Whether you’re an instrument rated pilot or not, there are times when you will need to copy down a clearance from air traffic control. And in the interest of time, the controller will give you the clearance quite quickly – faster than you could possibly write down the clearance verbatim. It is therefore critical as a pilot to develop a system for copying down the clearance that makes sense to you.
The FAA has published a shorthand guide that is quite useful. However, it didn’t work for me. Like many of the mnemonics I used in school and during my pilot ground training, I had to develop my own. The key is to have a symbol or very short version for words and phrases used in clearances that you can jot down as quickly as you can say them. It may be a symbol or a short form of the word. As long as you can decipher what you’re jotting down, it really doesn’t matter.
