It is a few years since I was in a very busy commercial airport in the UK and I shall be landing at one in the next couple of days. For those who do this regularly has anyone written a kind of “crib sheet” with all the headings so that the departure clearance can be quickly copied and read back. I shall not be climbing into an airway but from one bit of CAS to another. Hope that makes sense
Thanks
At our international airport we start with ground. Then to tower, so you can get your clearance whilst still at parking. A flight plan has already been filed. VFR/IFR, all a bit painless really. You should know your requested routing and therefore are already prepared to copy the clearance. Crisp, sharp readbacks, with an air of you know what you are talking about, generally eases your path.
Attention to heading and any level restricts during readback are pretty critical. left turn, straight ahead, or right turn. As i said depends on VFR or IFR, and which departure procedure you have asked for.
Good luck.,,,,
This is a departure crib sheet based on SOP of one good ATO.
INITIAL AVIONICS SETUP
Self-test and indicator check
Frequencies for ground and ATIS
Volume
Audio panel
Transponder (enter code if preassigned)
OBTAIN DEPARTURE CLEARANCE
FULL AVIONICS SETUP
Load FPL into GPS
NAV1 active = ILS/VOR for SID segment 1
NAV1 standby = next ILS/VOR
NAV2 active = ILS/VOR for SID segment 2
NAV2 standby = next ILS/VOR
ADF = airport or enroute NDB
DME = NAV1/NAV2/HOLD as needed
COM1 active = active frequency
COM1 standby = next frequency
COM2 active = 121.5
COM2 standby = ATIS
Heading bug = RWY heading
Altitude bug = target altitude
Squawk = as assigned
Fuel totaliser = setup
DEPARTURE SELF-BRIEFING
Normal procedures:
Taxi routing
Departure RWY
Departure type (VFR, IFR)
T/O configuration, flaps-up altitude
Departure route (“at XXX turn left/right to YYY”), target altitude
MSA
Next frequency
Emergency procedures:
Engine failure during T/O
Engine failure after T/O
Ultra, forgive me but is that not a pilot check list that Fenland should have already? Also should that stuff not have been covered in training?
Perhaps my request was not really very clear. What I was seeking was not a check list but the order in which ATC will give taxi, departure etc clearance and so a “crib sheet” to have those headings already written and just be able to copy the narrative from ATC.
Does that explain better
Thanks
Hardly. Just have a white piece of paper on your kneeboard and just write down whatever they say.
Of course, be prepared, so do know the likely taxy routes and departure routings. Don’t overthink it. BTW, which “very busy” UK commercial airport would that be?
Sorry I asked.
What I do is I read the SIDs and see which of them might be relevant to (a) the current runway in use and (b) my filed route. That narrows it down quite a lot; often down to just one SID. Then I know which to expect during the departure clearance. And the rest of the wording is fairly standard.
Taxi clearances are harder because they can be long. You have to take a good look at the airport chart so you know what to expect. Look at the taxiway names. I have had long and difficult taxi clearances at big airports. One at Bournemouth really got me but that was because I had not studied the chart. The hardest one was at Athens (LGAV) which was made worse by the heavy accent.
This is also worth a read.
A note to some: be polite.
BeechBaby wrote:
Ultra, forgive me but is that not a pilot check list that Fenland should have already? Also should that stuff not have been covered in training?
I should have explained in more detail. I have a stack of these sheets in my kneeboard. When getting a clearance, I copy individual items received to the respective lines on the sheet.
Thank you Peter, most helpful and polite.
