For US student pilots
Calling the tower inbound
The inbound call is the one that makes new pilots hesitate, because it is the first time you talk to a controller who does not already know you are coming. It has five parts, the tower has a short list of things it can say back, and after that it is readbacks and reports. Here is the whole exchange.
When
About 15 miles out (AIM 4-3-2 a), and always before the surface area boundary: you may not enter a Class B, C or D surface area without two-way radio contact with the tower (AIM 4-3-2 a, 3-2-5 b 3). Get the ATIS first.
The five parts
Facility; full identification; position; altitude; the ATIS letter and your request (AIM 4-2-3 a 1, 3-2-5 b 3). Position is distance and direction from the airport, or a landmark the tower will know. Keep it to one breath.
Hayward Tower, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, one zero miles east, two thousand five hundred, with Information Kilo, landing Hayward.
“With Information” and “have numbers”
Stating the ATIS code lets the tower omit the landing information (JO 7110.65 3-10-1). “Have numbers” only tells the tower you have the runway, wind and altimeter, and it does not mean you have heard the ATIS (Pilot/Controller Glossary; 7110.65 3-10-1 note). Use the letter.
What the tower says back
The tower’s pattern instructions come from a fixed list: enter left or right base, straight-in, make straight-in, right traffic, or “continue” with something extra such as “report one mile final” (JO 7110.65 3-10-1 a). It may sequence you behind traffic: “number two, follow the Cherokee on left base” (3-8-1). Unless told otherwise you circle to the left (AIM 4-3-2 b). Read the instruction back with your call sign.
Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, Hayward Tower, enter left downwind runway two eight left, report abeam the tower.
Left downwind two eight left, report abeam, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot.
Reporting
At a towered airport you report where the tower told you to, not on every leg. When you get there: facility, call sign, position. If you were told to follow traffic, “traffic in sight” when you see it, “negative contact” when you do not (Pilot/Controller Glossary).
Hayward Tower, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, abeam the tower, two eight left.
The landing clearance
You need a clearance before you land (AIM 4-3-2 b). The first readback of it must include the runway, with left, right or center where it applies (AIM 4-4-7 b). Then exit at the first available taxiway or as told, taxi clear of the hold-short markings, and change to Ground when the tower says (AIM 4-3-21).
Runway two eight left, cleared to land, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot.
The traffic pattern
The legs have standard names — departure, upwind, crosswind, downwind, base, final — and the tower uses them in instructions. [AIM 4-3-2 c]
- Pattern altitude
- Propeller aircraft: 1,000 feet AGL unless the Chart Supplement says otherwise; large and turbine aircraft 1,500 feet. [AIM 4-3-3 a]
- Turns
- Left unless the chart or the tower says right (“RP” on the chart for a right pattern). [AIM 4-3-3 c, d]
- Entry
- Level, abeam the midpoint at pattern altitude; the tower may say “enter left downwind”, “enter left base”, “straight-in approved”, “make right traffic”. [AIM 4-3-3, FIG 4-3-2; JO 7110.65 3-10-1]
- Reports
- Give the report the tower asked for — “midfield downwind, runway two seven” — and nothing more; the tower adds “report two mile final” when it wants that.
- Extend / I’ll call your base
- Acknowledge with your identification and fly it. Do not turn base until told.
- Go around
- Answer “going around” with your identification, then fly: overfly the runway, climb to pattern altitude, enter on the crosswind unless told otherwise. [P/CG]
ATIS & “have numbers”
ATIS is the recorded airport information at busier fields: the phonetic letter, the time, wind, visibility, sky condition, temperature and dew point, altimeter, and the runway and approach in use. Get it before you call, and say the letter on initial contact. [AIM 4-1-13]
- “With Information Charlie”
- Tells the facility you have the current ATIS; approach and tower omit the wind, runway and altimeter. [AIM 4-1-18 a 4]
- “Have numbers”
- You have the runway, wind and altimeter only — NOT the ATIS. [P/CG]
- No ATIS
- Ask for the numbers, or the tower will give runway, wind and altimeter with the landing information. [JO 7110.65 3-10-1]
Make the inbound call and see what comes back
TowerTalk's Exercise J is the towered arrival, at a real US airport with the current ATIS, the AI tower sequencing you with the real traffic nearby, graded with the AIM paragraph.
Related
Study aid, written in our own words from the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (Change 3, 7/9/26) and the Pilot/Controller Glossary, with paragraph references so you can check each point. Last reviewed 10 September 2026; awaiting review by a US flight instructor. It does not reproduce those documents and is not a substitute for them — always defer to the AIM, the current FAA publications, your instructor and your examiner. TowerTalk is not approved or endorsed by the FAA.