Roger or Say Again ? – ATC is you friend !
Have you already received an endless clearance from ATC, the kind of “HB-XXX, cleared for take-off RWY 23, wind is calm, when passing 500 feet turn left heading 200, when passing 5′000 turn left direct to FFM VOR, expedite, traffic on final” ?
This is not reserved to IFR pilots. Many airports and countries have local customs which are hard to understand if your not used to. Once a controller at a sea-side airport requested that I report when passing “The Coast”. As I’m more of a mountain pilot, I looked at my chart searching for a town named “The Coast” !
Some pilots think there are two solutions when you don’t understand ATC: “Roger” or “Say Again”, but I’m sure you’re not one of them – you know the correct reaction…
Yes, the correct reaction is the good old “Say Again”. If you want to sound polite to the controller, use the “Say Again, Please” variant. Using “Roger” will certainly solve your immediate problem – but if some elements of the clearance had to be read-back, it won’t work.
If by luck the “Roger” thing works, it won’t be long until you won’t comply with your clearance. This will not only generate a frustrating and potentially complex situation for the controller, but could also put your life at risk !
Your ego will probably not like when you will transmit a “Say again, please” on a busy frequency, but be sure that the controller’s reaction when you will violate your clearance won’t be exactly… rewarding. An approximate read-back can also sound like and option, but it a waste of time as the controller will have to repeat anyway.
The important underlying principle you must remember as a pilot is that ATC is your best friend ! If you missed something, start to get lost, are lost, or face any trouble, inform ATC ! No controller will ever blame you nor deny help.
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Fab
I find the worst is if you heard perfectly well what the controller said, but you cannot figure out what he meant…
Once I was approaching KPAO pattern (Palo Alto, class D), and the controller told me “traffic at your 1 o’clock, turn right 30 degrees” – I got what he said, but figured that by doing that I’d be heading right at the traffic, so what gives? I was confused, and the controller had to essentially repeat his instruction three times until I complied…
Afterwards it became obvious to me that the traffic was moving from my right to my left, and we were headed to the same point in the pattern, and by pointing straight at where the traffic was (then), I was soon nicely lined up behind it.
In this circumstance, “Say Again” helped only to an extent…
When controllers use references I don’t know, or anything I don’t understand, I like to throw in an “Unfamiliar”, so they know that I’m not from around here, and they should be more explicit.
Totally agree that ATC is your best friend – must say, in the bay area they’re quite busy, but nevertheless both friendly and accomodating.
Jan 26th, 2008
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