CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7526S
Duration: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 15.0hrs
I got the opportunity to get back into the seat twice in one day... and I'm glad I did. I'm not sure what it was, but I was definitely off my game this morning. Today felt great.
It was all due to a passing comment of Kristie's... "pre-ETL vibration". I feel it now, and know when ETL is coming. Feel the vibration and get ready... 1/2 second later and it's here.
What a huge difference. I'm not smooth yet, not even a little... but at least we're not flopping all around like a fish anymore.
I'm so glad I got the chance to try this again today... it was fresh in my mind, and I really got a lot out of today as a whole.
Also, I had to flip to a new, blank, page in my flight log... racking up the flights. Feels like a physical milestone.
Another milestone; I'm doing many of the radio calls.
Tower / radio communication is essential and I've finally memorized the tower frequencies for HIO. You need to change things relatively frequently and I'm tired of asking.
- Air Traffic Control Tower: 119.3
- Base / Line Service: 122.85
- Automated Weather (ATIS): 127.65
ME: "Hillsboro Tower, helicopter 7526-Siera at HAI with information Kilo, request Charlie."
TOWER: "26-Siera, cleared to cross both runways at intersection for Charlie."
ME: "Cross both at intersection for Charlie, 26-Siera"
Seems complicated but here is the reasoning for it all. For a controlled airspace you need to say:
(To) Who I'm addressing.
(From) Who I am.
(Where) Where I am.
(Info) The current information letter. This is a "code" to let the tower know that we've listened to the most recent weather update. Each time they change the weather (ATIS) information, they assign a new information letter. If we've got the wrong letter, then they will tell us and we can either get the new letter or land.
(Request) What I'm asking permission to do.
Once we are giving instructions, we are required to repeat them back and sign off with our identifier. This ensures that we heard the instructions correctly. A three-stage communication. Request-Response-Acknowledgment.
For uncontrolled airspace, meaning there is no tower controlling traffic:
(To) Who I'm addressing.
(From) Who I am.
(Where) Where I am.
(Altitude) How high I am and any short term changes.
(Request / Statement) What I'm going to do.
(To) Who I just addresses.
For example:
ME: "Scappoose Traffic, helicopter 7526-Siera entering left base at the 45 at 700feet turning final. Scappoose Traffic."
1 comment:
It's good that she has you in both the untowered and towered environments. All too often instructors have the student working almost exclusively in one environment, and that makes them nervous in the other.
On ATIS. At somepoint the ATIS info will change between the time you listen to it and your callup of the tower or TRACON. No big deal. They'll say something like:
Flingwinger 12345, current infomation is zulu, winds xxx@yy, altimeter xx.xxx.
And then go on with whatever they normally would say.
You'll forget some time to listen to ATIS or to give ATC the letter. I remember (since my wife was with me in the R44)requesting a departure without giving the ATIS letter. No big deal. It went something like:
Lancaster tower, helicopter 12345 in the grass opposite the west ramp, we'd like a departure to the southeast.
The tower didn't miss a beat. He came back with:
Copter 12345, winds 100 at 7, altimeter 30.02, cleared to depart to the southeast, remain clear of runway 13-31.
I repeated the clearance and added "sorry about the ATIS" which drew a chuckle from him.
On untowered field ops. It's good that she has you calling out whether you are making left or right traffic, so that everybody else knows where to look for you.
She's also teaching you to make the calls as specified in the AIM. That's both good and bad. No examiner is going to flunk you for doing that, but at busy airports it takes too much bandwidth, and it's good to keep the calls as short as possible.
The airport where I did my primary training in both fixed- and rotary-wing were very, very busy. So I was taught (and still practice to this day) to say something like:
Brandywine, helicopter entering right downwind 27, Brandywine.
If there's more than one helicopter, which happens quite a bit, then we resolve it with the make:
Brandywine, Robinson base-to-final 27, Brandywine.
Tail numbers are used as a last resort if there's more than one Robbie, for example, in the pattern, and then we use either the last two or three digits only:
Brandywine,Robinson four-niner-lima turning right base 27, Brandywine.
BTW, I've never had an examiner in either aircraft category even comment about my use of short calls.
Post a Comment