[Musical whoosh]
Hey Everyone,
Jason Schappert here, MzeroA.com, today departing
a class delta airport, and I want to take you through that process because
radio communications, they are intimidating, where do we start?
Well, really it starts with having our taxi way diagram out, I've got it on the iPad here.
I've got it on the iPad here, we talk about redundancy we have all these great systems here to assist
us in that, and then from there,
we want to grab the ATIS. What is the latest weather, let's listen to that here together.
temperature 24 dew point 23
altimeter 3016, visual approach in use, runway
three six, VFR departures advise ground control direction of flight,
advise on initial contact you have information charlie, Charlie.
[ATIS continues]
Information Charlie is what we
have here, I wrote that down ten and clear, information Charlie, three zero one six
altimeter setting is in, I want to get everything ready ahead of time,
and then at a class delta airport, I like to cold call,
Now, not every airport always needs a cold call, but usually the busier ones do,
and at a place like Ocala, sometimes the ground controller is also the tower controller,
running clearances on the phone with Jax approach, I like to
personally, give them a cold call. So let's go ahead, confirm I'm on ground,
everything looks good, let's give them a cold call to get their attention first.
Good morning, Ocala ground, Skyhawk two three mike zulu,
Skyhawk 23 Mike Zulu, Ocala ground go ahead, sir
23 Mike Zulu's at the north T-hangars with information
Charlie, ready to taxi, VFR to the West.
Cessna 23 MZ, Ocala ground, roger, have runway 36
taxi via taxiway alpha. 36 via alpha, thank you, 23 MZ
Notice too, I ended, let me right that down as well,
I ended the radio call with 36 via
alpha, I ended the radio call with 23 MZ, a common
mistake on the readback is they go 23 MZ, 36
via alpha. Well, understand this, you will never
forget who you are, it's placarded right in front of you, right?
You will never forget who you are, but you will forget what the controller just told you, right?
36 via alpha, there's alpha, 36 to the left, clear right,
clear left, I'm heading to the left here 36 via alpha,
confirm that on my taxiway diagrams and my clearance all is good, I have a nice long taxi
down to alpha here, you will never forget who you are.
But you will forget what ATC just told you, 36 via alpha
23 Mike Zulu, is the proper way to read that back, radio communications
are like ordering pizza. Who are you? Where are you? And what
do you want? 23 Mike Zulu, I'm at the north t-hangars, with information
Charlie, I'm ready to taxi and I'm VFR West.
I'm closed traffic, I'm VFR North, and explain
to them what you wish to do. You know, radio communications are
so difficult, while I have this long taxi I'll share with you a story,
and some of you know this story, well over a decade a go,
when I was learning to fly, I had just soloed, and those of you who know
my story and the MzeroA story, know that my solo was
even before my solo was quite an experience where I literally missed the runway,
long story, literally almost gave up flying at that point,
I had finally soloed and I was doing my
Ocala at the time was pilot controlled, so I had to go the Gainesville Airport to do
my three towered take off and landings to a full stop, it's a private pilot,
at the time, PTS, now ACS requirement, and I went up
there and my radio communications were sloppy, I could fly the airplane, but
my radio communications were so sloppy, and I went up there,
and I landed and they landed me on 24, and I was really nervous,
I had never really talked, I had done a few landings with my instructor there, but
solo is just nerve wracking, right? And maybe you can relate to this,
I landed runway 24, and I pulled off and I explained
I need to back taxi to 24, because they are full stops, right, so
I'm coming back, and he tells me you know left, on whatever the radio call was,
back to 24, but instead of making a left to 24 I end up making a
right hand turn, and I'm just taxiing and taxiing away,
and the ground controller comes on, at the time it was 6711 Juliet,
here goes 11 Juliet, what are you doing?
Well, sir, I'm on my solo cross country, and I have to do this requirement for these three
take off and landings, and I'm telling why I'm at the Gainesville airport, he goes
"No, 11 Juliet, what are you doing?" I thought
oh I just explained to you sir, but I'll tell you again, yeah, so I have these--I have to do these three landings,
they have to be a full stop, that's why I didn't do a touch and go, this time. And I'm telling this man my life story,
and finally, he goes, No, 11 Juliet, Stop, where are you going?
And I stopped in the middle of the taxiway. And he goes, runway 24,
is back behind you.
And literally, tail tucked between my legs, made a 180 degree turn and taxied back to runway 24, and he was very friendly,
about it, however, it was funny that when I ended up
coming back to the Ocala airport, my instructor was ironically waiting
for me right on the ramp, kind of with her arms folding just watching,
and she ends up going, so Jason, how was it? Oh it was great,
It was a fantastic flight, and she goes, oh, okay and I get
guarantee Gainesville tower might have made a friendly phone call down here,
just to let them know that the guy flying 11 Juliet needs a little bit of work
on his radio calls, which is a very accurate statement
to say the least here. So anyways, I share that with you, and
we teach through stories to let you know that you're not alone, radio communications
are very difficult, there's two types of pilots in flight training there's those that are trained
in a pilot controlled airport, and are amazing at pilot controlled
radio communications, but are terrified
and are amazing at pilot controlled, uncontrolled radio
communications, but terrified of towers, that was me, then there's the other pilots
who were raised in the towered environment, and are awesome at towered radio
communications but are terrible, or terrified maybe when it
comes to pilot controlled radio operations, and you have to get good at both.
Anyways, we're taxiing up, we are at the end of our taxiway, and we have an interesting situation, we're about number
three for departure. There's a Cirrus, and it looks like a Cherokee 140,
right here in front of us, I have to do my engine run up anyway,
but we're going to kind of show some of that so you can see
and listen to this process, now I'm coming up, I'm at the end of my taxi,
I'm going to go ahead and switch to tower now,
so I can start listening to see what's happening, with this, so we're going to flip flop over.
[Radio]
I got one on final, I'm just kind of seeing the lay of the land
here, I'm going to listen while I knock out my run up and you can listen along, to.
[Radio] So I got one on final, one on downwind calling
his base, so a busy, busy day here, I'm going to knock out my run up checklist here while
we wait, pull back, right side up, left side down,
flight control back, full forward, looks good, everything looks set,
flight controls free and correct, instruments confirm set,
everything looks good,
mixture set, fuel selector valve confirm both,
trim set for take off, still just waiting for this guy on final,
one on downwind here. Mixture is going rich, throttle's going seventeen
with the new EI
engine monitoring, it's easy to get really picky, well with the G-1000 its a similar way, right
you want to get right to 1,700, well you get close.
there we go 1,710 we're not going to get too picky
Mag check, left mag good, back to both,
right mag, nice drop
good tolerances, back to both, carb heat, check
great drop,
[Radio]
He's number two, so I'm going to be here for a bit, it sounds like.
Idles smooth, and run up and is complete, I am going to be sitting here
for a bit, so we're going to go ahead and pause this video and we're going to skip ahead
till I'm pretty sure I'm number one or at least number two for
this runway.
[Radio: clears Cherokee]
[Radio]
[Radio: No delay]
82 Whiskey is leaving in front of me, I've got one on final, he's
departing, I know he's going to me hold short, but I'm going to let him know I'm here
And Ocala tower, 23 Mike Zulu, Alpha 11, 36 holding short here.
Cessna 23 Mike Zulu, Ocala Tower, hold short of runway 36, landing traffic
Holding short, 36, 23 Mike Zulu
And I told him that, I just want to let him know I'm number one in sequence,
I'm glad we paused the video for a bit--I was sitting there for a good 6-7 miunutes
Of just in bound and out bound traffic,
so we're going to wait just a bit longer, I got one landing, he just departed,
I think he's going to get me out after this aircraft, so
I'm going to double check that everything is set, since I was sitting for quite a while
everything is good, I just need to close my Florida airconditioning
everyone always asks, Jason, why do you taxi with the door open, well if you flew in Florida
[Radio]
We're just waiting
Watching, he's on the ground, looks like he's taxiing off
oh no, he may be doing a stop and go
he's bringing his flaps up in the middle of the runway
Not a very long stop and go
They might get
me out before this next plane comes here,
he's rolling now. I'm going to inch up just a hair.
So I'm ready, and I can help him with the sequencing, just a bit
and I'm waiting for that radio call.
There's my hold short line.
Don't want to get too closed to it. [Cessna 23 Mike Zulu, runway 36
cleared for take off, West departure approved, the Cessna departing ahead of you
is in left, closed traffic.] 36 Clear for take off, West bound
approval, keep an eye on that traffic, thank you, 23 mike Zulu. Alright, so I told him
we're 36, really all that needed to be read back
was 36 cleared for take off, left turn approved,
the traffic information was just helpful for me, it didn't need to be read back
using every bit of runway [Radio]
[Radio] Heels at the floor, toes at the bottom of the pedals, smoothly applying
some full power, confirm, engine gauges
all green, airspeed alive, airspeeds alive,
rolling, about a thousand
feet of runway gone, there's sixty we're flying,
a class delta departure
That was a little, not complex, but that was a lengthy
process, a very long taxi, a very busy day, and what you need to understand is
no two radio communications are the same, ATC can throw a kink in it,
and you have to be ready, the best tip I can give you is remember
you'll never forget who you are, but you will forget what ATC told you.
On a read back, say what they just told you, the pertinent information, then end
with your tail number, and that's on the read backs, not on the initial calls
Hey listen, we've been giving away a BOSE headset
every single month so far, November 29th
is our next live stream I'm doing a great mock checkride, I'm going to ask actual
FAA checkride questions and then I'm going to go ahead and provide you with
the best answers, and I'll read your answers in the chat.
The best answers for private, instrument, and commercial check rides. I'll be asking those questions live on FaceBook
and YouTube, that's November 29th at 8 p.m. EST
Then at the end I'm giving away another BOSE headset.
There's already an event up on FaceBook so you can check all of that out
and I will see you all on November 29th, can't wait to read your comments below this video.
Enjoy the rest of your day, and most importantly,
Remember, that A Good Pilot Is Always Learning! Have a great day, guys, we'll see ya.
[Radio]