Radio communications may seem complicated at first, but you'll get used to them. Most things a controller will say are standard and will become familiar to you. The order of most of your initial communications is standard, too. (Think of these five items: YOU ME WHERE WHAT WITH.) The idea is to keep communications brief. Practice in your head before you push the button. We often shorten communications down to just a few words to keep from bogging up the radios. This allows ATC to speak with more aircrafts much quicker. Try not to have unnecessary conversations.
1. YOU: Whom you're talking to
2. ME: Who you are (Your tail number)
3. WHERE: Where you are
4. WHAT: What you want
5. WITH: Airport information (ATIS)
Taxi and Takeoff
So now lets apply this to radio calls at St. Pete Airport. When we get in the plane, and start the engines, we will get to the taxi checklist. Here, we will request a clearance to taxi to the active runway. You will begin on ground frequency, so you will address your call to ground. You location is the south ramp and we will be requesting a VFR departure. St. Pete Airport is underneath Class B airspace, so we have to include that in our radio call. Most times we just remain beneath the bravo shelf and fly to the coast to practice manuevers. Lets look at this example:
"St. Pete Ground, Archer 349D at the South Ramp with information Charlie, ready to taxi for VFR departure westbound, negative Bravo."
We've stated who we are talking to, who we are, where we are at, what weather information we have, and what we want to do. We've also stated negative bravo. Remember, we will need a clearance to enter the bravo airspace and by saying this it lets them know we will remain out of the bravo. So now that we've communicated to them what we want to do, ground will now tell us what to do. They will give us our taxi clearance. This step is important. Every time ATC gives you a clearance, you must read it back to make sure you have the correct information. So here's an example of what ground will say back:
"Archer 349D, taxi to 36 at Alpha 5 via Alpha."
To which we will read back:
"Taxi 36 at alpha 5 via alpha."
So now we have received our clearance to taxi to the runway and we have read it back. But what does it mean? Very simple...They are telling us to taxi to runway 36 and then they tell us how to get there. Look at the image below to see a visual image of the taxi instructions.
Now that we have gotten the taxi instructions, lets talk about our next radio calls. After our run-up, we will switch over to the tower frequency to get takeoff clearance. The format for this call will be similar. We will say who they are, who we are, where we are, and what we want to do. Here's the example of how that call will go:
"St Pete Tower, Archer 349D, holding short of 36 at Alpha 5, ready for departure"
Tower will then either tell you to continue to hold short or they will give you your clearance to take off by saying:
"Archer 349D, Clear for take off runway 36"
Either way, you will read back all instructions given. When given hold short instructions, its required that you read back the runway you're holding short of and the intersection you're at.
"Hold short 36 at Alpha 5, Archer 349D" "Clear for take off 36 at alpha 5, Archer 349D"
These are very basic examples of takeoff clearances. They can get a little more tricky sometimes. For example, sometimes they will clear you for takeoff and give you a heading to fly after takeoff. Again, you will read it back, read back all instructions that were given.
"Clear for takeoff 36, fly heading 350, archer 349D"
Return to Land
Now that we know how to communicate with St. Pete Tower to depart, how do we tell them that we want to come back in and land? The general concept is the same. We are still going to say who they are, who we are, where we are, what weather information we have, and what we want to do. So before we return, we need to listen to the ATIS and get the weather information. Then figure out where you are. Best way to express where you are is to either use the GPS to find your distance and your HSI to determine direction towards airport, OR use a VFR way point if you are by one. Here's two example of what that will sound like:
"St Pete Tower, Archer 349D, 10 miles northwest, with information Delta, inbound full stop"
"St Pete Tower, Archer 349D, over Clearwater Beach, with information Delta, inbound Full Stop"
From there they will give you instructions and once again, you will read back those instructions with your tail number and then follow the instructions. At some points along the way they may give you traffic advisories about other aircrafts close by you or sequenced to land before you. You will respond to that one of two ways
"Traffic in Sight, Archer 349D." "Looking for Traffic,Archer 349D"
If you do not see the aircraft they are referring to, DO NOT ADVISE that you have traffic in sight. If you do see the traffic, it is important to keep up with that traffics position until it is no longer a factor (either it lands or heads in another direction away from you). Once you say you have traffic in sight, you assume the responsibility to avoid it. Here in St Pete, the tower will either clear you for the option (option to make a touch-and-go, low approach, missed approach, stop-and-go, or full stop landing), clear you to land (full stop landing), or even clear you for a touch-and-go). You want to make sure you repeat your clearance as it was given. For example, if they clear you for a touch-and-go, do not repeat back cleared to land. You were given a clearance to do a touch-and-go, not a clearance to land with a full stop. Here's an example of how that should go:
"Archer 349D, cleared for the option, runway 36" "Cleared for the option, 36, Archer 349D"
Once you land and are clear of the runway, you will need to switch back over to the ground frequency. Make sure your entire plane, including tail, is across the hold short line. You complete your checklists and then call St Pete Ground. Again, we will tell them the same things: you, me, where, what. We left out the with (ATIS info) because we don't need that to taxi to parking. Once we tell them that info, they will then give us taxi instructions. You must read back those instructions and then follow them. So it will go something like this:
"St Pete Ground, Archer 349D, clear runway 36 at Alpha 4, ready to taxi back to South ramp"
"Archer 349D taxi to parking via Alpha"
"Taxi to parking via Alpha, Archer 349D"
After reading back your taxi instructions, you will then begin your taxi by turning on to taxiway Alpha and taxing to the south ramp. You can turn on any intersection to that ramp, but its best to pick the intersection that will have the least amount of obstacles to the available parking spot.
What about RWY 4?
Now that we have the basic, lets find some taxi instructions that are a little bit more complicated. Every once in a while you will be landing on runway 4 and the taxi instructions can get a little confusing because we now have to cross a runway. So lets create a scenario where you land on runway 4 and touchdown with enough time to get off at G2. After you pass the hold short line and do your after landing checklist, you'll call ground and request taxi clearance. It will sound the same, but with your new location. So take this for example:
"St Pete Ground, Archer 349D, clear Runway 4 at Gulf 2, ready to taxi back to south ramp"
When you are at G2, they can give you a few different instructions to get to the South Ramp. It's important to anticipate directions you might get. If you look at the image below you will see the taxi diagram with 2 different paths highlighted. It's safe to say you will get one of those two routes when you request taxi instructions from St Pete Ground. Now that you have looked at the diagram and have anticipated possible routes, let's see how ATC my clear you for the blue route. Here are a few things you can expect:
"Archer 349D, Taxi to south ramp via Gulf, Alpha 5, Alpha, cross 36"
"Archer 349D, taxi to south rampa via Gulf, Alpha 5, Alpha, hold short of 36"
Then one I got the other day:
"Archer 349D, Taxi via gulf, hold short of 36"
So lets stop and talk about that for a second. What do each of those mean? The first 2 are pretty straight forward. One is telling you that you will make that left turn onto Gulf and go all the way to the runway, cross the runway onto Alpha 5, and then take Alpha to the south ramp to park. Those instructions included a clearance to cross the runway. The second one was pretty much the same instructions, but the only difference is that once you get to the runway, you will hold short behind the hold short lines until you get clearance to cross runway 36. Once the traffic on the runway has cleared and it is safe to cross, ground will say something as simple as:
"Archer 349d, cross 36"
Sometime if there is a build up of planes holding short of 36 at Gulf, they will give you instructions to Foxtrot, which you will see as the purple route. Those instructions would sound like one of these:
"Archer 349D, Taxi to south Ramp Via Gulf, Foxtrot, Alpha 4, Alpha, Cross 36"
"Archer 349D, Taxi to south Ramp Via Gulf, Foxtrot, Alpha 4, Alpha, Hold Short 36"
Or they can make it a little simpler and not give you all the instructions at once. They could split it in two instructions.
"Archer 349D, Taxi Via Gulf, Foxtrot, Hold Short of 36"
This will get you instructions from your current position, all the way to runway 36, where you will hold short. Once they are ready for you to cross, they'll give you the rest of the instructions.
"Archer 349D, Cross 36, Alpha 4, Alpah, to the south ramp"
Now with all this being said, keep in mind that radio calls will not always go exactly as planned. If you ever feel like you are a bit confused with instructions, you can always ask them to repeat themselves or ask for progressive taxi. Progressive taxi is a step by step guidance from ATC to get you where you need to be. St Pete is also a training facility for ATC, so if they give you weird instructions or ones that put you in harm, always confirm. We are still the PIC and ultimately responsible. Controllers are human too and sometimes make mistakes. Always remain situationally aware.
Radio Comms Cheat Sheet
Now that we've covered how it all flows, I have created a little cheat sheet for you to take in the plane. Keep in mind, the cheat sheet is very basic, but is good to help you with your basic comms before you get more comfortable with them. The layout is done so that when you print it out, you can fold the paper in half and it will fit on your knee board perfectly. All you have to do is fill in your tail number and ATIS info and what not, and you can just read it. Eventually you'll have it memorized, but it's nice to have that guidance while in the plane. For that Cheat Sheet, CLICK HERE