Working With Controllers
(continued) Stewart then transmitted to the pilot: "You have been in the air for over an hour, your current location is 20 miles east of the airport from which you departed, your requested destination will take you into an area of severe weather, and you have made zero progress towards that destination. I strongly suggest that you return to your departure airport, land and reconsider your options."
The pilot accepted this suggestion and after several more vectors, sighted the airport, left the frequency and hopefully landed safely. During this episode Stewart was also vectoring several other aircraft including three who were doing practice approaches.
The many stories like these that Stewart shares drove home to me what a difficult job controllers have. One moment they are talking to an airline pilot with tens of thousands of hours, and the next moment they may be talking to a student pilot who got lost on his first solo cross-country. No matter how much experience we have, it is up to us as pilots to do whatever we can do to not add unnecessarily to the workload of the controller or add confusion to the frequency.
In his book, Stewart covers a great many ways pilots can work more effectively with controllers, including:
• Learn how the system works. Memorize the Pilot/Controller Glossary in the Airman's Information Manual and use words as they were intended to be used. If you are having trouble on the radio, practice with a commercially available training course.
• Visit a control tower and a radar facility. Invite a controller to speak to your pilot group.
• Be prepared for what you are about to do. It is not fair to set out on a flight without proper preflight planning, and then expect one or more controllers to fill in the gaps left by your less than rigorous preparation for the flight.
• Have current charts or a database with current frequencies, which means checking notams.
• Use a good headset so you can clearly hear what the controller is saying.
• Pay attention to what is going on around and especially ahead of you. This includes monitoring the ATIS and approach or tower frequencies well in advance of arriving in the terminal area.
• Avoid trying to file an IFR flight plan with the controller. It takes the controller a lot more time than you would imagine when the route continues outside his airspace.
• Listen carefully to all clearances, and then do what you are cleared to do without delay.
• If you are at all confused or even think you might be in some sort of trouble, tell the controller. Be up front and honest about your situation. Realize that most controllers will not take any adverse action unless the situation is very grievous or such action is mandated. In any case, as Stewart says, "I have always felt it is better to spend an hour in the woodshed with the FAA than a somewhat longer period of time pushing up daisies."
• Use professional skepticism and question anything that doesn't seem right or you don't fully understand. Don't trust -- verify!
There are many rewards for being able to work comfortably and professionally with controllers. Stewart says that controllers are constantly assessing the professionalism of the pilots they are dealing with. If a pilot does not seem to know what he is doing, the controller will take a very conservative approach that will likely add many miles and minutes to the flight. However, if the controller feels he can trust you to expeditiously do exactly what he says, he will often take steps to expedite your trip. Thus a little extra work and professionalism on the pilots' part can cause their trip to go faster while helping the entire airspace system to work more efficiently and safely.
Feedback Wanted
I am planning a future article on “What Pilots Want Controllers to Know.” Please send your feedback on problems you have experienced or ways controllers could help make the pilot’s job easier to: Flying Editor
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