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First time flying in USA (and going to the USA to do the FAA IR)

Hello again!

Last year I visited my family in North Carolina, and I was sure to run straight to the FAA office to pick up my foreign based PPL. Weather was bad that week, flight instructors didn’t answer their phones, and in the end I didn’t really get to do any flying.

Next month I will be back, and have already contacted a leasing company about renting either a 172 or a Remos. Besides what I can find on YouTube about uncontrolled ops and flight following, what are some differences that I might not be aware of? Practically all of my flight experience is day VFR in eastern Austria.

MO
Austria

MO,

Are you returning to NC area? I live in the Charlotte, NC area. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

KUZA, United States

PM sent

MO
Austria

Hey MO,

try to find youtube-videos from the airport you want to fly from….I understand you´ve done that. That´s very helpful flying from busy, unfamiliar airports and also helps you anticipating what ATC expects from you.

VFR-code on the transponder is 1200!

Download the “Foreflight”-app, there´s a 4-week-trial for this. Easy to use and in my opinion a great application. I would switch from SD immediately if it was available for Europe. Foreflight also gives you easy access to most documents like the A/FD.

To get familiar with the area you´ll fly at you can use skyvector.com .

There´s no “Flugleiter” on uncontrolled airfields like in Germany or possibly Austria, all communication is usually done on a common advisory frequency, be sure to communicate precisely what you´re about to do…again, there are many good and bad examples for that on youtube. Don´t just announce yourself, you can talk to the other guys on the frequency too, if anything is unclear! Check AWOS before landing, don´t do anything funny in the pattern!

Use the transatlantic flight and try to read a bit of this. This seems to be a bit boring, but in fact I find the FAR AIM very precise, you´ll find answers to most questions. There´s also a nice app that makes browsing through it a bit easier! VFR minima for example are different from Europe. Also airspace D and C operations are different, you don´t need a clearance…establishing two-way communication is sufficient.

Use local knowledge! Get a briefing by a local instructor, I´ve found that to be most helpful wherever I´ve flown.

If you fly at a controlled airport: don´t be afraid to use the “say again” or “speak slower” phraseology!

Most importantly: Enjoy it to the fullest, but be prepared for a hard landing coming back home!

EDFE, EDFZ, KMYF, Germany

MO,

What @Caba said. Plus: if you plan on flying from a controlled and busy field, then listen in on LiveATC.net beforehand. I would suggest doing this anyway, so get a feel for the phraseology (or lack thereof…) and the local accent. If you’re used to flying in eastern Austria and dealing with Wien Info, then the differences aren’t going to be huge. Pattern altitude is generally 1000 ft AGL, pattern entry is normally ‘on the 45’, i.e. at a 45 deg angle at pattern altitude. Announce yourself with position and intentions at 5 miles out, then at a VRP (if there is one) but latest ‘on the 45’, downwind, base, final, clear of rwy. Ideally include color of your a/c in the calls – there may well be more than a few 172s flying around !

ForeFlight is a great tool (btw, soon to be available for Europe!) and I strongly second Caba’s suggestion of getting a trial sub. You can also download the FAR/AIM and various other publications from within the App. WX is usually broadcast via AWOS or the ATIS, make sure to listen to that.

Other than that, have a chat with the local pilots and the CFI who will check you out for an local ‘gotchas’ or tips and tricks.

Finally – enjoy the flying !!

All good points: Just to add:

  • Understand the 45 deg join – important at non tower airports and often requested by ATC. Look in the Aim section of the FarAim publication (downloadable on Foreflight).
  • Use 1-800-wx-brief for a personal briefing on weather, TFR’s (vital!) and notams before cross country flights.
  • When taxying after landing use the phrase ‘unfamiliar’ with ATC or ‘request progressive taxi’ with ground. Taxying is more complex than flying at many airports.
  • Know which FBO you are going to before landing and write it down! If you don’t want an FBO, request ‘transient parking’.
  • If you are not sure at any stage, request “confirm cleared into class B” or whatever. They’ll always help, even if they are puzzled why you are asking. As said above, not needed with class C and D, but asking is better than being unsure.
  • Always listen to the Atis before calling an airport or asking for taxi.
  • For any flight out of the pattern consider flight following. Tell ground before taxing “request flight following” and the’ll give you a departure frequency and squawk. Flight following (VFR) is primarily collision avoidance, but will often query navigation discrepancies, warn of or hand over to controlled airspace and ensure that you get on the right arrival frequency, with handover, at your destination. Also useful in MOA’s (Military Operations Areas) for traffic avoidance.
  • For other information, like fuel at xxx or weather ahead, or much else call flight service (FSS). Frequencies are available at larger airports and most VOR’s.
  • For cross countries, consider activating a VFR flight plan once airborne with FSS and canceling before changing to the airport on arrival. They are free!
EGBW / KPRC, United Kingdom

Also to add:

  • No public-use airfield requires PPR and the airfield will think you odd if you phone them before going like you might in some European countries.
  • You can land at a public use airfield any time, so long as it’s not NOTAMed closed to traffic. It doesn’t matter if the airfield office is open or not. The idea of an airfield not being available just because the office is closed is an idea that is totally alien in the US. Pity airfield operators here won’t work like that.
  • Because you can land at a public use airfield any time, even at 4:13 am, many have pilot controlled lighting. If you’re arriving after dark at an airfield with PCL, the standard procedure is to click the push-to-talk on the CTAF frequency. Click the PTT in nice evenly spaced clicks and don’t try and do it like a machine gun, about two clicks per second tends to work. Sometimes the lights will take 4 or 5 seconds to come on so don’t be too impatient to try again.

The usual flow for departing a controlled airfield of any non trival size will also involve clearnace delivery even for VFR flights – departing an airfield VFR in class C airspace will usually consist of calling Clearance Delivery and telling them where you’re going, then contacting ground for taxi, then contacting tower once you’re ready for departure.

Note that Foreflight does an “official” weather and TFR briefing if you prefer to use that than calling 1-800-WX-BRIEF. However, although WX-BRIEF is now a centralised service, the weather briefers do tend to have local weather knowledge for the area they are assigned to service so there’s value in talking to them.

DUATS (an online briefing service that has been around for 30 odd years) is to be discontinued very soon so don’t bother signing up with it.

Last Edited by alioth at 20 Apr 13:25
Andreas IOM

Aveling wrote:

If you are not sure at any stage, request “confirm cleared into class B” or whatever. They’ll always help, even if they are puzzled why you are asking. As said above, not needed with class C and D, but asking is better than being unsure.

Contrary to all other countries in the world, a clearance is not required to enter class C and D airspace in the US. But you do however need to establish two-way radio communication. You have essentially done that once the ground station has replied with your callsign. If they do not mention your call sign, you need to stay clear.

For class B however, you need to hear something along “cleared into Bravo airspace”

Last Edited by Aviathor at 20 Apr 13:45
LFPT, LFPN

alioth wrote:

The usual flow for departing a controlled airfield of any non trival size will also involve clearnace delivery even for VFR flights

This is actually the exception, not the rule.

I don’t believe anybody has mentioned altimeter setting procedure in the US. There are no flight levels under 18,000 ft and all aircraft under that fly on what you might call QNH – in the US it is simply called ‘altimeter setting’ and few would understand Q codes so don’t use them. Before you land VFR at an airport with ATIS, listen to it, obtain the altimeter setting and report having the ATIS on initial contact. The tower won’t give you the altimeter setting. When flying cross country, obtain the current local altimeter setting occasionally from an automated source (ASOS or AWOS) and also listen to it (when available) before landing at an uncontrolled airport, as you would listen to ATIS at a controlled field. The frequency is on the chart.

A typical inbound VFR radio call would be something like “Anytown tower, Cessna 123AB, Big Lake, landing with Charlie”, not a long call but you’ll need to report having the current ATIS. If landing at a smaller Class D airport without radar or if your plane by chance has no Mode C, you’d want to give ATC your altitude too.

When departing from an ATC airport in Class D airspace, once leaving that airspace you don’t need to get permission to leave the tower frequency, you just switch. Sometimes the takeoff clearance is the last time the tower will say anything to you.

As others have mentioned, you absolutely need a clearance to enter Class B airspace and it is a big scary deal if you were to inadvertently enter Class B without an explicit clearance.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 20 Apr 14:22

And don’t think about FBOs like European handling. If you buy fuel almost all charge you nothing and give you great service ie crew cars etc. Those that do charge are almost exclusively at the bigger airports.

Last Edited by JasonC at 20 Apr 14:14
EGTK Oxford
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