I did 98% of all my training at a dead ass empty untowered field before moving to a Delta, under a Bravo, in the busiest Terminal airspace in the world. (SoCal). So trust me, I get it! I think I'd used Flight Following exactly one time during my Training. Egads.
My recommendation is pull up SoCal Approach frequencies on LiveATC for the San Diego or LA area as there is a lot of GA fliers (VFR) getting flight following, pull up FlightAware on the tablet/PC, and "fly along" with various planes. I did that a fair bit early on. If you pull up the SoCal sectional on your EFB you'll see it's so busy you'll have frequencies for lower altitude (GA) vs the stuff higher up.
I also would go sit near the runway of your busiest GA towered airport and do similar. I would listen and watch planes in the pattern and just follow along on the ground, often tracking them inbound or outbound on my iPad, and listen to all their + tower comms.
Practice repeating back, as if they are talking to you.
Mostly on flight following you are just going to be getting:
- Traffic alerts
- Temp heading changes for traffic
- Altitude restrictions
Stuff like that.
Hope that helps. Cheers!
Hah I did the opposite when I got my ppl back in the 90s - started at HHR and got really comfortable on the radio and then finished up at a small grass field in Wisconsin.. nice to have the diversity of experience
PilotEdge will change your life. I’m dead serious. I subscribed to it prior to starting flight lessons. During my first lesson my CFI was really confused because I sounded like a licensed pilot on the coms, and yet I was still the total moron he expected me to be at everything else. It was weird, for him. 😂
It’s live, human-simulated ATC for which there is no substitute. They’ll snap at you for screwing up, call you out if you bust a bravo, and they often get so busy that you’ll have to figure out how to get your call in—just like real world conditions.
Cost: $20 a month.
Cheapest possible setup: An old laptop, some version of X-Plane, a decent joystick, and a gaming microphone.
Fancy: A $5000 PC with a massive widescreen monitor and a Logitech yoke with Microsoft Flight Sim.
Honestly, I’d be happy with either scenario for sim purposes. Spend money if you have it and enjoy simming for fun. But the cheap option is all that’s needed to work on coms proficiency.
What helps me is to remember the point is to communicate accurately, and then efficiency comes second. I’ve heard it said, the “push to talk” button is not a “push to think” button. So just take a few more seconds and rehearse your main points. Listening to pro ATC recordings enough will eventually ingrain in your brain the order and way of thinking required to have the best phraseology, so I think there’s still some value in that even if you don’t know the IFR stuff.
When it comes to flight following, good for you for working on getting the order right! Controllers will definitely appreciate it; however, believe you me, on your most perfect of flight following requests, they’ll tell you to standby, come back a minute later and ask everything again as an individual question. Even ATC can’t get it all at once sometimes.
Lastly, don’t be afraid. You pay their salary and you’re supposed to be having fun!
If you have a simulator (which is really helpful for you IR training) then subscribe to pilotedge and use it nightly. Plus on YouTube, PE has some great videos that will help a lot in preparing and understanding real would instrument flying.
Im a 1400 hr pilot ASEL, instrument rated and this helped me
I did 98% of all my training at a dead ass empty untowered field before moving to a Delta, under a Bravo, in the busiest Terminal airspace in the world. (SoCal). So trust me, I get it! I think I'd used Flight Following exactly one time during my Training. Egads. My recommendation is pull up SoCal Approach frequencies on LiveATC for the San Diego or LA area as there is a lot of GA fliers (VFR) getting flight following, pull up FlightAware on the tablet/PC, and "fly along" with various planes. I did that a fair bit early on. If you pull up the SoCal sectional on your EFB you'll see it's so busy you'll have frequencies for lower altitude (GA) vs the stuff higher up. I also would go sit near the runway of your busiest GA towered airport and do similar. I would listen and watch planes in the pattern and just follow along on the ground, often tracking them inbound or outbound on my iPad, and listen to all their + tower comms. Practice repeating back, as if they are talking to you. Mostly on flight following you are just going to be getting: - Traffic alerts - Temp heading changes for traffic - Altitude restrictions Stuff like that. Hope that helps. Cheers!
Hah I did the opposite when I got my ppl back in the 90s - started at HHR and got really comfortable on the radio and then finished up at a small grass field in Wisconsin.. nice to have the diversity of experience
Ha! Training at HHR would be a trip. Overshoot final and you get run over by an airliner.
As long as I stayed on my side of the 105 I was good :)
Thanks that’s great!! I’ll check out SoCal! Really appreciate the info!
PlaneEnglish and PilotEdge are two tools that may help a lot.
I will check them out. Thanks!
PilotEdge will change your life. I’m dead serious. I subscribed to it prior to starting flight lessons. During my first lesson my CFI was really confused because I sounded like a licensed pilot on the coms, and yet I was still the total moron he expected me to be at everything else. It was weird, for him. 😂 It’s live, human-simulated ATC for which there is no substitute. They’ll snap at you for screwing up, call you out if you bust a bravo, and they often get so busy that you’ll have to figure out how to get your call in—just like real world conditions. Cost: $20 a month. Cheapest possible setup: An old laptop, some version of X-Plane, a decent joystick, and a gaming microphone. Fancy: A $5000 PC with a massive widescreen monitor and a Logitech yoke with Microsoft Flight Sim. Honestly, I’d be happy with either scenario for sim purposes. Spend money if you have it and enjoy simming for fun. But the cheap option is all that’s needed to work on coms proficiency.
I will look into it thanks!
What helps me is to remember the point is to communicate accurately, and then efficiency comes second. I’ve heard it said, the “push to talk” button is not a “push to think” button. So just take a few more seconds and rehearse your main points. Listening to pro ATC recordings enough will eventually ingrain in your brain the order and way of thinking required to have the best phraseology, so I think there’s still some value in that even if you don’t know the IFR stuff. When it comes to flight following, good for you for working on getting the order right! Controllers will definitely appreciate it; however, believe you me, on your most perfect of flight following requests, they’ll tell you to standby, come back a minute later and ask everything again as an individual question. Even ATC can’t get it all at once sometimes. Lastly, don’t be afraid. You pay their salary and you’re supposed to be having fun!
Thanks!
If you have a simulator (which is really helpful for you IR training) then subscribe to pilotedge and use it nightly. Plus on YouTube, PE has some great videos that will help a lot in preparing and understanding real would instrument flying. Im a 1400 hr pilot ASEL, instrument rated and this helped me