aviation terms and radio protoccol

[Tom Andrews]

Where can I find meanings to the words like WILCO and Pan Pan, etc on the Internet?

[HighFLyer]

Tom,
I'm not sure where to find the meanings for these terms, and for good reason too! In all the times flying I have never heard either of these terms. Yes I have heard some strange teminology, but its usually from some individual pilot with a quirky mind. I wouldnt worry about everything you hear on the radio. If you have a question, ATC, Tower, or anyone else will always be happy to help clarify anything.

[djschaut]

Tom,
'WILCO' just means 'will cooperate' with the instructions of the tower or center. The phrase 'Pan-Pan' means that you may be in distress and may be declaring an emergency--it gets the attention of the center or tower. It is just below 'Mayday.' It's in the private pilot instruction manuals under emergency communications. There are other phrases, such as saying 'no joy' if you can't see an aircraft close by after being warned by the tower. Or, if you see the neighboring plane, you say "I have him at 2 o'clock," or some pilots just say 'contact at 2 o'clock, high,' meaning he's off the right wing, higher than him.
Some of these are old military terms which came from WWII dogfights when maximum communication was necessary in minimum time. In carrier lingo 'wave-off' means go around when landing on an aircraft carrier.
It's important to have an appreciation for terms you hear from other pilots. You need to know what they mean, because they are recognized 'jargon,' and may affect your flight. They give you not only the communication necessary, but give you an idea about the type of pilot you're dealing with. If you hear something you don't recognize, make a note of it and ask your instructor. If the center or tower isn't busy, ask them what it means. There are other terms we hear but are similarly poorly defined: United Flight 2001 "Heavy" (a large plane such as DC-10 or 747): "Roily" air (severe turbulence): stall speed is 64kts "dirty" (gear down, flaps down, speed brakes on): rental price is $75/hr. "wet" (fuel included): the airplane has no "squawks" (no items needing maintenance at the time). It would be nice to have a glossary of some of the more unusual terms. One probably exists, somewhere.

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DJSchaut

[Jerry]

Other terms that have no apperent meaning, and you won't find them anywhere handy, are the local vacinity IFR checkpoints. Some pilots and traffic controllers assume that everyone knows where all these points are and don't bother to give a direction in their reports. The bad ones are when they use "old" names for these checkpoints which are not on charts. It is a good idea when flying the pattern often to get familiar with where everything is relative to the airport.

By the way there is no FAR restricting the use of clear English in transmissions. However you must understand all the "hold" and "clearance" terms, there is nothing more guaranteed to upset ATC than you not understading the difference between "hold short", and "position and hold". ATC will not be happy to clarify these terms. I remember doing three or four "touch and goes" while the pilot holding short was being yelled at by ATC "sir, do you understand what the term position and hold means?". Of course ATC could easily have just cleared the poor sap to take off from hold short. The same controller yelled at someone yesterday for not pulling up to the hold short line too.

[Borrego]

The AIM section of the FAR used to have a section on communication. Some of the terms were in there I belive. There are some also in the Private Pilot Manual by Jeppesen. (I know for a fact Pan Pan is in there)


Borrego

[wxwatcher]

The "Airman's Information Manual" (A.I.M.) has a Pilot/Controller Glossary in the back. It wil;l give you the meanings of most all ATC terms.

WILCO means Will Comply with your last instruction.

PAN-PAN-PAN is the international phrase for a "distress condition" needing immediate attention but is not an emergency.-

I don't know of any sites which have a complete listing of the ATC terms. If you run into one that you're not familiar with, most ATC personnel will "rephrase" the instruction in plain english. If you're reading a manual or just listening to a scanner and hear an unfamiliar term, your local airport fixed base operator or flight school may be able to help/ Otherwise, call 800-992-7433 (800-WX-BRIEF). That will put you in contact with the FAA Automated Flight Service Station in your area. Most specialists are more than happy to answer questions on "phraseology".

Jerry

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Comments and opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

[dan birrell]

I too had trouble understanding controllers and did swallow my pride and announce 6401Foxtrot Student Pilot more than once. What did help was to listen to Approach/Departure control on a Radio Shack scanner. ($100.00) The scanner now stays in the seat pouch in case of radio failure: At least I can hear 'em cuss at me! I'm new to the net and just found through FAA.org a link to Dayton ATCT with a link to listen to different air traffic control facilities. Have that chatter playing for surf music and you will soon learn phrases like " Climb and maintain fliteable one zero five hundred. That's what it sound like! You'll catch on. Just don't tell a controller "good day" until he says it first. AND Most important! If you blow it admit it! They know you did it and everybody does it at least once. Controllers don't have time to argue and they always win every argument.

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[wxwatcher]

Actually, they are saying "Climb and maintain Flight Level Two One OH" meaning to climb to and maintain a specific altitude, in this case 21,000. There is a difference to watch for, below 18,000 the instruction will be to climb and maintain a specified altitude denoted by the term thousand, i.e. one one thousanf would be 11,000 feet. Above 18,000 the switch to Flight Levels because flights above that altitude use a standard altimeter setting of 29.92 no matter what the altimeter is at the local weather reporting station.

Another trick to use is to clearly identify yourself as a student pilot. That will usually slow the controller's speach rate down a bit. If you are doing instrument training, when you file your flight plan, add the remarks "IFR Training Flight" to the flight plan. Again, it lets the controllers know not to expect air carrier type responses to their control instructions froom you.

Jerry


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Comments and opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

[hawkdriver23]

Hey Tom,
Here is a little clarity for you. The first and most important rule to remember is that ATC understands what you are trying to do, and trust me, those guys have heard every possible phraseology known to man. The term "Wilco" means will comply, but when using it, it also means that you heard and understand all instructions given to you before you comply to ATC instructions. The term "roger" means that you heard instructions from ATC. Now here is where things get interesting. When you here people say "Roger Wilco", they are saying the same thing twice and ATC is probably laughing at you, all you need is a Roger or a Wilco, not both. I have thousands of hours flying as a blackhawk pilot for the U.S Army, and we tend to say "Roger that" alot. I occasionally use it when talking to ATC going in and out of Class B and C airspace, and although not recognized in the AIM for proper phraseology, I have never had ATC correct me on it, because whether I say "Roger" or "Roger that", they understand what I am saying and that is the most important thing. I do recommend scanning the AIM 4-2-3 it will give you everything you need to be successful. Good luck and always keep the greasy side down. Tom.