Writing down ATC instructions - Pilot's Shorthand

the poacher good a citation three to seven I remember Mike departeth on with an executive 1600 climbing 3000 edition three to seven oh where where my got the departure ident often altimeter two Niner Niner four maintain all on zero thousand talking on the radio's and receiving air-traffic control instructions is one thing that is very difficult for a lot of people when they're learning to fly that's why ever since I started to learn how to fly at Austin Bergstrom International Airport in those little Cessna 150 twos I got in the habit of writing down air traffic control instructions well line a modder precipitation extending from your 10 o'clock pier 1 o'clock he'll be in it for about 8 flying mouth contact youth center workers I maintain one 2,000 contact youth center one three four point two in this video I'm gonna walk you through how I write down certain instructions how I abbreviate things and just kind of show you how I lay out my own shorthand that I've developed over the years visibility gonna have my rain 400-800 overcast I would like to highlight that this is my way it may not be your way there are other ways to do this this is just what works for me how I write things down how I remember them I just added a new product to my eStore and by the way my e store is live if you want to grab a hat or a shirt I've got black and gray shirts aviation 101.com slash store I'll throw a card up here somewhere for it this is one of the new products that I recently added to my eStore this is a flight notes pad that goes on a kneeboard made with good quality paper there's 50 sheets on the pad it's cardboard back what we're gonna do in this video is we're gonna go down through each of these sections and I'm going to show you how I would write down instructions and notes that go in these sections so on the top of the pad here we've got some general flight note information such as the date the tail number the airplane the departure Airport and the destination Airport identifier so from there on down these are kind of in chronological order as you would encounter them during a flight so the first one is a dispersed thing you do is get the weather then you have taxi clearance takeoff now I will say that the taxi and the clearance seemed to be backwards but I have a reason for that depending on the airport that you're at you might get the taxi clearance first before you get the ifr clearance or vice versa just depends but I like having the clearance next to the takeoff clearance for a reason and I'm gonna highlight that here in a minute then we have the end route portion which is just kind of a big block where you can write notes heading changes frequency handoffs altimeter settings out to - changes all that good stuff then we've got another ADIS section 4 your destination Airport your approach instructions or your approach clearance and then taxi instructions for your destination Airport so starting with the ADA section there's a bunch of different types of weather reporting systems when you tune up on a frequency but we're just going to deal with one we're going to listen to an automated a sauce so we're going to dial up the a sauce and austin-bergstrom airport we're just going to listen to that copy it down and talk about the different types of shorthand techniques that I use to copy the weather austin-bergstrom International Airport automated weather observation one Niner three zero Zulu win one eight zero at one three visibility one zero sky conditions broken one five thousand overcast to five thousand temperature to three Celsius two point zero seven Celsius altimeter two-niner seven eight remarks density altitude 1,800 okay so that was the austin bergstrom a sauce weather so we just real quick copied it down here the time of the weather observation was one nine three zero zulu the wind was one eight zero at one three knots visibility was ten statute miles the lowest cloud layer that it was reporting which is really what I care about was that fifteen thousand broken so that's flight level one five zero that's kind of for math and I wrote it you can also think of a decimal right here 15.0 thousand feet broken the temperature was two three Celsius the dew point is seven Celsius the altimeter was two nine seven eight and the density altitude was 1800 feet that's an equal sign it's kind of hard to read and this is really the stuff that's the most important so in an automated a wasps or a sauce this is pretty much everything you're gonna get but on the long terminal ADIS you don't need to write necessarily everything down I generally just write the wind the ceiling the temp dew point in the altimeter and if I have time and I'm not rushed I'll jot down the time that it was taken and then density altitude is pretty important to you all right next up we're gonna talk about the ifr clearance and this is the task that a lot of instruments students really dread learning how to do I think the reason they dread it is because a lot of students never got in the habit of writing things down during their private training so we're going to listen to and copy to IFR clearances here in these both of these ifr clearance from videos that I have made in the past the first one is going to be IFR from San Marcos up to McKinney Texas with my buddy brand and I was not instrument-rated yet he was my instructor and that was the first instrument flight I ever took so we're gonna listen to the clearance and copy it while we listen to it and then we're gonna talk about the different abbreviations and the different things that I wrote down and why later departure frequency is one 19.045 before hold for relief okay Sasa Heiser Niner one cleared to mikania radar vectors to dark Victor 17 Waco Cedar Creek Yeager one arrival 3,000 expect five thousand and ten one-one-niner decimal zero to talk - five - four - squawk four eight zero Niner Niner one and ultra release okay so this is a pretty good clearance that highlights some examples here so we are cleared to the tki Airport the McKinney airport that lowercase C is what denotes cleared - that's how I ride it cleared to the McKinney Airport radar vectors to Dart Victor 17 Waco Cedar Creek Yeager one arrival I just wrote yeag one Clemmie maintain 3000 expect five thousand and ten minutes after departure departure frequency one-one-niner point zero squawk lowercase s - 5 - 4 hold for release so I use a lowercase C to denote cleared - and then the airport identifier I use the lowercase R preceding a fix or a departure procedure or anything like that to denote radar vectors and then victor 17 Waco Cedar Creek Yeager 1 arrival and I didn't write out all of you a go just ye ag-gag 1 I know what that means 3,000 expect five thousand and ten minutes so I just kind of write it as three by five in ten this is the format that you're almost always gonna get altitudes you're always going to get an initial altitude most of the time you're going to going to get an expected altitude that's higher than you're assigned in a given amount of time and that's just in case you lose radio so we're initially gonna climb and maintain 3000 we're gonna expect 5,000 in 10 minutes after departure and then the parched frequency 1 1 9.0 there's nothing else around here that has a decimal so that's pretty easy to to know what that means and then squawk lowercase s 2 5 2 4 hold for release okay this next clearance is gonna be actually a much more recent clearance that I got I was departing Addison on a rainy afternoon and I was gonna fly down to San Marcos nasty IFR the whole way this one involves a departure procedure radar vectors with an AZ filed clause in there and then the rest is pretty routine so let's go and have a listen to that one and copy it down and we'll talk about it addison ground sky Hawk 8 is 0 9 or 9 or 1 information Oscar IFR the hotel Yankee India okay zero Niner 1000 ground clear to hotel Yankee India Airport feel own departure fly runway heading expected radar vectors no foolin Niner departure Waco transition as well maintain 2,000 expects 4,000 1 0 minutes after departure departure frequency 1 2 4 point 3 1 2 2 2 0 total San Marcos Airport on departure fly runway heading for the radar radar vectors for the Joe pull 9 then Waco as filed come maintain 2000 expect four thousand and ten minutes to Parchman frequency 1 to 4 decimal 3 squawk two two two zero Niner Niner one Rebecca right okay so this one's just a little bit different we got the same cleared two were cleared to the San Marcos Airport via on departure fly runway heading this is how I denote on departure and then this is how I did note runway heading so if you would have said you're clear to the San Marcos Airport via on departure fly heading three six zero then I would have wrote ODH three six zero on departure fly heading three six zero in this case I just said on departure runway heading radar vectors the lowercase R for the Joe pool nine departure that's just how I abbreviated at JP 9 Waco transition then as filed and in the instance of this clearance what I filed was actually Joe pull nine departure Waco transition direct San Marcos that's what I filed so what what all this means here is when I take off out of Addison I'm gonna fly runway heading contact departure they're gonna radar vector me for the Joe pull nine depart which will take me to the waco transition and then from there I'm gonna proceed on my route as I had filed which in my case was direct we're in a climb and maintain 2,000 that's our initial altitude we are going to expect 4,000 in 10 minutes after departure departure frequency 1 to 4 decimal 3 squawk lowercase s to 2 to 0 alright so we've copied the weather and we've got our ifr clearance now we're ready to taxi so I'm going to use a couple of examples here writing down the taxi instructions is pretty simple I have a couple of techniques that I use so I always start by writing the runway number and then to delineate via when they say taxi 2 1 7 via I just put a little lowercase V after the runway number and then for each of the taxiways I just write the letter and then when they say cross a runway or cross a taxiway I put a lowercase X and then write the runway number and then when they tell me to hold short of a runway or hold short of a taxiway I write the taxiway or a runway number and circle it okay so we've listened to our weather we've got our ifr clearance we're ready to taxi so we use the example that I usually get taxing from my hangar out of San Marcos when the wind is out of the south so when they're using runway 1/7 they'll usually say Skyhawk 8:09 another one taxi to runway one seven via alpha Bravo Charlie Juliet we're gonna cross runway eight and hold short of runway one three they'll start the call off with sky okay zero no one taxi to runway one seven via alpha Bravo Charlie Juliet cross eight hold Stroh of one three so they start with the runway that that's gonna be our destination so that's the first thing I write down I write a v4 via we're gonna taxi to one seven via alpha Bravo Charlie and Juliet we're gonna cross runway eight and we're gonna hold short of runway one three and we circle the runway that we're gonna hold short of or the taxiway that we're told to hold short of whenever we're told to cross a runway we write a lowercase X and then the runway number four cross runway eight that way when we're taxiing up to runway 8 all it's gonna take is a glance down to make sure that we are cleared to cross runway eight and then the circle around one three kind of gets our attention and says hey hold short of runway 1 3 so that's taxi to runway 1 7 via alpha Bravo Charlie and Juliet cross runway 8 hold short of 1 3 there's only a couple of things we want to write in the takeoff section I always write the time that I am the and I ride it in Zulu time so I ride it in the format of our our minute minute followed by a lowercase Z and usually especially when you're IFR or coming out of a you know a Bravo Airport at Charlie Airport you're gonna get an initial heading so they might say Cessna 8-0 note on our 1 on departure fly runway heading runway 1 3 clip for takeoff or if they say 8 0 node our 1 fly heading three six zero run I 1 3 clear for takeoff I write H 3 6 0 - Delaney a heading so let's look at a quick example of that now the takeoff clearance is pretty simple where you really don't need to write anything down there it's it's cleared for takeoff on runway X there's usually not anything we need to write down but something but the two things that I'd like to write down is the time off so the takeoff time and then the initial heading or the initial lateral instruction and then right here is where I'm gonna show you why I like to have the clearance right next to the takeoff clearance so tower might say sky hockey zero and then another one on departure fly heading three six zero runway one three cleared for takeoff and this is how I would write that I would say heading three six zero and then read it back heading three six zero runway 1 three clear for takeoff Skyhawk a zero on that under one and then before I let go of the brakes I'd come here on my on my watch look at the Zulu time here one nine five zero UTC so we're gonna write down one nine five zero another instance as they could say Scott Key zero no our one fly runway heading runway one three clear for takeoff that's all I would write and then I would read it back runway heading runway one three clear for takeoff sake zero another one and then before I let go the brakes I'd come to my watch one Niner five zero Zulu one nine five zero Zulu let go the brakes start rolling get onto the runway execute the take off when I'm IFR I like to simplify my life by thinking of it in terms of my horizontal instruction and my vertical instruction which direction do I need to point the airplane and how high do I need to be do I need to be climbing do I need to be descending if so to what altitude right here is real simple when I take off my vertical instruction is right here my horizontal instruction is right here they're right next to each other so when we're off the runway and we're real busy managing the airplane we're starting to get into the clouds my life is easy this is all I've got to do we're climbing up to 2,000 that's my vertical instruction and we're gonna fly runway heading that's my horizontal instruction now in the instance of the clearance here out of Addison clear to the hotel Yankee any airport on departure fly runway heading they would just say Skokie zero nine another one runway one-five clear for takeoff they didn't give me any lateral instructions because it's right there on departure fly runway heading so that is my vertical and horizontal instruction in the case of this clearance so in the case of this clearance where I'm given my on departure or horizontal instruction and then of course I'm given my initial vertical instruction climb maintain 2,000 all I would do is write the write down the time when I'm clear for takeoff so on to the end route section of this notepad this is where it's kind of loosey-goosey as to what you want to write down it just depends on you know maybe the equipment usually if I have a heading bug in the airplane I don't write down my heading instructions because the heading bug is when I use there but if I've got a free hand or I've got an extra second I'll still write it down but the main things I write down is handoffs heading altitude and navigational instructions that's pretty much the bulk of everything you're gonna get during cruise except for maybe an altimeter setting here and there so let's go ahead and look at some examples of how I would write down different instructions while enroute so we'll start with like a handoff for example if if I'm flying you know fly along at cruise and ATC says gawky zero another one contact Houston Center one three four point two all I'm gonna do is write one three four point two and I'm gonna read that back one three four point two Scout gate zero another one good day and let's say I check on with Houston Center I say Houston Center eight zero no one level 4,000 you know given my altitude okay I could say Scout eight zero Niner Niner one Roger Junction altimeter is two nine or nine or two all I would do is write altimeter to nine nine two and I read that back altimeter to nine or two now i don't want i write the uppercase a right there to denote that this is an altimeter setting if they say any Skyhawk 8:09 or nine our one turn left heading three three zero I'm gonna come here right H three three zero four heading three three zero and then I would reply three three zero on the heading eight zero another once I said cocky zero nine another one turn right heading 0 1 0 I'm gonna write heading zero one zero now if they give me a degree relative to the current heading that I'm on such as Scotty a zero and nine and NR 1 vectors for traffic turn right ten degrees right one zero degrees I'm gonna come down here and write an R 10 right 10 degrees that way I know this is a relative vector relative to my previous heading that's the between writing an H or an L and an R so then if they say Scout K 0 and R 1 there's a moderate precipitation at your 12 to 1 o'clock for vectors around that turn left 20 left 2 0 degrees I'm gonna say left 2 0 left 20 and I'll say left 20 degrees cocky zero no one I'm putting along and they say Scout K 0 node R 1 clear direct Dart when I come down here right addy with an arrow through it and write dart direct darts got a 0 another one this is kind of like a running log of all the little instructions I've gotten throughout the flight they might say Scott gate zero Niner Niner one climb and maintain one to twelve thousand I'm gonna do that with an up arrow I'll put an up arrow with a twelve point O or usually if there's no hundreds associated with it it's just 12,000 flat I'll just write I was an awful up arrow I'll write an up arrow with a 12 up to 12,000 they might say sky Aki zero Niner Niner one to send a maintenance flight levels if they say sky Hawk 8:09 and NR 1 climb and maintain flight level 180 zero I'm gonna do an up arrow one eight zero because that's how we say it we don't say flight level one to zero in the United States we don't say flight level zero 75 but we do say flight level 180 zero because in the United States that's where our flight level starts gate 0-9 + NR one climb and maintain flight level two seven zero up arrow two seven zero now one Ravena far we may get little out speed restrictions like at or above this at or below this if they say sky Hawk 8:09 or nine our one maintain at or above 3500 I'm gonna write 3.5 with a line underneath it that shows me that there is a hard deck there's a hard limit right below 3500 that I cannot go below I cannot go below 3,500 that's what that means they might say sky Hawk 8:09 or nine our one maintain at or below one to 12,500 so I'm going to write 12.5 with a line right above it that means there is a hard deck there's a hard limit right above 12,500 feet that I cannot go above that's how I like to write these little altitude restrictions kind of maintain the centum maintain clear direct this fly this heading left 10 left 20 right 20 all that kind of stuff okay so we got three more sections down at the bottom of notepad but only gonna talk about one of them because we've already talked about ADIS and taxi and the last two ADIS and taxis have to do with your destination airport nothing different there so lastly we're going to talk about the approach section of this notepad particularly with instrument approaches when we're briefing an instrument approach we want to write down important altitudes including our decision altitude and minimum descent altitude so if I'm briefing the ILS and a San Marcos or something like that I would write it like this so our initial approach fix we're gonna be at or above 3200 at our final approach fix or the faff we're gonna be at or above 2700 feet remember the underline so this is a hard deck we can't go below that and then on the straight in ILS our decision altitude is 793 feet okay so for an approach clearance we've got four elements and it's known as PTAC the first guy is position second guy here's turn then we have altitude and we have clearance hopefully you can read my handwriting PTAC position turn altitude and clearance now for example on the ILS 1/3 coming in to San Marcos the clearance will sound something like a zero note our one year three miles from Gary's turn left heading one six zero maintain 3000 till established cleared for the ILS one three San Marcos position you're three miles from Gary's turn left heading one six zero altitude maintain 3000 until established clearance cleared for the ILS one three this is how I would write it down sustained zero Niner Niner one you're three miles from Gary's turn left heading one six zero maintain 3000 till established cleared for the ILS one three in San Marcos I don't need to read back the position but I do need to read back to heading altitude and clearance and I would read it back just like this heading one six zero 3000 until established cleared for the ILS one three San Marcos not another one now if we're doing a GPS approach GPS meaning we have equipment onboard to tell us exactly where we are the controller usually is not going to fuss themselves with telling us our position and unless we're being vectored for an approach they're probably not going to give us a heading either so let's say they cleared us direct a wall and that's the initial approach fixed for the RN f15 and a log of Vista here around Austin so we're putting along direct a Walt well when they're ready to give us the clearance they don't need to give us a position because we have a G yes we know our position and they don't need to give us a turn because we already know where we're going we're going direct a wall and the GPS is guiding us directly there so they don't even they don't need to tell us where we are they don't need to tell us where to go we know where we're going but what they do need to give us is an altitude and a clearance so what they might say is Scout ki0 nun another one cross a wall at four thousand one hundred feet you're cleared for the RNAV one five log of Vista report the procedure turn inbound so let's see how would write this on the actual notepad so we're putting a long they and then they they're ready to give us a clearance calc a zero a nun a narrow one cross a walt at four thousand one hundred feet you're clearly aren't have one v report the procedure turn inbound so I read it back just like this will cross a walt at four thousand one hundred feet clear for the RNAV one five report inbound eight zero nine another one so we can see in that instance they gave us the altitude and clearance but they didn't give us a position or a turn because it wasn't needed but all approach clearances for the most part follow this structure as always I hope you found this video helpful I like to share the little tidbits that I've learned over the years and with making a video like this I hope to draw feedback from the audience and learn a little bit extra my cell somebody out there may have a better way to do it than I do so if you found this video helpful and you found the notepad to be helpful you can head over to my East or aviation 101.com slash store and pick one up for yourself don't forget to grab a hat and shirt while you're there if you like this video definitely give it a like and subscribe if you have not yet and share this video if you know somebody who could benefit from it as always I want you to keep learning stay happy stay healthy stay current and stay proficient we'll see on the next one [Music]

Channel: Aviation101

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Keywords: flying, aviation, 101, cessna, 172, n80991, josh, flowers, flight, instructor, cfi, kneeboard, asa, kneepad, cfii, note, pad, atc, instructions, intercom, audio, recording, vfr, ifr, shorthand, airplane, pilot, flight vlog, vlog, landing an airplane, atc audio, lightspeed, headset, zulu 3

Id: BZGjBjlPkiM

Length: 21min 34sec (1294 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 02 2018