radio communication

Let’s keep it short and sweet, folks.

Improve air safety with this ATC communications cheat sheet, including practical tips & equipment suggestions for more efficient interactions.

Do you remember when you first picked up the mic to contact air traffic control? It was undoubtedly a scary time. In fact, the normal process of transmitting information to your brain’s motor cortex to make your mouth move and create logical speech at that moment was as far removed as a drop-top Cadillac in […]

There’s always potential for miscommunication whenever low-time pilots are involved with air traffic control. That doesn’t mean they should avoid all such entanglements. Whenever student pilots interact with controllers rather than fellow apprentices in the break room, there’s going to be much less forgiveness when mistakes are made. Learners are expected to absorb rapid-fire instructions, […]

Of all the challenging tasks confronting newcomers to aviation, perhaps the least-appreciated and most difficult to overcome is learning to speak the language of aviation. Our lingua aerial is full of strange new terms unrelated to those of other activities that may have been encountered heretofore. “What’s a ‘pitot tube’ or ‘VOR?’” beginners will ask. […]

The silence was deafening. On April 26, 2022, at approximately 11:12 a.m. ET, while in level VFR flight at 2,000 agl and cruising over the nondescript Ohio landscape, 2,000-hour-plus pilot Marc Epner experienced the unthinkable in his Cirrus SR22, N973SD—a total engine failure. Cue the sweaty palms. What makes this event unique is the fact […]

As student pilots, why do we get tongue-tied with the simple press of the push-to-talk switch? It seems simple yet creates more anxiety than a nun in a smoke shop. It’s a phobia most of us have experienced at some point. In fact, we’ve all been there, done that, and lived to tell about it. […]

It’s not just me. Many of the pilot population in my circle confess to having the same difficulty: understanding what the heck ATC is saying, and what they want us to do. Controllers seem to talk faster, using lots of words. We hate to ask them over, but we also don’t want to misunderstand and […]

May 1st, also known as May Day, has several connotations. In some cultures, it is celebrated as the traditional beginning of spring marked by placing baskets of flowers on doorsteps. For pilots, uttering the phrase “MAYDAY” means they’re in trouble—but have you ever wondered why? MAYDAY and PAN-PAN—also used when we’re in trouble—are both derived […]

There is no shortage of miracle technologies we pilots take for granted. I’d argue that near the top of the list should be in-flight radio communications. Most pilots think that radios have been around forever, and they’re not far from being right about that. You won’t find any photos of Orville sending reports to Wilbur […]