Say What?

Well, the argument can now be made that I can safely fly an airplane. Landing is another issue - but I'm reasonably certain I can get it on the ground - on a runway - without causing injury or property damage. Today was the day that I began to make all of the radio calls.

In all actuality, making radio calls is a little daunting at first. The bottom line is that those guys and gals "up there" in the tower simply want to know three things: 1) Who are you? 2) Where are you? 3) What do you want? Additionally, when they say something to you, they want you to acknowledge that you hear them - often by repeating instructions back. To me, this part of radio communications was fairly simple.

Communication implies that there is a sender and a receiver. Those roles are not static. In other words, one has to both send and receive communications whether you're flying the airplane or parked in the tower cab.

Until now, I have been simply focused on flying the plane. Today, up in the practice area, we would be working on a maneuver and my instructor would say, "Do you see him?" "Do I see whom?" "The last call over the Rio Verde Community?" "Oh, I didn't hear it." "Last call over Rio Verde Community, please repeat..."

Or back at the airport I would hear a terse controller say, "Cherokee 4 1 8 2 Lima, cross midfield at 2700 and enter left downwind for runway 22 left, report abeam tower - PLEASE READ BACK ALL INSTRUCTIONS!" or "Cherokee 8 2 Lima, Falcon Tower, do you copy?"

Seeing a bit of a pattern here - not only do I have to fly the plane, but I actually have to listen too! There is a lot going on up there!

Flight time: 1.7

Total time: 13.2