ATC Communications
VATSIM Overview
Although VATSIM was created to be a very realistic model of the real-world national air traffic system, there are some key differences that should be noted for both a real-world pilot transitioning to VATSIM for the first time, or a new pilot connecting to the network for their first flight. Like the real world we have Clearance Delivery, Ramp (sometimes, but usually only during big VATSIM events), Ground, Tower, Approach/Departure, and Center. The higher position will usually control everything below it if there are no other controllers online meaning that JFK TWR would control both Clearance Delivery and Ground for JFK if online. If ORD APP is the only person online and you are preparing to depart ORD, you would contact them for DEL, GND, and TWR. An exception to this would be a Center controller who may not be providing service to smaller airports in their boundaries due to workload. This is usually noted in their comments though or can be asked about when requesting your initial clearance. VATSpy or another online program is great for seeing who is online and also any notes associated with their position.
Basic ATC Phraseology
Most of the time when communicating with ATC you will either be making a request/report or reading back a clearance given by ATC. The main thing to keep in mind when making a request or report is to use the general rule of thumb format of who you are talking to, who you are, where you are, and what you want. For example, “Chicago Clearance, American 1776, request IFR to Denver” or “Chicago Ground, American 1776, holding short of taxiway A with information ATIS CODE, ready to taxi”. A readback of an ATC instruction does not need the “who you are talking to” portion as they know who they are. An instruction may come back to you as “American 1776, Chicago Ground, runway 09R, taxi via A, A6, R, on R monitor tower”. Your readback would be “Runway 09R, taxi via A, A6, R, monitor tower on R, American 1776” and you can begin your taxi. It is good practice to not say what is called the “callsign sandwich” meaning you state your callsign at the beginning and also the end of your transmission.
Sometimes you may be told to “Standby” on frequency which just means the controller has heard you but does not have time to address you or your request fully at the moment. If told to standby do not read back the standby or comment further. If time passes and the frequency is very quiet, he/she may have forgotten about you and may require a quick reminder of your transmission. You do this easily by just calling them with your callsign to see if they reply.
Callsigns and Flight Numbers
Flight numbers are referred to in groups of 2 when using 4 numbers meaning that AAL1776 would be spoken as “American Seventeen Seventy-Six”. If only using 3 numbers such as with a callsign like AAL728, it would be spoken as “American Seven Twenty-Eight” as you group the last 2 numbers together. If using only 2 numbers, you would group them together so AAL31 would be spoken as “American Thirty-One”.
You may have heard the term “Heavy” before when an airliner finished using their callsign. The “Heavy” tag is applied to aircraft with a MTOW rating of 300,000 lbs or greater. For our fleet the B777 and B787 series are the only aircraft that meet this requirement so the “Heavy” tag is applied to the flight. If flying on VATSIM, this can be done in most clients by checking the applicable box in the flight plan. If exporting your flight plan from SimBrief it will automatically apply the tag for you in the form of a “H/” being added to the front of your aircraft type (H/B788/L). The “/L” is your equipment code which will be discussed later on.
Let’s say you are taking the 787-8 from Dallas to Chicago as AAL2885. Your callsign would be spoken as “American Twenty-Eight Eighty-Five Heavy” which will be used at all times when on the ground and when flying inside of the terminal environment. The “Heavy” portion is generally not used during the enroute portions of flight after passing 18,000 feet.
Communications by Frequency
Clearance Delivery
This is the frequency you will use to obtain IFR clearances as well as any VFR flight departing into Class B airspace.
Pilot: Chicago Clearance, American Two Eighty-Five request clearance to Dallas.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, Chicago Clearance, cleared to the Dallas Ft Worth International Airport via the O’Hare 5 departure, radar vectors EARND, as filed. Maintain 5,000, expect flight level 350 10 minutes after departure. Departure frequency is 126.62. Squawk 3552. (You are expected to read back this entire clearance to the controller unless they request only certain information from you which would be asked for at the end of the clearance such as “readback squawk only”. A very easy way to write down clearances when the controller seems to be spitting information out at you is to write down;
C
R
A
F
T
on a piece of paper. C stands for cleared to, R is for the route, A is for altitudes, F is the departure frequency, and T is your transponder code.)
Pilot: Cleared to Dallas, O’Hare 5 departure radar vectors EARND, as filed. Maintain 5,000, expect flight level 350 10 minutes after departure. Departure frequency 126.62. Squawk 3552, American Two Eighty- Five.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, readback correct, push and start is your discretion. Contact ground on 121.65 when ready to taxi.
Pilot: Ground on 121.65 for taxi. Good day, American Two Eighty-Five.
In the United States all pushbacks and engine startups are done at your discretion and without specific clearance from ATC unless you are going to be pushing back on to an active taxiway or close enough to an active taxiway that you would block the flow of traffic.
Ground
This is the frequency that controls the movements of aircraft on the surface between ramps and runways. At this time you should have the taxi diagram for the airport you are departing from in front of you (we will talk more about where to get these charts later) and have already reviewed the departure procedure that was assigned to you (also called a SID – Standard Instrument Departure). If the airport has its ATIS frequency working you should have the letter code for the current information.
Pilot: Chicago Ground, American Two Eighty-Five, ready to taxi with information Alpha.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, Runway 28R at N5, taxi via A, A15, N.
Pilot: Runway 28R at N5, taxi via A, A15, N, American Two Eighty-Five.
When nearing the departure runway, ground will usually give you one of three instructions;
Instruction 1
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, monitor tower 120.75, good day.
Pilot: Monitor 120.75, good day, American Two Eighty-Five.
(at this time you will switch to and monitor the frequency. Do not call the tower.)
Instruction 2
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, contact tower 120.75, good flight.
Pilot: Contact tower 120.75, good day, American Two Eighty-Five.
(at this time you would switch to 120.75 and call the tower saying “Chicago Tower, American Two Eighty-Five taxiway N for N5.”)
Instruction 3
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, contact tower 120.75 with your callsign only, good flight.
Pilot: Contact tower 120.75, callsign only, American Two Eighty-Five.
(at this time you would switch to 120.75 and contact the tower by stating only your callsign)
Tower
Tower controls the runways and some taxiways at the airport. They will be the final clearance before taking off or landing since you would have contacted them in two of the three scenarios, we will pick up with what they will say to you after any of those three scenarios.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, Runway 28R at N5, line up and wait.
Pilot: Runway 28R at N5, line up and wait, American Two Eighty-Five.
You can now taxi onto the runway, line up, and wait for further instructions. It is good practice to do this slowly to minimize the time sitting on a runway, unless tower has said “no delay”.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, fly the runway heading, runway 28R at N5, cleared for takeoff.
Pilot: Runway heading, runway 28R at N5, cleared for takeoff, American Two Eighty-Five.
You may now takeoff. After taking off tower will usually state something close to;
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, turn left heading 180 and contact departure, good day.
Pilot: Left turn heading 180, contact departure, American Two Eighty-Five.
Departure
Departure controllers are the link between the final segments of the terminal area and the transition to the enroute portion of the flight.
Pilot: Chicago Departure, Good Day, American Two Eighty-Five climbing out of 3,500 for 5,000 turning left to heading 180.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, radar contact, turn left direct EARND. Climb and maintain 17,000.
Pilot: Left turn direct EARND, climb and maintain 17,000, American Two Eighty-Five.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, contact Chicago center on 133.3, good day.
Pilot: Chicago center on 133.3, American Two Eighty-Five, good day.
Center
Center is responsible for maintaining separation during the enroute portion of the flight, as well as approach services to airports that may not have any. On the VATSIM network, as discussed above, a Center controller will provide service for any position lower than him/her that is not online unless they state otherwise.
Pilot: Chicago Center, good day, American Two Eighty-Five climbing out of 15,000 for 17,000.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, welcome, climb and maintain FL350.
Pilot: Climb and maintain FL350, American Two Eighty-Five.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, contact Kansas City Center 134.55, good day.
Pilot: Kansas City Center on 134.55, American Two Eighty-Five, good day.
Pilot: Kansas City Center, good day, American Two Eighty-Five FL350.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, Kansas City Center, welcome, smooth rides all altitudes.
At some point ATC will give you a descend clearance that is usually “descend via” the STAR you have filed. Before that you may get various stepdown descents that are aimed at getting you into the correct airspace for getting connected up to the arrivals. If you did not file a STAR or do not have any available at the airport you are flying into, they will give you instructions on your descent. You may not be given instructions prior to your T/D (top of descent) and ATC can not see your calculated T/D. You can request a lower altitude or request a descent, but sometimes due to traffic you may have to remain higher than your calculated descent path.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, descend via the SEEVR4 arrival, Dallas altimeter 29.92.
Pilot: Descend via the SEEVR4 arrival, altimeter 29.92, American Two Eighty-Five.
You may now begin your descent at your discretion in order to meet all altitude crossing and speed restrictions as depicted on your chart. If you for some reason are unable to meet an altitude or speed restriction, let ATC know so that an alternate plan can be made or relief given on the altitude or speed.
When within 125 nm from the arrival airport you should be able to get the audio ATIS if a digital ATIS printout is not available. Make sure you get the current weather before being handed off to approach to ensure a smooth transition and less radio chatter when you are in a stage of flight where your workload is beginning to increase again.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, contact regional approach now 125.02, good day.
Pilot: Regional approach, 125.02, American Two Eighty-Five, good day.
Approach
Approach control is the terminal controller that will help your transition from the enroute/initial descent phase of flight to your approach into the airport.
Pilot: Regional Approach, good day, American Two Eighty-Five descending through 12,000 via the SEEVR4. We have information Tango.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, Regional Approach, thanks for Tango. Fly heading 270, descend and maintain 5,000. Expect ILS 17C.
Pilot: Heading 270, descend and maintain 5,000, expect ILS 17C, American Two Eighty-Five.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, turn left heading 200, slow to 190 knots, descend and maintain 3,000, intercept the 17C localizer.
Pilot: Left turn heading 200, slow to 190 knots, descend and maintain 3,000, intercept the 17C localizer, American Two Eighty-Five.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, 4 miles from ZINGG, cleared for the ILS runway 17C.
Pilot: Cleared for the ILS runway 17C, American Two Eighty-Five.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, maintain 170 knots until JIFFY, contact tower 126.55.
Pilot: 170 knots until JIFFY, contact tower 126.55, American Two Eighty-Five.
Tower
Tower is again the controller in charge of the runways and will be the one to give you clearance to land.
Pilot: DFW Tower, good day, American Two Eighty-Five ILS runway 17C.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, DFW Tower, the winds are 170 at 6 gust 15, runway 17C cleared to land.
Pilot: Cleared to land runway 17C, American Two Eighty-Five.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, welcome to DFW, exit right when able, cross runway 17R, contact ground on the other side 121.65.
Pilot: Exit right, cross runway 17R and contact ground on the other side 121.65, American Two Eighty- Five.
Ground
Ground will usually be the last controller you talk to during your flight and will sometimes ask where you are parking. A great tool to see where a real-world flight is parking is FlightAware.com as they usually show the parking spot of the flight you are flying. Most of our hubs and larger airports will also have the normal gates that American Airlines uses listed on the main website when you click on the airport hyperlink.
Pilot: DFW Ground, American Two Eighty-Five is on taxiway EM short of L, taxi to the C gates.
ATC: American Two Eighty-Five, DFW ground, make the right turn on L, K8 to the gate.
Pilot: Right turn L, K8 to the gate American Two Eighty-Five.
That’s it! You have completed the flight and have made it safely to DFW. Nicely done!
UNICOM/CTAF
VATSIM has recently changed their normal UNICOM to a more realistic CTAF frequency usage system. For the most up to date information on this, please visit the VATSIM Learning Center and utilize their "CTAF" page (https://my.vatsim.net/learn/frequently-asked-questions/section/140). This section will explain in detail how to use the system, how to find the correct frequencies, and contingencies. As always, if you have questions please feel free to reach out to your Group Chief Pilot for assistance.
Communications Help
Need more help with understanding how to speak to ATC or feel as though you’d like some practice? Feel free to reach out to your Group Chief Pilot to see if they have a Check Pilot that would be available to go over some practice with you, or simply hop on the Discord to see if a user on there can help out. While you wait for that to get set up, LiveATC.net is an amazing website that allows you to listen in live to real world frequencies. Search for a big airport or one close to where you live and tune in to get some examples!