Whoever said this was easy must have had about 40 hours in training. As you may well be aware from my diary, I am only on 12 hours. I took the all day, one to one RT course, with the well known RT guy
at Liverpool. Let’s just say that the first thing I done when I got home, was go straight out on the ale. What a stressful day.
It started with us going through all the theory, different types of ATSU’s and classifications of airspace etc. This was quite easy as I have studied the reading material a couple of times and was OK with it. This took us right up to about 1400 (we started at 1000). With it being a one-to-one course, I could ask as many questions as I like along the way and this was good because there was never anything that I didn’t understand. So after lunch, we got back and it was decided that we do some practice. I had the northern chart, with a route drawn out on it, which went out of the Liverpool zone and through a MATZ to the south. Seems simple doesn’t it in theory, but when he leaves the room to go next door and you are all on your own, it is only then that all your previous training and knowledge seems to play a vital role. We had a simple two-way intercom device, designed to simulate the real environment, and to be honest, it really does feel real. It is easier however when you have a nice desk in front of you and no aircraft to fly!
Now this is the point where I was struggling. I will detail what I thought was relatively straight forward and what I couldn’t seem to grasp.
Requesting taxi, very straight forward:
1) Who you are talking to
2) Who you are
3) What you want.
No we have established the three ‘W’s. very important indeed. Now at this point it was stressed to ignore the standard phraseology around Liverpool, because usually, when at Kilo requesting taxi, it goes more like this:
Liverpool tower, G-####, is at kilo, with information Charlie (ATIS), QNH1013, ready for departure – or thereabouts with regard to order.
So this meant that requesting taxi was actually less work than I was used to. So after taxi, ready for departure, ATC (I will refer to examiner as ATC from now on) says:
“G-## clearance”
This is my first point of confusion that I seemed to keep screwing up:
“Request clearance G-##”
WRONG! What I was suppose to say is “affirm” or “ready for clearance” or similar, this means that ATC is asking me am I ready to write down all the clearance details. This did slip my mind a few times, but in the end I got it.
Every now and then, ATC would slip in something I wasn’t expecting, like a conditional clearance, which I had done a few of (these are quite regular at Liverpool due to busy traffic). I was ok here, always remember to read back the clearance. This can be an instant fail if you don’t. So now we are airborne, tell ATC you are leaving the zone and request a freq change. Fairly simple, and ATC usually always approve (until the test, the buggar).
Now this is the point that I kept screwing up, and I will tell you why I kept screwing it up later. Ok after a few practice tries, I still didn’t have it in the bag. It was time for the test. Very very nervous indeed, at the thought of failing and having to do it all over again. I think the most important thing for me was the following (which had been established from the start):
Report:
W – who your calling
W – who you are
W – what you want
Another report:
Call sign and type
Departure and destination
Position (overhead ….)
Level
Additional details
Intentions
Another one:
O – overhead
L – level
E – ETA next turning point.
Now with this firmly in mind, back to the test. Left the zone and am approaching a MATZ, so I make the initial call “WWW”. They then ask for my details. This is where it was going wrong. I kept getting confused as to which position report to give? Do I give “OLE”, or the full report? So I kept giving the wrong one and ATC was getting very peeved indeed! I would give the full report twice, maybe not enough and I just couldn’t understand what I was doing.
Let me tell you the very easy method I used to get around this and never make that same mistake again. I simply wrote “1, 2, 3” next to each report. i.e. WWW is one, full report is 2 and OLE is three. THAT’S the order you give to the ATSU/MATZ. When you first make contact, use report number one, when they ask for your details, use report number 2. When they request you to contact them at your next checkpoint, use 3. you only need to give the first and second report ONCE – this establishes that they have your details, so you should now only need to give OLE.
After I realised this, things seemed a lot easier, and I wasn’t making these mistakes any more. The test was a the full works, PAN call, MAYDAY relay, 3 MATZ, 5 turning points, a divert, collect weather from another MATZ, even had to get a True Bearing from another frequency.
To me, this day was a tough one. Lots and lots to take in and mentally tough if you have not had much experience. The thing is, you HAVE to get it right, there is no room for error on the test.
Here’s my two cents worth of advice.
1) When giving a mayday call, or relay, MAKE SURE you give the position, this is the most important part of the call – if you miss that out, you’ve failed. Even if you miss out most of the rest, please remember this.
2) Same for a PAN call.
3) Revise the above, make sure you get the position reports correct and in the right order (like I didn’t at first hehe).
4) Revise what needs reading back and what doest – when confirming landing clearance, don’t read back the weather!
5) Be ready for ATC to throw things in, and listen out. If you don’t understand what is said, request “say again”.
6) Don’t rush to get back to ATC, remember, in reality there could be 20 mins between talking points. Take your time and be clear.
7) Try not to request too many “say again” as I found out. I requested another read back of the landing instructions, and was asked “bloody hell can you read me OK” (or similar words)!
8) Study beforehand, know what you are going to say – in the famous words of Pratt “engage brain before opening mouth”.
9) Don’t forget to change the frequency on the intercom device, ATC will be watching!
10) Have fun.
Having fun is important, although it doesn’t seem like much fun at first, when you get something right, it feels good.
We finished at 1830 – with the words I had wanted to hear “you are successful”. This means that now I can start learning RT – it doesn’t mean I am now a super literate radio operator, it is important to realise this.
Best of luck to anyone who is to take this, and sorry if it seems I am putting you off – just want you to know the necessary points!
Who ever said RT course was easy?
Best regards
Lee
Hour 12
Well, I cant possibly write more here can I – I have already had my share of the pot today, so I will close it with 5 successful circuits with no problems. Got 2 right hand orbits in to give way to Easyjets and made some great approaches.
Safe flying
Lee
