Radio guides
Short introductions to the radio calls every student pilot needs, written from the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual and the Pilot/Controller Glossary with the paragraph for each point. Then say each one out loud to an AI controller that talks back.
Radio anxiety is the most common fear in flight training. What the AIM gives you to lean on, what to do when you freeze, and where to practice with nobody listening.
Read the guide Try the free radio checkEvery call of a first solo in the pattern, in order, at a towered airport and a non-towered one: ATIS, Ground, Tower, each leg, the option, the go-around and back to Ground.
Read the guide Practice the patternThe shape of the first call to Ground or Tower, how your identification works, saying 'student pilot', and the readbacks the controller is listening for.
Read the guide Practice the first callLetters and numbers, altitudes and frequencies, the altimeter setting, ATIS and 'have numbers', and which facility you are talking to.
Read the guide Practice numbers and the altimeterSelf-announcing from ten miles out to clear of the runway, the airport name first and last, UNICOM, and the phrase the AIM says never to use.
Read the guide Practice CTAF callsThe request to Approach or Center, the squawk and 'radar contact', answering a traffic call, and how the service ends.
Read the guide Practice flight followingWhat each tower clearance authorizes, what must be read back with the runway, and the calls from the hold line to 'contact Ground'.
Read the guide Practice tower clearances'Cleared into the Class Bravo' before you enter, two-way communication for Class C and D, and what Special VFR needs.
Read the guide Practice controlled airspaceThe VFR code, the three emergency codes, when to ident, and how to change codes without setting off an alarm.
Read the guide Practice squawks and identEvery tower light signal on the ground and in the air, how to acknowledge one, and what to do when the radio dies inbound to a towered field.
Read the guide Practice non-standard situationsWhat the recording contains, in what order, saying 'with Information Charlie', and what 'have numbers' does and does not tell the controller.
Read the guide Practice reportsWhen to call, the five things the call contains, the reply that lets you enter and the one that does not, the pattern instructions you will hear, and the readbacks.
Read the guide Practice a towered arrivalThe call to Approach with position, altitude, squawk and destination, what establishes communication, sequencing, the hand-off to Tower, and departing a Class C.
Read the guide Practice controlled airspaceThe request, why the controller never says 'cleared' for taxi, what must be read back, progressive taxi when you are lost, and the call after landing.
Read the guide Practice the taxi callWhen to make the arrival call, its five parts, 'with Information' versus 'have numbers', the pattern instructions the tower gives, and the landing clearance readback.
Read the guide Practice a towered arrivalThe legs and their names, reporting only where told at a towered airport, every leg on the CTAF, what each call contains, and the phrases the AIM rules out.
Read the guide Practice the patternHow to ask for pattern work, what 'closed traffic approved' and 'unable' mean, 'cleared for the option' and the five things it allows, and what to tell the tower on a stop-and-go.
Read the guide Practice the patternFly first, then one short call; what 'go around' from the tower means and where you go next; the go-around on the CTAF; and go-around versus low approach.
Read the guide Practice non-standard situationsThe call to Clearance Delivery, the order the clearance comes in, 'cleared as filed' and what it leaves out, the readback, void times, non-towered airports, and picking one up in the air.
Read the guide Practice readbacksThe standard words and what each commits you to, numbers, what must be read back, squawk codes, airspace in one line each, and the two emergency calls. One page for the kneeboard.
Read the guide Practice every callWhat you need, the request, the exact words that clear you in and the words that do not, altitude and route inside, 'leaving Bravo airspace', and the VFR corridor alternative.
Read the guide Practice controlled airspaceWhat it is, the one-mile and clear-of-clouds limits, who issues it, how to ask, why the clearance has no altitude, IFR priority and 'expect delay', and where it stops.
Read the guide Practice services and airspace'(Name) Radio', the 122.2 common frequency, stating your frequency and position, opening and closing a VFR flight plan, weather in the air, and what Flight Service cannot do.
Read the guide Practice services and airspaceThe checks first, squawk 7600, the AIM procedure for a towered airport with a dead receiver, transmitter or both, the light signals and how to acknowledge them, and failure before departure.
Read the guide Practice non-standard situationsWhen to switch to Tower, the 'ready' call, the takeoff clearance and its readback, intersection departures, leaving Class D, departing Class B and C, and the hand-off.
Read the guide Practice the departureTwenty radio communication questions with short answers and the AIM or Pilot/Controller Glossary paragraph for each: airspace entry, readbacks, standard words, squawks, light signals, radio failure, Special VFR and emergencies.
Read the guide Take the radio checkEvery guide links to live practice. Make the calls to the AI controller and get feedback with the AIM paragraph for each one.
These guides are a study aid written in our own words from the FAA AIM and Pilot/Controller Glossary. They do not reproduce those documents and are not a substitute for them. Always defer to the AIM, current FAA publications, your instructor and your examiner. TowerTalk is not FAA approved.