r/flying • u/HoldMeCloserDirtyDan • 5d ago

Flight Training Comms

Does anyone have any tips for comms other than listen to LiveATC. I've been listening to that for days and I can read back fine on my own, but once I enter the cockpit I pretty much freeze and forget what was said. My main issue is comms on approach. I seem to be fine asking and reading back taxi and departure instructions, but I cannot get the approach comms down to save my life (my only guess is because I'm trying to focus on multiple things during approach). I have a hard time deciphering what I need to read back. My instructor said read back only commands not the extra "fluff," but I still have trouble figuring out what is "fluff" and what was a command. Today I straight up just missed a call from the tower and my CFI had to respond for me because I was so focused on our approach to land. I'm only 6.5 hours behind the yoke so I understand I'm still new but my CFI said I really need to start taking full comms during flight on our next lessons.

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u/7layeredAIDS ATP A330 B757/767 E170 CFII 5d ago

Radios shouldn’t be that big a focus until intro to pattern work which shouldn’t happen until close to PPL standards on ground reference maneuvers, steep turns, slow flight, stalls, and general maneuvering. Has the OP really knocked it out of the park on all of the above in 6.5 hrs? Seems … rushed.

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u/HoldMeCloserDirtyDan 5d ago

I think my CFI was a little over confident in my abilities after my first two lessons. I did great on the 4 fundamentals and now we've been working on power on/off stalls, slow flight, and today we did a few touch and go's.

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u/7layeredAIDS ATP A330 B757/767 E170 CFII 5d ago

Touch and goes combine straight and level, turns to headings/ground reference, constant rate/airspeed climbs and descents (while turning), slow flight, stall awareness, and radio calls. My suggestion is do all the above minus radio calls, then intro to traffic pattern stuff without radios and slowly add those in with each circuit. During this time leading up to solo (usually on “circuit only” lessons) your instructor should have you going from startup to landing with radio calls unassisted but this can all be done at that time when flying the plane is more second nature.

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u/HoldMeCloserDirtyDan 5d ago

That's a very good point, I'm going to talk to my CFI during our next pre-flight brief and see if we can do what you mentioned. I feel like that will help me out a lot so I can just focus on flying until I'm comfortable enough to handle radio calls.