Controller feeling great
I imagine this is how the Chicago controllers must feel every time I fly in there. I have been yelled at, heard audible sighs, and been told “I need to start listening” by them. But the fact is, I rarely ever fly into ORD so I am not like some of the other “locals”. It is getting easier over time but my first couple of times, especially taxiing, I was the Chuck on the radio. I was surprised nobody said “Chuck, is that you?”, lol.
Here is an interesting fact I learned from a TRACON controller not too long ago. There are a bunch of phycological aspects to air traffic controlling. They listen to the pilot’s voice and will know how to further better handle that plane in their airspace. They know if you’re stressed out, unfamiliar, behind the ball, etc… just by how you answer their calls. I had never thought about this before and I found that fact fascinating.
You can hear my buddy Patrick talk about this in my friend’s aviation podcast “Tailwinds and Sunshine” if you are interested. It is in “Pushing Tin – Episode 3”
Mike
When I first studied English-speaking radio (FCL.055), the teacher told those of us who were actually quite good at standard English to try and sound more French. Cause then, the ATC will know you’re French, and assume you’re not fluent, and try to make everything as clear as possible.
And it actually works. Especially in Germany, where they’re used to have loads of Foxtrot-something aircraft with French pilots in them who speak no German, no English, nothing but French (and barely).
Call “Langen Information, F-VM, under VFR flight plan, squawking 1234, crossed border at 03”, you get a long gibberish answer with loads of information delivered as fast as a Gatwick controller speaking to a British Airways captain.
But call something like “Langen Informashon, Foxetrotte-VM, we are, eh, VFR flight planne, 1-to-sri-4 on ze transpondeur, we eh crossed the border ateh zéro sri”, and the ATC will speak as slowly as a 4th-grade English teacher in Italy and help you step by step all the way to wherever you’re going. 🙂