Fri Aug 25, 2017 10:37 am
Two stories, and my advice:
First one: When I was first learning and afraid of the radio, my instructor and I had just started the 150 and turned on the radio. Bill, another student but more "advanced" than I was at the moment, was calling Elmendorf Ground and machine-gunned his request. I said to my instructor, "Gosh, I wish I could talk on the radio that well." My instructor said, "Bullshit. Nobody can understand him--don't do it his way."
Then the controller responded, as if to emphasize what my instructor said: "aircraft calling ground, say again, more slowly." Bill repeated his machine-gunned request. "Aircraft calling ground, either you slow down, or you're not going anywhere. Try it again, much more slowly." Bill slowed down, and he was cleared to taxi as requested. Good lesson for me!
Second one: On a HSEATS flight for Angel Flight West, I'd just flown from Fort Collins to Killeen, Texas, to retrieve a young girl and her dog and almost everything she owned. She'd been visiting her uncle in Killeen when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and her family had been air-evac'd from there to Denver; I was delivering her to reunite her with her family. In my poky little airplane, I'd been in the air for almost 11 hours when we arrived at Centennial (KAPA). After unloading her and her dog, meeting her mom and siblings, showing her little brother all the doodads on my airplane's panel, etc., it was about 11 p.m. when I called KAPA Clearance Delivery for my clearance back to Fort Collins, and except for me, nothing was moving in or out of the airport.
She rapid-fired the clearance, and I couldn't get any of it written down. I said, "Say again everything after Cessna xxx is cleared to Fort Collins Downtown." Same rapid fire repeat. So I said, "Ma'am, I've been flying for 11 hours today. That's a really long time in a 172. I'm really, really tired. Please say again clearance, this time much more slowly." She laughed, and then she did, spacing the words out so much I could have written each of them separately instead of using my usual shorthand, and finishing with, "Is that slow enough for you?" I said it was, read back the clearance, and thanked her.
I then called Ground for taxi, and it was the same controller! She read my taxi instructions very slowly, too. I read them back, and again thanked her.
After doing my run-up, I called Tower for take off, and again it was the same controller. She gave me my take off clearance just as slowly, and then when she cleared me to contact Departure, also slowly, I thanked her again. She replied, "You're welcome. Now you get home and get some rest, OK?" "Yes ma'am, I'll do that."
My advice: Every so often you'll run into a pilot or controller who rapid-fires his/her transmissions too fast, or mumbles, or speaks too quietly, for anyone to copy or even understand. If you don't understand the transmission, ask them to say again. If you can say why, often they'll comply and make it understandable. But never, never assume that you understand what was meant when you didn't catch the whole transmission. Communication is a 2-way street, requiring both parties to cooperate--they have to say it right, and you have to hear and understand them. Then you have to say it right, and they have to understand you.
One other thing that goes with all this: a good ANR headset can make a huge difference in your ability to understand, especially if you have any hearing defects. For years, I had a plain David Clark 13.4 passive headset, and it worked fine. After awhile, I couldn't hear quite as well--my hearing had deteriorated some. Then I modified it with the Oregon Aero Hushkit and Comfortkit, and I could hear a whole lot better, for quite awhile. Then one day I was flying from Greeley to south of Denver and misunderstood the controller, and I believed that I had been cleared through the Class Bravo. Fortunately, because I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly, I asked, "confirm cleared through the Bravo"--the controller literally yelled at me that I was not cleared through it and to get out of it now! According to my GPS, I hadn't actually entered it, but I got out of there PDQ. So that weekend, I ordered a Headsets Inc. conversion kit, and converted that headset to ANR. What a difference!
The HI conversion, which provides great ANR, served me well for several years. A year ago, I bought a DC One-X headset, which is even better--lighter, every bit as comfortable, with even better ANR, and it has Bluetooth. So the HI converted 13.4 has become the front seat passenger headset. My backseaters are relegated to my older passive DCs, although both have the Oregon Aero Comfortkits and Hushkits--and it's quieter back there anyway.
Cary
