IFR Communications

[Melo]

Hi All,

I find IFR communications a little overwhelming. I was looking at the COMM1 software and wanted to see if anyone has any feedback on it.

I know the comms get better with time but was just looking for something to help me get over the curve sooner.

Any other tips or tools beside COMM1 that are might be helpful?

[Wacko]

Couple things:
IFR Clearances follow a certain pattern. Have a peace of paper with the basic outline and you can just fill in the variables.
ie.
ATC Clears C-CXXX to ____ airport via ____ flight plan route etc. go here:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/p ... -0-476.htm and write out which clearance applies to your airport.

As for clearances in the air... I would suggest NOT to get in the habit of writhing everything down.. ie GXXX turn left to a HDG of 250 climb to 12000. In this case I would set the heading bug to 250 and only have to remember the 12000 (unless you have an altitude alerter, which makes it even simpler).

As for holds.. I would suggest the same as for the ground clearances

GXXX cleared present position direct _____ (fix) to hold ____ (ne/se/w/etc) inbound/outbound on the ____ radial/track

Hope that helps.

[Bushav8er]

It does appear overwhelming at first but you quickly learn its a straightforward as Wacko mentions. Sometimes you may get a 'surprise' clearance like one to a long/lat, or to intercept a radial but you'll get on those too.

Don't waste money of software, just find someone with real IFR experience to ride along with or to give you practice clearances.

[Colonel Sanders]

This works pretty well for me:

C learance limit

R oute

A ltitude

F req

T ransponder

V oid time

Write down what you filed, with space around the route
and altitude to fill in what ATC adds and changes. For
example, let's say you file 8000 for altitude, and in the
absence of a SID, ATC might tell you something like

"maintain 2000 expect 6000 ten minutes after departure"

So next to A above I would write

A 8000

but immediately below it I would write

2k E 6k 10m ad

which is my weird kind of shorthand.

Same thing for the route. Leave space in front of
it for ATC artistic creativity, then "as filed".

[Shiny Side Up]

which is my weird kind of shorthand.

One should note that everyone will develop their own type of shorthand which only they will be able to understand. My own kneeboard will be indecipherable to anyone else after a clearance, but I can read it. If you haven't developed your own shorthand yet, one way to do it is start by eliminating vowels when you write stuff down, then progress by eliminating letters each time you write something down.

[kevenv]

In training for ATC, we would read clx's out loud, over and over and over again to get the format to become second nature. That is why sometimes we may seem to be a bit quick for training pilots. Having said that, I have often wondered why student pilots don't do the same thing. I deal with a fair number of foreign students (non foreigners aren't much better) and they don't seem to realize or haven't been taught that the clx's I issue them are in the same format each and every time. The read backs are often horrendous (sometimes even from the instructor!).

Our format is PACSRAMDST. You will only get the items that are applicable to you (ie: if I am giving you a holding clx I won't use the SID or mach #)

P- prefix- ATC clears (if you are talking to ATC you won't hear this one, if you are dealing with FSS, you will);
A- a/c ident;
C- clx limit;
S- SID departure;
R- routing;
A- altitude;
M- mach number;
D- departure, en route, approach, or holding instructions;
S- special instructions or information (squawk code, clx cancelled time etc); and
T- traffic information.

[frog]

The way i see it is that the writing is minimal.

Atc clears cfabc to yyz
I don't copy this part because it is obvious, you know who you are and you know where you go.

Than they can give you a sid
Dorval 1 departure will be D1
The route : it is hopefully what you filed so keep a copy of your flight plan and underline the parts that are applicable, put your assigned altitude if you have one, squawk and you are all set.
So in short just read what you have on the flight plan,
All you end writing down would be D1 1234 for the squawk.
That is the best case scenario but it actually happens pretty often.

[full_flaps]

good info guys...thanks for the great tips!