Valentine’s Day is upon us, giving us (hopefully) warm thoughts about the loved ones in our lives. Whether you’re the demonstrative type or more of a single rose kinda guy or gal, we’re all in an on-again-off-again relationship with someone who holds an important place in our lives. As you might have guessed, I’m talking about air traffic control.
Ok, maybe it’s not that obvious. Still, we can all agree that ATC is a critical part of our lives and that the controllers on the other end of our radios are human beings with feelings who work under a tremendous amount of pressure in a high-stakes occupation. To that end, I bring up the concept of human-to-human relationships.
We know what ATC does for us, and occasionally, we’re not thrilled by it. However, in the end, there’s an understanding that controllers are highly skilled professionals doing their best to keep you safe and the flow as efficient as possible. They typically do an outstanding job, especially considering some of the characters they deal with in their airspace.
For example, there’s the recent case of a supremely entitled GA pilot near Las Vegas having a tantrum because ATC would not clear him into their overloaded airspace. The fit he pitched was truly worthy of a toddler who missed their nap.
That’s an extreme example, but you can imagine that a more professional, empathetic, and respectful voice transmitted from the cockpit might have earned more favorable treatment. To that point, here are some tips and reminders for garnering favor with controllers, which might save you time and heartache.
ATC wants to talk to you.
Even if they’re busy, you’re not a nuisance. They really do want to know your intentions — just be patient.
…Except when they can’t talk to you.
While ATC may want to talk, they may be so task-saturated that they perform “radio triage” and don’t respond at all because they have more urgent issues at the moment. Don’t take it personally.
Take it slow.
Are you cold calling ATC midflight, say, to get flight following? No problem — just don’t rattle off your request all at once on your first call. Key the mic and give them your callsign and altitude so you’re not overwhelming them with a request they weren’t anticipating. If you really want, you can also say “VFR request” if applicable.
If necessary, ask ATC to take it slow, too.
It’s ok to tell the controller to slow down. They want you to hear and understand them.
Use correct aviation phraseology, but don’t try to “sound like a pilot.”
Always use correct aviation phraseology to ensure you’re understood… but ensure you’re understood. Brevity is generally appreciated, but don’t try to sound like an Airbus driver with barely discernible grunts that last a fraction of a second. ATC asks them to repeat themselves all the time. You are already a pilot, so your normal speech is what a pilot sounds like.
Be as prepared as possible.
For IFR approaches, they’d love it if you already knew what information they were going to give you (and in what order). Remember “PTAC” — Position, Turn, Altitude, Clearance.
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.
ATC understands that if you have an emergency, announced or not, you need to take care of it.
Show your appreciation.
Whether you leave them a note in the comments of your flight plans, write a letter of praise to a controller and their supervisor, or get pizza delivered to the control room, you’d be amazed at how helpful a small gesture of appreciation can be down the road.
Air traffic controllers are human beings exactly like you whose occupation happens to be working traffic in the sky. They have good and bad days, get mad, and can be grateful for assistance from an understanding pilot. Most of all, just like you, they want every flight to be safe.