My present career as an air traffic controller started in 2008, when I took my first tower tour. I had earned my private pilot certificate earlier that year and wanted to meet the faces behind the voices I kept hearing. The two gentlemen I met had lengthy careers in the FAA, which included Flight Service […]

Growing up in the pre-9/11 era, I was fortunate to take international family vacations. Going through a commercial airport without TSA, high-sensitivity metal detectors and the spirit-deadening routines of today is something I never thought would have happened. September 11, 2001, was a turning point, of course, and governments worldwide responded, forcing flight and ground […]

In unguarded moments, many pilots will confess to what has come to be called “mic fright”—fear of talking on their aircraft’s radio. There may be many reasons for this aversion, but there is no way to avoid voice communication by radio if one plans to be an accomplished pilot. While those working to improve their […]

If you’re like me, one of the first goals I assigned myself after earning my private pilot certificate was to add the instrument rating. For other pilots, VFR-only flying may be where adding certificates and ratings stops but the education continues. The daunting task of putting trust fully into your instruments and air traffic controllers is a bridge some pilots won’t cross. But in the natural progression of pilot certificates and ratings, adding the instrument rating is a common goal after getting through the private checkride.

Sitting around and talking with pilot friends, you hear nonstop talk about aircraft and equipment. Eventually, someone always brings up ATC in conversation. Pilots argue among themselves more intensely than Socrates debating Plato. One question that new and even veteran pilots bring up is why, when they file an IFR flight plan, that their clearance is usually never as filed but includes a route change of some sort.

One way to deal with this torrent of poorly presented information is to call Flight Service, ask for an abbreviated briefing and query the briefer about Notams for your proposed flight, and especially if theres any new FDC Notam affecting the airspace or procedures you anticipate. Listen to the briefer; there might be some nuggets you didnt know about. And at least youll be on the record when FAAs enforcement apparatus asks you about a TFR bust. -J.B.

Tom Turners February 2019 article, The Big Picture, highlighted for me that we should find ways to continuously improve the way we operate within the National Airspace System (NAS) and one way I can help-to give back, if you will-is to try explaining to pilots more about what goes on in the towers, Tracons and Centers throughout the U.S. Its not mysterious or difficult to understand, but it may be different from what you have been told, or told to expect.