Simviation Forum - Re: "With (Phonetic Letter)"

Dec 17^th, 2007 at 8:44pm

Ashar Offline
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I think it refers to the ATIS information... Wink

Blabbing Away at SimV Since June 8, 2004

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Reply #1 - Dec 17^th, 2007 at 8:50pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
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I think it refers to the ATIS information...

Correct... There was a great thread on that not long ago.. If I can't find it.. I'll elaborate.

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Reply #2 - Dec 17^th, 2007 at 8:54pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
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This thread covers it pretty well...

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1196006200/0

I'll quote myself from that thread to save typing..

Quote:

Most controlled airports have a pre-recorded message (ATIS .. Automated Terminal Information System)... It includes winds, cloud cover, visibility, altimeter setting and any information specific to that airport, at that time (runways in use, taxiways closed, unlit towers etc.). Every ATIS message is named by a letter.. and when the message changes, so does the letter (usually at least every hour). You prove to the control that you have current information by telling him the letter that was associated with the ATIS that you listened to.... i.e. "I have Tango" (if the ATIS you listened to was called Tango).

The only other specifics I can think of are; airspace designations (Bravo, Charlie, Delta), and taxiway names.

Other than that.. you use the phonetic alphabet with tail numbers, and to spell out fixes, airports and intersections, when needed.

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Reply #3 - Dec 18^th, 2007 at 2:39am

RitterKreuz Offline
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Ahh. Ok. I knew it had to be something simple that I was missing. So, you just tune to and listen to the ATIS, record weather conditions along with the phonetic letter of that particular ATIS of the hour, and as you fly along, you continue to tune to local ATIS and just state that in your communications with ATC. Not too hard. I'll also read the whole thread and pick up some more valuable info.

Thanx Dave

correct... this saves ATC the trouble of reading the current conditions at the intended landing point every time a new aircraft checks in on the frequency.

if you could imagine an approach controller in new york, every time a new plane checks in he has to say "Roger, the conditions at XXX field are as follows, wind 350 at 11 knots visibility 10 miles overcast at 2thousand 4 hundred temperature 6 dewpoint 2, altimeter setting 29.96"

saves a lot of trouble when the pilot just says "Columbus approach N12345 checking in at 4,000 with charlie" the controller knows the pilot has collected that weather data.

occasionally, if the pilot checks in and does not indicate he has "charlie" or "india" (or whatever) the controller will ask the pilot if he has the current ATIS. if the pilot replies "no, but ill begetting it in a minute" the controller will sometimes just go ahead and read him the information on a workload permitting basis, because the controller has access to this data at his work station.

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Reply #4 - Dec 19^th, 2007 at 9:59am

beaky Offline
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RitterKreuz wrote on Dec 18^th, 2007 at 2:39am:

occasionally, if the pilot checks in and does not indicate he has "charlie" or "india" (or whatever) the controller will ask the pilot if he has the current ATIS. if the pilot replies "no, but ill begetting it in a minute" the controller will sometimes just go ahead and read him the information on a workload permitting basis, because the controller has access to this data at his work station.

More "trivia": if, on the rare occasion that the pilot calls in with the "letter of the hour" just after it's been updated or as it's being updated, the tower will say so and immediately provide new wind/altimeter information as well as other stuff regarding runway use (without reciting the entire ATIS broadcast).

They will also sometimes give you a final reading of wind and pressure after clearing you to land...

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Reply #5 - Dec 19^th, 2007 at 2:06pm

beaky Offline
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Yeah, I did notice on the Sporty's videos, that ATC would give the pilot an update upon landing clearance a lot of times. I thought that was pretty cool, and good piece of information to have at that particular moment.

Yes, particularly wind on the field... the air doesn't care what conditions were reported in the last ATIS. Wink

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Reply #6 - Dec 20^th, 2007 at 8:02am

beaky Offline
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No it doesn't Grin

Nice looking bird you have there...

Yeah, she's a sweetheart... I miss that thing.
I also miss the laid-back yet very professional tower cab crew at Brown Field (where I learned to fly it), and the nice San Diego weather... sigh...

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Reply #7 - Dec 22^nd, 2007 at 2:37am

beaky Offline
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Alright, I figured out what is happening, and why I wasn't getting this on my own. The stock FS9 & FSX does not issue a phonetic letter for the current ATIS report. I have Active Sky X, but I haven't used it much. When I do activate ASX, I get the current phonetic letter issued along with a detailed ATIS report that is not the standard "everything's great for a flight" report. It also makes for some very interesting flying. Always something new to learn...

Rotty, I was in San Diego for bootcamp (MCRD) and infantry schools (Camp Pendleton) in '89-'90. I probably didn't get to see all of the highlights, but the area and weather are really, really nice out there. If I could afford it, I'd probably move there.

Wha?? FS9 certainly does provide ATIS, with sequential letters... if you're tuned to the ATIS freq, that is (it's seen on the ATC list when you first select an airport so equipped). But if you are IFR and ATC hands you off to the tower, you no longer have that option... but if you prepare in a realistic way, you can note the ATIS freq and bring it up on Comm 2 while still monitoring Tower.
I like to do that, because unlike the real world, towers in FS9 don't give you that last-minute wind check after your landing clearance... that kinda sucks.

Re: san Diego, etc-

In my wanderings in N3370E, I went fairly close to Pendleton... I was flying out of Brown Field (KSDM), and made a couple of flights to the north and over to the coast by way of Oceanside, etc. I scrupulously avoided the Pendleton airspace, yet still managed to get rather close to a refueling operation in the Class E airspace SE of there during the Miramar airshow... you can see it in Part 2 of my Champ video (on YouTube and SimTeeVee). Gotta keep a sharp lookout when you have no transponder, but it was all very "no factor"- between the KC130 crew and the crews of the two choppers refueling they must have seen me before I saw them.

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Reply #8 - Dec 29^th, 2007 at 12:46am

beaky Offline
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Hmmm... I have to eat my words of the above post. I tried out a "flight" without ASX, for some reason Hammond (KHDC) ATIS does not issue a phonet letter with the report, but Baton Rouge (KBTR) did. I have to pay more attention, but at least I know where to place the attention. I still appreciate all the help and knowledge that has been passed along.

Hammond does not have ATIS- it has AWOS (Automated Weather Observation System) which updates every 20 minutes. No phonetic-letter designator for the reports, just the time.

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Reply #9 - Dec 30^th, 2007 at 7:38am

machineman9 Offline
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I asked this question as one person stated out...

The phonetic letter relates to the ATIS at a certain time of day. In the morning you might be with Zulu, but then it could go onto Bravo later on...

It is just a way of saying that 'I am with the weather listed by the time of phonetic'

When I asked I thought the phonetic had something to do about if you had passengers or cargo onboard your aircraft Grin

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Reply #10 - Dec 30^th, 2007 at 9:45am

BFMF Offline
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machineman9 wrote on Dec 30^th, 2007 at 7:38am:

I asked this question as one person stated out...

The phonetic letter relates to the ATIS at a certain time of day. In the morning you might be with Zulu, but then it could go onto Bravo later on...

It is just a way of saying that 'I am with the weather listed by the time of phonetic'

The designated letter changes everytime the weather information is updated

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Reply #11 - Dec 30^th, 2007 at 5:15pm

beaky Offline
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machineman9 wrote on Dec 30^th, 2007 at 7:38am:

I asked this question as one person stated out...

The phonetic letter relates to the ATIS at a certain time of day. In the morning you might be with Zulu, but then it could go onto Bravo later on...

It is just a way of saying that 'I am with the weather listed by the time of phonetic'

The designated letter changes everytime the weather information is updated

... hourly, usually at about 5 minutes to the hour. In real life, it used to consist of a recording of a human reading the info, but they've been moving into speech synthesizers. The one here at KEWR sounds just like Stephen Hawking... Grin

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Reply #12 - Dec 30^th, 2007 at 7:46pm

BFMF Offline
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beaky wrote on Dec 30^th, 2007 at 5:15pm:

... hourly, usually at about 5 minutes to the hour. In real life, it used to consist of a recording of a human reading the info, but they've been moving into speech synthesizers. The one here at KEWR sounds just like Stephen Hawking... Grin

Speech synthesizers, eh? Doesn't suprise me. I wonder how long it will take before the rest of the ATC system is run by computers with voice recognition and speech synthesizer software.... Undecided

btw, I like your avatar... Grin

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Reply #13 - Dec 31^st, 2007 at 10:28am

pepper_airborne Offline
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I think the planes will first lose the pilot ,and then the ATC will be computerized.

http://white-line.org/&&;

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