4 ms·

One of the things that surprised me when I flew (as a passenger) a practice flight on a coworker’s Cessna was the constant radio chat between ground and all the

by otikik 4y ago

One of the things that surprised me when I flew (as a passenger) a practice flight on a coworker’s Cessna was the constant radio chat between ground and all the airplanes. There were like 4 planes doing practice runs like us. It was constant chitchat. I can’t imagine the noise in a big comercial airport. I am sure there’s many good reasons for that system, figured out by people smarter than me with much more experience. To me the whole thing felt too … manual. Imagine a bunch of train operators trying to avoid head-on collisions by all of them talking with a single control guy on a shared channel. But the trains move in 3D, one order of magnitude faster, and if they run out of fuel, they explode.

sidewndr46 4y ago
This is partially mitigated by data systems for commercial airliners. They have an in cockpit system that give them takeoff clearance & other details from the relevant air traffic controllers. I think they still verbally acknowledge something on the radio, but it is a brief exchange. I'll let a professional pilot try and add more detail here as to how it lessens the workload on the radio.
goodcanadian 4y ago
There is a lot more going on than just the radio communications. There are standard published approaches and departures that will generally be flown (once cleared). Flight plans are filed and clearance given before take-off, so ATC knows where everyone is going. At a large controlled airport, ATC is in control, so less needs to be communicated by the pilots. There are not generally aircraft flying circuits which is what required so much coordination in your example. Most aircraft at large airports are required to have ADS-B(1) which is transmitting aircraft position, altitude, heading, speed, et cetera to anyone who has a receiver, particularly ATC and other aircraft. If everything does go bad, large airliners have TCAS(2). There are also lots of different controllers and frequencies to handle different parts of the airspace: approach, departure, tower (take-off and landing). This is just what I can think of off the top of my head. You can listen to what is actually going on at your favourite airport on www.liveatc.net. (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Dependent_Surveillance%E2%80%93Broadcast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Dependent_Surveillan... (2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_collision_avoidance_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_collision_avoidance_sy...
alistairSH 4y ago
With commercial airlines, there’s 2+ pilots in the cockpit. So, they share flying, radio, etc responsibilities. And ATC splits various phases of flight operations across several radio frequencies (ground, departure, etc). And once you’ve listened to enough ATC radio, there are patterns and cues. If ATC wants to talk to somebody, they call them by flight number, etc. But, yeah, listening to a busy airport is confusing for anybody who isn’t an experienced pilot.

by otikik 4y ago

sidewndr46 4y ago

This is partially mitigated by data systems for commercial airliners. They have an in cockpit system that give them takeoff clearance & other details from the relevant air traffic controllers. I think they still verbally acknowledge something on the radio, but it is a brief exchange. I'll let a professional pilot try and add more detail here as to how it lessens the workload on the radio.

goodcanadian 4y ago

There is a lot more going on than just the radio communications. There are standard published approaches and departures that will generally be flown (once cleared). Flight plans are filed and clearance given before take-off, so ATC knows where everyone is going. At a large controlled airport, ATC is in control, so less needs to be communicated by the pilots. There are not generally aircraft flying circuits which is what required so much coordination in your example. Most aircraft at large airports are required to have ADS-B(1) which is transmitting aircraft position, altitude, heading, speed, et cetera to anyone who has a receiver, particularly ATC and other aircraft. If everything does go bad, large airliners have TCAS(2). There are also lots of different controllers and frequencies to handle different parts of the airspace: approach, departure, tower (take-off and landing). This is just what I can think of off the top of my head. You can listen to what is actually going on at your favourite airport on www.liveatc.net. (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Dependent_Surveillance%E2%80%93Broadcast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Dependent_Surveillan... (2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_collision_avoidance_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_collision_avoidance_sy...

alistairSH 4y ago

With commercial airlines, there’s 2+ pilots in the cockpit. So, they share flying, radio, etc responsibilities. And ATC splits various phases of flight operations across several radio frequencies (ground, departure, etc). And once you’ve listened to enough ATC radio, there are patterns and cues. If ATC wants to talk to somebody, they call them by flight number, etc. But, yeah, listening to a busy airport is confusing for anybody who isn’t an experienced pilot.