Five Tips From ATC

We bow to no one in our willingness to reject ATC clearances and forcefully but politely seek what we want and need from a controller. Since our chair usually is moving faster than their’s, we cop the attitude that our needs are more important than ATC’s. At the same time, we certainly understand controllers often have little flexibility in responding to our needs, whether due to their own requirements, conflicting traffic we know nothing about or high workload. But they also need things from us: basic airmanship, concise communication and the ability (willingness?) to follow instructions. To put it another way, both sides of the pilot/controller relationship have expectations. We know what ours are; What are their’s? To find out, we asked a controller-friend working in an ARTCC in the Midwest U.S. to share with us his top five pet peeves. Here’s what we learned.

Key Takeaways:

• Effective communication is crucial; pilots should be concise, confident, know what to say before transmitting, and provide full readbacks of clearances, including the "November" in callsigns when appropriate.
• Maintain strong situational awareness, especially when flying near major airports and busy airspace, and understand that VFR flight following is a workload-permitting service, not a guarantee of traffic separation.
• Listen to the frequency before transmitting to gather information (e.g., ride reports, re-routes) and avoid interrupting ongoing conversations or stepping on other transmissions.

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