For US student pilots
How to read the ATIS
The ATIS is the controller’s way of not saying the same thing to forty airplanes an hour. Listen before you call, note the letter, and your first transmission is shorter and your controller is happier. Get it wrong and the first thing you hear is the weather, read to you, slowly.
Here is what the recording contains, how to say you have it, and the shortcut that is often misunderstood.
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]
Who you are talking to — ground station names
Call a facility by its name and its type. [AIM 4-2-6, TBL 4-2-1]
- (Name) Ground
- Ground control in the tower — taxi, before you move on the movement area.
- (Name) Tower
- The airport traffic control tower — runway, takeoff, landing, the pattern.
- (Name) Clearance Delivery
- IFR clearances at busier airports.
- (Name) Approach / Departure
- Radar approach control — VFR flight following, Class B and C airspace, sequencing to the tower.
- (Name) Center
- The air route traffic control center — en route, flight following away from a terminal area.
- (Name) Radio
- A Flight Service Station — weather, flight plans, in Alaska airport advisories.
- (Name) UNICOM
- The non-government station at an airport — wind and runway on request.
- (Name) traffic
- Not a station: the self-announce address on a CTAF at an airport with no operating tower. [AIM 4-1-9]
Call with the letter and see what changes
TowerTalk's Exercise C works the reports: the ATIS letter, position and the details a controller asks for, at a real US airport with today's real weather.
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 9 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.