Communicating with air traffic control is a daunting task for many student pilots. In fact, just getting a single word in to JFK controllers is almost beyond my abilities as a professional aviator. ATC lingo is a rapid back and forth between pilots and controllers, and in busy airspace a little etiquette is in order.

Here’s the problem with radio communications: only one person can speak at a time. Weird things happen when multiple pilots or controllers key their microphones. Sometimes that awful static and squeaky noise comes on. Sometimes one person cancels the others out. In some cases, you actually hear both conversations at once.

We call this stepping on each other. It’s a common mistake usually followed by a quick “sorry, I stepped on you,” or more often than not, a grumpy pilot barks out the word “BLOCKED!”

This is why the AIM suggests that pilots should listen after they change the frequency. But the training manuals fail to inform student pilots just what they are listening for!

Pilot / controller interactions have a pretty predictable back and forth. The controller typically gives an instruction, the pilot reads it back and the conversation is over. Sometimes we have heavier conversations such as a discussion about the weather or turbulence.

When we change frequencies, it’s important to listen for these conversations to end before checking in with the new controller. Wait for the natural breaking point in the conversation then key the mic and state your piece.

Sometimes the frequency is just too busy and that’s OK. If you can’t get through to the controller at all, just give it a few minutes. I find that ATC radio congestion comes in waves and you can usually wait it out. The controller knows you’re supposed to be on the frequency and they will call before you check in if they need to – no big deal. Just wait a minute or two and try again when the radio is less congested.

Again, when you need to talk to ATC, listen for any conversations to end then key the mic and talk.

LAHSO is a very common term that pilots can hear during landing sequences. LAHSO is an acronym that is meant to say “land and hold short.” The whole meaning of the acronym is “Land and Hold Short Operations.” This is a system that has been devised in order to maximize the capacity and to improve the efficiency of an airport in receiving and sending aircraft off. However, in order for it to be effective pilots need to develop and acquire an accurate understanding of the LAHSO concept.

Landing traffic must hold short of Runway 36 so that traffic can depart from the intersecting runway.

To maximize efficiency in a tiny space, airports typically have intersecting runways. These intersecting runways are also instrumental to the optimization of traffic in an airport. It is because of these intersecting runways that the entire concept of LAHSO was created. LAHSO was once known by a different acronym and that was SOIR: Simultaneous Operations in Intersecting Runways. SOIR, however, was just limited to simultaneous operations that allowed an aircraft to land on an intersecting runway while another is preparing to take off.

…pilots are not obligated to accept a LAHSO clearance if the factors are against their safety and their passengers’.LAHSO expanded on that concept by allowing an aircraft to land while another is starting its takeoff run. How does it do that? Landing and holding short operations simply means landing and then holding short of an intersection to avoid colliding with incoming aircraft. While it sounds simple theoretically, in actual practice, LAHSO is a very difficult task to coordinate. However, LAHSO’s are unavoidable, and thus pilots need to understand how to do one safely. The best way to do that is to understand what a pilot’s responsibilities are when it comes to LAHSO.

What you should to do is to find out what the conditions are, like what length of runway is available to you is, among others. These conditions would help you plot your landing approach appropriately to Do not risk the lives of you and your passengers just to land on time.make sure you can come to a full stop at the designated area. These can also help you decide whether you’ll accept a LAHSO clearance, as pilots are not obligated to accept a LAHSO clearance if the factors are against their safety and their passengers’. Do not risk the lives of you and your passengers just to land on time. While it is every pilot’s goal to land on time and satisfy passengers, it is not worth committing to a LAHSO even when the odds are against you successfully holding short of a designated point.

To read more by Jason visit his blog at www.MzeroA.com

On September 30, the words “position and hold” will be replaced by the phrase “line up and wait” in ATC parlance here in the United States. The change is being implemented to increase standardization with the international aviation community and to reduce runway incursions. What does this mean for pilots? To pilots, the phraseology change should be uneventful. When instructed to “line up and wait,” the pilot should read back the clearance as usual, then line up with the runway centerline and wait for the takeoff clearance. So how does this pan out for real? Suppose you are taxiing Cessna 12345 to runway 36 at a busy towered airport.

ATC: Cessna 12345, runway 36, line up and wait.

Cessna 12345: Line up and wait, Cessna 12345.

The pilot taxies into position on the runway centerline.

ATC: Cessna 12345, runway 36, clear for takeoff.

Cessna 12345: Runway 36, clear for takeoff, Cessna 12345.

For more information, see what the FAA has to say about line up and wait, or watch the video.

Ignorance is bliss, at least that’s what Shakespeare said, but ignorance can get you busted in the aviation world. As of June 30th the FAA has implemented some minor changes to the taxi instructions we all receive at towered airports. Specifically, the FAA has removed the “taxi to” phraseology. Keep reading to find out what this means to you.

Let’s consider a few examples. Suppose you just landed at a towered airport. In the past, ATC would typically state something like “turn right next taxiway, taxi via bravo to the ramp.” Suppose there is a crossing runway 13 across taxiway bravo. Now, the taxi instruction must come in one of these two forms:

• “turn right next taxiway, taxi via bravo, hold short of runway one three.”
• “turn right next taxiway, taxi via bravo, cross runway one three to the ramp.”

As you can see, pilots still follow ATC’s instructions to a tee, but they need to be extra mindful of crossing runways and stop the plane prior to crossing any time a doubt exists.

For further details, AOPA has published a great video explanation of the rule change. And for those of you looking for the official line – check out FAA Notice N JO 7110.528.

The task that befuddles most  instrument pilots in training doesn’t involve flying at all! Prior to taxi, and sometimes prior to engine start, we need to copy and read back an IFR clearance. This is generally the most complicated set of instructions issued by Air Traffic Control throughout the whole flight, and it usually comes fast enough to make any pilot’s head spin! But if you know what to listen for, you can copy even the most confusing clearances like a pro.

ATC Phrase	Shorthand / Symbol
Clear	C
Fly Runway Heading	RH
Turn Right/Left Heading #	← 330 or → 030
Climb and Maintain 3,000 Feet	↑ 3

There is no rule for ATC shorthand. Use whatever system makes sense to you, and change it as needed. Just make sure you can read it afterwords!

Be Prepared

When you make the initial call to pick up an IFR clearance, you have to be ready for it. Like I said, some controllers will read your clearance fast, so make sure you have a good pen and a piece of paper ready before keying the microphone.

Know the Format

In almost all cases, IFR clearances are issued in the same order. This makes readback habitual (easy) once you get the hang of it. For this reason, a lot of CFI’s teach the CRAFT acronym.

It’s easy to use, just write CRAFT on your kneeboard vertically and copy your clearance in the order given:

Clearance Fix (usually the destination airport)
Route (typically “AF” for as-filed)
Altitude
Frequency (departure frequency to call once airborne)
Transponder

Putting it All Together

Suppose you receive the following clearance:

“Cessna 12345 cleared to Nashville as filed, fly runway heading, climb and maintain three thousand, expect seven thousand one zero minutes after departure, departure frequency one two four point six five, squawk two seven one three.”

Your kneeboard should look something like this:

C BNA
R AF RH
A ↑3     7     10
F 124.65
T 2713

Practice Makes Perfect

As I said, these clearances come fast and it takes some time getting used to the format. Luckily, there is a resource for web-savvy pilots to gain some practice. Visit LiveATC.net, a website that streams live air traffic control audio from major airports over the web. Try listening to Boston clearance  delivery with a paper and pencil. Copy and mentally read back clearances as they come and compare your response to that of other pilots! It’s a great way to gain months of free experience for just a few hours at home.

If you’re still having trouble, don’t be discouraged. Clearances are a common bump in the road for most pilots: it will all come to you with a little time and patience.

Operating in and out of towered airports requires a landing clearance prior to touchdown. Pilots do occasionally land without a clearance. Depending on the circumstances, this could become an FAA violation: something every pilot should want to avoid. The solution? Almost every airplane has a built in advisory system to alert the pilot as to the status of his/her landing or takeoff clearance. You just have to know how to use it.

Always taxi with the landing light off, using only your taxi light as needed. Once you hear the magic words “cleared for takeoff,” you should instinctively switch on the landing light. It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night, just turn the light on. Your climb checklist should have you turn the light back off once on your way.

Landing light is off, which means we must not have been cleared to land yet.

Follow the same discipline with your landing clearance. The landing light should not come on until you have been cleared to land. On short final, take a quick glance at the landing light and verify that it is on — that’s your reminder that you have in fact been cleared to land. This is also a good time to double check “three in the green” for retractable landing gear pilots.

It may sound crazy, but airplanes land without clearances more often than you might expect. Sometimes controllers get busy and forget to issue the landing clearance. This happened to me the other day, but because the landing lights were still off on short final, I caught it and asked the controller for the clearance myself.

At other times it is the pilots fault: we forget to contact the tower in the first place. Before you laugh and say “I’ll never do that,” what if approach issued the following?

“Cessna 12345, cleared for the ILS 36R approach, contact tower 119.7 crossing MGHEE.”

It’s almost a set up, isn’t it? Now you’re cleared to shoot the approach, but not to land. Worse, you have to stay on the approach frequency for a few minutes: just enough time for you to forget to call the tower. If you operate in and out of controlled airports enough, you will mess this one up sooner or later. And if you use the landing light trick, you just might save yourself a world of trouble.

It’s so easy to feel rushed when taxiing around a busy towered airport. After receiving that initial taxi clearance, you are on a mission: get to the runway via taxiways Mike, Tango, give way to the Cessna on Juliet, then Juliet to 36-Center. Right, off we go. But sometimes things happen that will throw a wrench in the ground controller’s plan, and that’s OK!

It’s that simple.

Ground controllers are used to these sorts of requests, and they can be quite accommodating. You can usually expect a new taxi clearance to get you out of the way unless the airport has a run-up  / de-ice pad at the end of the runway. Once you are ready to go, call ground and let them know your location and intent to continue.

This may seem like common sense to you, and it should be. But a lot of pilots (including a younger, less experienced version of myself) feel pressured to follow ATC instructions to a tee. And if you get task-saturated, then so-be-it.

Unfortunately, this attitude only compromises safety of flight. Taxiing heads-down is always a bad idea, even in a two pilot flight crew. Furthermore, if you start out behind the airplane, imagine how far behind you’ll be in the air. It’s best to come to a stop and get everything straightened out before proceeding to the runway. Give yourself a head-start and stay ahead of the airplane!

I’m sure all of you IFR types know the drill. ATC assigns you a holding pattern and it is up to you to enter that hold in one of three ways: parallel, direct, or teardrop. Which entry do you choose? Well it all depends upon your intercept angle with the holding pattern… or something like that. Truth be told, I have no idea! But wait, how can you fly a holding pattern if you can’t do the mental math to compute your entry? It’s quite simple really: I do it visually.

Holding Pattern

That’s right, I barely even think about my entry. I just visualize the holding pattern, look at it, and visualize the appropriate entry. It’s quite simple really, lets look at a typical holding pattern. There are three possible holding pattern entries, all of which depend on where our airplane will be after crossing the holding fix. The trick is to remember three simple rules; after passing the fix, if the airplane is:

1. Inside the hold, perform a teardrop entry.
   Given the hold in the picture, if we approach the holding fix from the Northwest, then our airplane will be inside of the holding pattern (between the inbound and outbound legs).
2. Outside the hold, perform a parallel entry.
   Again, look at the picture, if we arrive from the East, the airplane will be outside of the holding pattern. We must turn to our outbound heading (180 in this case) and begin a parallel entry.
3. With the hold, perform a direct entry.
   This is the no-brainer. If you are heading in the same general direction as the inbound leg, just make that initial (in this case right) turn and fly the outbound leg.

This method sure beats doing a bunch of mental math whilst flying an airplane, and seriously reduces the chance of error. It is worth nothing that air traffic controllers don’t really care what kind of entry you make, so long as the airplane remains on the safe side (that’s the same side as the outbound leg). If you get all garbled up, just stick to the safe side and make it work!

I know holding patterns are a very abstract concept and can be difficult to envision. Please comment on this post if you need clarification on visually computing holding pattern entries.

Cruising along at altitude, air traffic control clears you to “descend at pilot’s discretion to 10,000 feet, contact Atlanta Center on 125.8.” Being a fuel conscious pilot, you decide to remain at cruise altitude a bit longer when the new controller tells you to descend at maintain 13,000. Here’s the dilemma: are you still cleared down to ten thousand feet, or do you have to stay put at thirteen? 

Most of the time, this is a non-issue as ATC typically needs you to descend anyway. At some point in the descent, before reaching your issued altitude, controllers will likely issue a clearance to the original discretionary altitude (or lower). Other times, controllers are mindful of the original clearance and will reissue it with your new clearance.

This sounds something like:

“Descend now and maintain one three thousand, pilot’s discretion to one zero thousand.”

This descent clearance is a no brainer: start down to thirteen, then drop to ten thousand at your leisure.

Remember, a new clearance always cancels the preceding clearance. When in doubt ask the controller for clarification (they don’t bite!).

When operating into controlled airports, tower will occasionally ask you to maintain “best forward airpseed” with your landing clearance. This is especially common for pilots of slower piston-engine airplanes. As common as this request is, it is not required (and rarely covered) by the flight training curriculum.

ATC will ask for best speed on final in an attempt to expedite arrivals and maintain spacing. As a pilot, this means that there is something coming in behind you. Quickly. These fast-movers tend to come in two varieties: turboprops have a final approach speed between 100 to 120 knots, and jets, with an approach speed of 130 to 160 knots.

Keep in mind that “best forward airspeed” is not a mandate, but a request. If in the judgement of the PIC, a faster than normal approach will compromise safety, it is the pilot’s responsibility to notify ATC that he/she is unable to comply. Bear in mind that you may be vectored and resequenced behind the faster aircraft. At no time should a pilot feel obligated to compromise safety in order to “help out” air traffic controllers. It’s your butt on the line! That being said, maintaining best forward airspeed on final is a perfectly safe maneuver provided the pilot plans accordingly.

My Best Forward Airspeed Approach Technique:

1. Delay the use of flaps / gear
2. Maintain a high power setting
3. One mile final:
   1. Gear: Down (if applicable)
   2. Slow to maximum flap extension speed (top of the white arc)
4. Crossing the airport boundary:
   1. Throttle: Idle
   2. Flaps: Full

Due to excess airspeed, the airplane will have a tendency to float. Level off above the runway and fly the airplane until it is ready to land. Know that the approach and landing technique will vary from airplane to airplane. Consult an instructor for specific information regarding your airplane.

After landing, quickly clear the active runway by turning off at the next available taxiway. If there is some distance to be covered, it may be prudent to delay braking until just prior to reaching a runway turnoff. See my article on planning your after-landing taxi route.

A Word On Safety

Best forward airspeed on final approach is a bit of a contradiction. The pilot is being asked to speed up at the one time when it is critical to slow down. This is perfectly safe, so long as you always respect your personal minimums and aircraft limitations.

I strongly suggest that you practice a few best forward airspeed approaches at your local airport to elevate your comfort level with a faster than normal approach. This is also helpful in understanding the drag charactersitics of your airplane. It may be prudent to take a CFI along to learn any airplane-specific tricks.

Related Links

Forum discussion on best forward speed.
Blog entry about planning your after-landing taxi route.