For US student pilots
First solo radio calls, from the ramp to the tie-down
Nothing about the radio changes when your instructor gets out. The calls on your first solo are the calls you have been making for weeks, with one addition: you say “student pilot” and the controller knows there is one person in the airplane. Here they are, in the order you will make them, at a towered airport and then at a non-towered one.
At a towered airport
Before you call anyone: listen to the ATIS and write down the letter, the wind, the runway and the altimeter. Every call is shorter once you have it.
Ground, on the ramp.Who you are calling, who you are, where you are, the ATIS letter, what you want. Add “student pilot” (AIM 4-2-4 c). Read back the runway and any hold-short instruction with your call sign (AIM 4-3-18 a 9).
Palo Alto Ground, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, student pilot, at the ramp with Information Bravo, request taxi, closed traffic.
Runway three one, taxi via Alpha, hold short of runway three one, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot.
Tower, at the hold line.Run-up done, checklist done, then call ready. Say “student pilot” again: it is a new controller. Read back “line up and wait” or “cleared for takeoff” with the runway. Line up and wait is not a takeoff clearance.
Palo Alto Tower, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, student pilot, holding short runway three one, ready for departure, closed traffic.
Runway three one, cleared for takeoff, closed traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot.
In the pattern.At a towered airport the tower sequences you; you report where the tower told you to, usually downwind or base. Read back the landing clearance with the runway, and “cleared for the option” means you may touch and go, stop and go, low approach or full stop as you choose (Pilot/Controller Glossary).
Palo Alto Tower, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, midfield downwind, three one, touch and go.
Runway three one, cleared for the option, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot.
Going around. Fly the airplane first. When you have the climb established, tell the tower, and expect an instruction on where to go next.
Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, going around.
After the full stop. Exit the runway, clear the hold-short line, stop, and change to Ground only when the tower tells you to (AIM 4-3-14 c). Then call Ground for taxi to parking.
Palo Alto Ground, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, clear of three one at Charlie, taxi to the ramp.
At a non-towered airport
Nobody clears you to do anything. You announce what you are doing on the CTAF, with the airport name at the start and the end of every call, and you listen for everyone else (AIM 4-1-9). A UNICOM operator, if there is one, can tell you the wind and the runway in use; ask about ten miles out on a return, or before taxiing.
Half Moon Bay traffic, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, taxiing to runway three zero, Half Moon Bay.
Half Moon Bay traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, departing runway three zero, remaining in the pattern, Half Moon Bay.
Half Moon Bay traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, left downwind runway three zero, touch and go, Half Moon Bay.
Half Moon Bay traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, left base runway three zero, Half Moon Bay.
Half Moon Bay traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, final runway three zero, touch and go, Half Moon Bay.
Half Moon Bay traffic, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, clear of runway three zero, Half Moon Bay.
Runways by number, never “the active”, and never “any traffic in the area, please advise”: the AIM says that phrase is not to be used under any condition (AIM 4-1-9 g 1).
What to do the night before
Write the calls out in the order above with your own call sign and runway, then say them out loud. Then say them to a controller who answers: the exercises below put you in the pattern at your own airport with an AI tower that responds to what you actually said.
At a towered airport — Ground, Tower and the clearances
- Before you move
- Call Ground (or Clearance Delivery) for taxi before starting to move on the movement area; state your position on the airport. [AIM 4-3-14 a, 4-3-18 a 1]
- The taxi instruction
- “Runway (number), taxi via (route)”, with hold-short instructions where you must stop. ATC never says “cleared” for a taxi. Read back the runway and any hold short. [JO 7110.65 3-7-2; AIM 4-3-18 a 9]
- Crossing a runway
- Needs an explicit “cross runway (number)”. Absence of holding instructions authorises crossing taxiways only. [AIM 4-3-18 a 5; JO 7110.65 3-7-2]
- Ready
- Switch to Tower when ready for takeoff (stay on Ground until then). Turbine aircraft are assumed ready at the runway. [AIM 4-3-14 a, b]
- Line up and wait
- “Runway (number), line up and wait” — onto the runway, not a takeoff clearance. Read it back. [P/CG; JO 7110.65 3-9-4]
- Takeoff
- “Runway (number), cleared for takeoff.” Runway first, then the clearance; read back both. [JO 7110.65 3-9-10]
- Landing
- “Runway (number), cleared to land”; “cleared for the option” lets you choose touch-and-go, stop-and-go, low approach or full stop. [JO 7110.65 3-10-5; P/CG]
- After landing
- Exit at the first available taxiway or as told; taxi clear past the hold-position markings and hold; change to Ground only when the tower says. [AIM 4-3-21, 4-3-14 c]
- Leaving the tower frequency
- Once outside the Class D you do not need permission to leave the frequency, but staying on it for traffic is good practice. [AIM 4-3-2 a]
Runway two seven, taxi via Alpha, hold short of runway one eight, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot.
Runway two seven, cleared for takeoff, 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]
Non-towered airports — CTAF, UNICOM & self-announce
Without an operating tower, everyone transmits on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) — which may be a UNICOM, MULTICOM (122.9) or the closed tower’s frequency. [AIM 4-1-9]
- When
- Inbound: monitor and announce from 10 miles out; entering downwind, base and final; clear of the runway. Outbound: before taxiing, before taxiing onto the runway, and until 10 miles out. [AIM 4-1-9 c, TBL 4-1-1]
- How
- The airport name at the START and the END of every transmission; runways by number, never “the active”. [AIM 4-1-9 g 8]
- UNICOM
- State the station in each call; 10 miles out ask for wind and runway. [AIM 4-1-9 h]
- Straight-in
- Discouraged; if you do one, announce at 8–10 miles and coordinate — you have no priority over the pattern. [AIM 4-1-9 g 4]
- Never
- “Any traffic in the area, please advise.” Not a recognised phrase. Listen instead. [AIM 4-1-9 g 1]
Strawn traffic, Apache Two Two Five Zulu, ten miles south, two thousand five hundred, landing Strawn, Strawn.
Strawn traffic, Apache Two Two Five Zulu, entering left downwind runway one seven, full stop, Strawn.
Strawn traffic, Apache Two Two Five Zulu, clear of runway one seven, Strawn.
Fly the pattern on the radio before you fly it alone
TowerTalk's Exercise F works every pattern call at a real US airport with an AI tower, and Exercise K does the same on the CTAF.
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.