"Life Stories" over the radio.....

[Monocock]

I find it amazing that so many people complain about some pilots giving their "life stories" over the radio when most of the time the information they have transmitted leaves the controller with no more questions to ask and allows him to move on to another a/c.

Too many pilots omit one (or more) of the following in an attempt to get on and off the airwaves as quickly as possible.

1. Point of departure.

2. Destination.

3. Position/altitude

4. Route

5. Service required.

Just listen next time you are up, hardly ever does the controller not have to ask for extra info because the pilot has given him/her all they need.

Radio procedure is literally just that, A PROCEDURE. The same format adjusted for different situations will give the man on the ground exactly what they want to know.

Who can say that the five points above are a life story and can anyone suggest anything that needs adding on a standard x-country call?

It works every time for me and has done for years.

[Chilli Monster]

Monocock

I think you're mising the point of the complaints. There's nothing wrong at all with what you've said. The 'life story' complaint is the little extras that we get. For example, superfluous information is:

Heading - You're not being vectored, therefore you're not on a 'heading' as far as I'm concerned - don't need to know it.

Pressure setting - All part of the service. Don't tell me what you're on if you're a transit, because I'll give you a nice, fresh new pressure for free :D

Your complete routeing - I only want to know where you're routeing via in my area of responsibility. Outside of that it's somebody elses interest, not mine.

These coupled with the 'Umms' and 'Errs' generate the hatred of the life story (as it appears). Funnily enough it always happens just when you're about to turn somebody onto the localiser!

CM

[eyeinthesky]

CM: Have to disagree about the pressure setting. If they tell you what setting they're on and it is the same as yours, then that is one transmission less for you to make and one readback less to check.

Agree with your point that they can delay a more urgent instruction you need to make, but surely you need to be aware of that before you say 'Pass your message'.;)

Having said all that, we need to beware of making pilots scared of using the R/T as there enough of those already and they try to skirt airspace, with varying degrees of success, rather than call for a service.

[Chilli Monster]

eyeinthesky Agree with your point that they can delay a more urgent instruction you need to make, but surely you need to be aware of that before you say 'Pass your message' I was wondering if someone would say this - I should have been more explicit. In the case of those who establish contact in the normal way then I agree - they either get 'standby' or not answered until the instruction is passed. There are those out there who will insist on giving you their lifestory on first contact, or do not understand the word 'standby' and go stright into it when being told 'standby'.

As for pressures. I would say 70% of the time I get aircraft call me on adjoining airfields QFE's (being military) or an unofficial QNH from an unlicesed airfield that does not have an accurate way of determining pressure. Therefore I would rather put them on my QNH (which will also be the same as the 2 adjoining LARS / Class 'D' units) thereby having a common point of reference.

I agree with your point about getting people to call and not be scared though. In the past week I've had 5 aircraft go straight through my final approach, half a mile outside the ATZ (perfectly legal I know) with a 1200 ft cloudbase and not talking or squawking, where they would have come into contact with ILS traffic had I not had to introduce more miles to ensure there was separation. (And I know they were below cloud because tower could see them!). This is not an ideal situation to be in but that's what happens with PPL's who are pure VFR pilots and don't think about the implications of IAP's at airfields.

C'est la vie :rolleyes:

CM

[FWA NATCA]

Chilli,

I had a cessna cross my departure corridor several years ago at 3000 just as I was launching a flight of 4 F16s. I called traffic to the fighters, the lead pilot said "radar contact and he'll call when we pass him".

The F16s rolled, all four passed just over top the cessna, you should had heard the radio calls from the cessna.

As for acft calling on frequency, here is what I would like to hear.

1. Establish radio contact
When I respond using your tail number then provide the following information in one short and sweet transmission

1. Aircraft type
2. That you are VFR or requesting to pick up your IFR clearance.
3. Altitude
4. Destination
5. Any special request (but again keep it short and I mean DO NOT RAMBLE on and on).

Mike




Mike

[Wrong Stuff]

eyeinthesky:
CM: Have to disagree about the pressure setting. If they tell you what setting they're on and it is the same as yours, then that is one transmission less for you to make and one readback less to check.

That's what I'd have thought, but it rarely seems to happen that way. Often when you're waiting for a gap to say hello you hear the QNH being given to someone else. I always set that immediately and use it in my transmission of altitude, but despite that always seem to be given the same QNH again anyway.

Cheers,
Wrong Stuff

[Airbus Girl]

I have to agree with the comments about life stories.
I fly light aircraft (usually non radio!!!) and also fly commercially.
A recent example I had was down at Palma, storms everywhere, raining hard, cloud down to about 800 feet. Now Palma is not particularly flat.
Lots of aircraft on freq, many calling for headings for weather avoidance.
We were about to call up when a (Spanish) PPLer came on freq, in English. ATC said "standby". Well, the PPLer obviously hadn't got to that part of the English RT language book and proceeded to block the frequency for about 5 minutes whilst he gave his life story. In the meantime aircraft had no choice but to turn away from the thunderstorms and keep a close eye on TCAS.
The ATCer came on and just said to the PPLer, basically "remain clear of airspace".
Then another light aircraft piped up and asked for direct to an NDB. It was obvious to all of us that this was because he must be IMC, and he was meant to be flying VFR. Again, the ATCer pleased us all when he said "negative, remain in sight of the ground".
It was obviously very busy on frequency, with loads of commercial traffic, and the weather was atrocious. There is no way anyone should have been up there in a light aircraft (for safety reasons) unless they were on an IFR flight plan. If they really had gone into IMC on a VFR flight plan and couldn't get out then they should have declared a MAYDAY and got on with it.

I also get annoyed when people don't come on frequency and say "G-XXXX, request" but give the whole spiel anyway.

Still, flying with no radio in nice weather is much quieter!

[foghorn]

Wrong Stuff has a good point. While I'm listening out on a frequency before calling, I will set my altimeter to the unit's QNH if I hear it given to someone else. Therefore, when I call said unit, I give the pressure setting after my current altitude as a way of saying that I already have the pressure setting.

I, too, have noticed that I still always seem to get the same pressure setting back from the controller. Is this a MATS requirement, or just force of habit from the controller?

cheers!
foggy.

[bluskis]

Could someone explain why point of departure and destination is required when calling for transit through a zone, or even just notifying an aerodrome in passing clear of the zone.

Do the big controllers like the squawk code to be included in the info, even if 7000.

I just ask in the interest of achieving the brevity some are asking for here.

[FWA NATCA]

I can't speak for my brothers across the pond, but in the US once I respond to your initial call, and you give me your position, altitude, and destination (I don't need to knowwhere you departed from if you are VFR) then I know where you are, where you are going, what altitude you are at, and from that I know what your ground track should be.

If you are monitoring the frequency before you call on and you know what the alitmeter is, then after you give the short and sweet spew of your information, state "I have the numbers" which to me means you have the altimeter, and if you are landing my airport the ATIS.

If you are flying IFR, on initial contact I need you to:

State your full call sign, and altitude, if you are still climbing or descending then the altitude that you are leaving and your assigned altitude, and if you are landing at my airport or one of my satelites that you have the ATIS or weather information.

Mike