Review Notes: Basic Knowledge of Air Traffic Control (ATC)

I’m writing this review note on basic ATC knowledge for my own future reference and for the benefit of netizens.

First and foremost, practical application is crucial when learning ATC. Buy a radio or wireless receiver capable of receiving the aviation band, check the ATC frequencies for airports near your home online, and there is no secret to it other than listening as much as possible. If you are far from the airport and cannot hear the transmissions for Clearance Delivery, Ground, Tower, Approach, or Departure, don’t worry—even if you can only hear the one-way transmissions between pilots and Center while airborne, you can still achieve the learning objective. I often listen to the Tokyo Control radio communications at home.

(Often people ask if listening to the aviation band is illegal or not. If you are just listening, that is perfectly fine.)

Generally speaking, the sequence for an ATC request is: a. The name of the communicating party, such as the ATC station name b. Your own Call sign, such as the flight name (Airline Name + Number) or aircraft registration number c. Your position d. Specific information, requests, instructions, etc. For specific examples, please see the text below.

International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

To prevent misunderstandings, specific words are used to replace letters like ABCD during ATC communication. If you don’t know these words, even Americans listening to ATC will be baffled. Therefore, you must firmly memorize the alphabet below first. (The following is written from memory, not copy/pasted)

A Alfa B Bravo C Charlie D Delta E Echo F Foxtrot G Golf H Hotel I India J Juliett K Kilo L Lima M Mike N November O Oscar P Papa Q Quebec R Romeo S Sierra T Tango U Uniform V Victor W Whiskey X X-ray Y Yankee Z Zulu

Also, note that 9 is not read as “nine” but as “nin-er”. Also, flight level is generally abbreviated as FL.

Below, I want to write out specific communication examples. I recalled a good Japanese book called “Captain’s Seat” (機長席), so I plan to use it as a study note. I recommend this book because it comes with a CD; the author, Kazuo Takeda, recorded the entire day’s flight of a flight, while explaining all the ATC dialogue in detail in the book. The book was published in 2000. Although it is a bit old and some rules may have changed, it is still excellent as an introductory book. In particular, the recording quality is excellent; the communication sounds, engine sounds, and various operational sounds are full of realism. Every time I listen to it with headphones, I am involuntarily infected by the busy atmosphere in the cockpit.

Note: All records in the book use Japanese Katakana. As study notes, I have translated them all into English. Additionally, I have translated parts into Chinese based on my own understanding. Below is only a small excerpt from the book. If you are interested in all the dialogue, you can go to amazon.co.jp to purchase the book’s audio files. However, the unique Japanese English pronunciation may be difficult to understand. In the text below, P stands for Pilot, and C stands for Controller (ATC). It covers the flight record of Air System Flight 115, using a Boeing 777, taking off from Tokyo Haneda International Airport and landing at Hokkaido Chitose Airport, a flight lasting over an hour.