Page 42 - Volume 16 Number 4

40 • TWIN & TURBINE APRIL 2012
From the Flight Deck by Kevin R. Dingman
IColloquial Contamination
t’s a warm spring afternoon in has become contaminated. You the low flight levels as you pick could say our group has contracted your way around the cumulus. a vernacular disease. I just finished
It is clear and unambiguous two-way communication. Emphasis added because it seems ATC has become more and more a “transmit only” communicator; this despite the recent highlighting of read-back/ hear-back errors. We have long assumed that the absence of an acknowledgement or a correction after reading back a clearance was implicit confirmation that the read- back was correct and approved. This may not be true; we should confirm a clearance to complete the transfer of information. Radio discipline is not only an understanding of terminology and phraseology, but the structure and cadence which facilitates the efficient transfer of information.
What is radio cadence? It’s the rhythm of the conversation; the tempo of the transmit-receive- transmit sequence, the controller- pilot pulse. Not so much when it’s just you and the controller, but when there are five other airplanes and the controller, a cadence will develop. It’s recognizing how long to wait after another aircraft or the controller stops talking, anticipating that point in time at which you should key the mic and take your turn – similar to picking a spot to enter a busy lane of traffic. The cadence is different for center, approach control, and tower, and will vary from one tower to another and one approach control to another, depending on the level of traffic.
When you combine radio cadence and discipline with an experienced, calm, gravelly voice (sorry ladies), you get a cross between John Wayne and Chuck Yeager: an airline or fighter pilot radio-voice. It used to be that less-experienced GA and regional airline folks tried to imitate the way airline and fighter pilots sounded on the radio; not just the words and intonation, but the cadence and composure as well – the “coolness”. As an airline pilot, I must shamefully admit we are
You’ve waited a bit too long to ask for a 20-degree left deviation for a cumulonimbus; a squeal comes over your headset from someone on the radio stepping on someone else, then you hear:
Sorry, I think I blocked somebody... ...hello and afternoon center, this is Rookie Nine Twenty Four checking in.... we’re outa’ sixteen on a 310 heading and 260 knots around some weather – requesting two three oh.... And ah, hey, we’re runnin’ a little late today so after we’re done deviating, instead of Chardon any chance we could maybe go direct Milton?
After a long delay, you hear: Aircraft calling Cleveland Center, I was on the land line, say-again.
Your chin drops to your chest. Now you know you waited too long to ask for that 20-degree deviation. By the time this moron repeats his dissertation you will instead need 60 degrees to avoid the weather. You pray that you have time to get in a call before making the turn on your own, then declaring an emergency for the deviation.
Can We Talk?
At the risk of this month’s column sounding like it was written by a medical student and edited by Joan Rivers: Can we talk? I’m starting to think not. I shouldn’t be surprised that the everyday language we use (colloquial language) has permeated most aspects of society – business, politics, literature, music and the workplace. It just doesn’t seem to fit comfortably in my workplace, at the pointy end of an airliner or on the radio. The beloved radio discipline I was taught in GA and the Air Force
one of those trips where every radio call I heard was just a little bit off; maybe it was because I had this story on my mind and was over- listening – an episode of hyperbole hypochondria, perhaps.
There was a time when a restricted radiotelephone operator’s permit was mandatory for new pilots, like the one I have with 1972 stamped on it. Even though no formal training was required to obtain the permit, there was an implicit understanding that you were now a cut above folks using other communication devices, and you should, as a result, act accordingly. The permit would allow you to use an aircraft radio and CFI’s were adamant about its proper use and something called “radio discipline”. The entire alphabet and number system had an aviation pronunciation; we even possessed several of our own words: say-again, over, copy, and Ident, for example. And since we use them more often than the general population, a case could be made for our squatter’s rights to the words affirmative and negative. Utmost respect would be given to ATC. Pilot-controller phraseology would be used and brevity would be the statute, with no banter or chatter. As a new student pilot, you may have listened to recordings of pilot/ controller radio transmissions to help pick up the jargon, particularly those pesky instrument clearances.
Read-back/Hear-back
What is radio discipline? It’s the professional manner in which we abide by strict brevity in communication and the use of the standardized aviation terminology and phraseology that’s our vernacular.