Anyway to listen to a control tower other than buying a special radio?

[wskwong]

Hi folks,

just wondering by any chance if there's a way to listen to control towers like the one at YVR through, say, the internet ? 'cause I am just learning to fly and i found it difficult understanding the tower/ground in the cockpit.

[ScudRunner08]

Listen to Live Air Traffic Control Communications | LiveATC.net (http://www.liveatc.net/)


I think you just need to create a account (no cost) and away you go, check out some of the saved links some funny some involving crashes. You can even go back into the archives when you where up flying and listen to your conversations with ATC

Enjoy

[wskwong]

That's awesome! thanks alot!

But now I discover that I have trouble understanding the conversations.....there is just so much information exchanged between different pilots and the tower. When I was in a real cockpit, I didn't even notice the tower was calling me......it's either too fast or unclear.

Is that a skill someone would get simply by listening more? or most people should have picked it up right away from the start?

[ScudRunner08]

ya I think some of the links are a mash up of Tower/Ground/Terminal.

hunt around for perhaps airports like YWG which isn't as busy as say YVR or YYZ might be easier to pick out the transmissions.

[+TSRA]

Some people pick up the radio without any problems and others have a really hard time with it. There is no easy answer, but by the time you finish your license, you will feel much better about it.

As for picking up when someone is calling you, that comes when you are not so focused on just trying to keep the airplane level and going in one direction. You will learn through practice when its time to keep a sharp ear to the radio. And dont worry about it. If I got docked for every radio call I missed second (third) time around, I'd owe my company money!

The other thing is that what the guys on a busy Tower frequency are saying may not make sense to you until you get into your instrument flying, because its different terminology.

Also, learn to speak properly on the radio first. Its OK to listen to something like LiveATC, or a scanner, but realize that the guys and gals on there may not always be using proper terminology, and I know from experience that a new pilot can pick up on something small (calling out "leaving 12.5 for 4" when descending) and think thats the "proper" way of doing things - at the end of the day, it'll be your hand thats slapped for incorrect radio use, not theirs!