the speed and content of what you are building matches what you are hearing.

Does that make any sense at all... it's kinda late to be trying to make sense... my bed is calling.

There's still an internet feed from Chicago approach here that might provide some good, real world listening fodder.

http://www.cyberair.com/audio/chiapp/index.html

 

[N519AT]

Another really AWESOME ATC Live feed site is PHX hosted by AZCentral. It has Tower, Clearence, Departure, and Approach all on the same feed. KPHX That link will take you right to the Live Feed, just make sure you have Real Player installed. I learned a lot by listening to this...