It is very common a learner pilot’s brain to go blank when first pressing the PTT button in the early stages of flying…
KiwiPilot – Phraseology is as much of that pressure when (and where) you’d like it! On the ground, in your kitchen, during your work breaks, where nothing bad happens if you get it wrong. There is a free version here on this website (with two practice airfields). If you like it, there is an iPhone app.
Hold the button. Say it out loud.
Pick an airfield and a scenario. Hold the transmit button, make the call the way you would in the aeroplane, and let go. The controller answers in a voice you have to listen to rather than read, and the call gets scored against the four things every radio call needs.
| The four pillars | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| Who you are talking to | Rangiora Traffic |
| Who you are | Cessna ZK-DEF |
| Where you are | five miles north, two thousand five hundred |
| What you intend | inbound, joining overhead for runway zero seven |
Closing with the station name again is the New Zealand convention. It signs off your broadcast and clears the frequency for the next caller.
Real fields, real frequencies
| Field | Code | Why it is in there |
|---|---|---|
| Rangiora | NZRT | Busy unattended field. Where you learn to broadcast to traffic rather than talk to a controller |
| Christchurch | NZCH | International and controlled. Ground first, then Tower, and every clearance read back word for word |
| Matamata | NZMA | Gliding operations in the mix, so your calls have to be clear and short |
| Tauranga | NZTG | Controlled. Clearances, readbacks, and doing what you were actually told |
| Ardmore | NZAR | One of the busiest training aerodromes in the country. Frequency discipline or nothing |
Your voice never leaves the phone
Speech recognition, the controller’s replies and the scoring all run on your iPhone. No account, no server, no upload. It works at the field with one bar of signal, or none.
It is built to make the ground study stick. Your instructor and the AIP are still the authority on what to actually say on the day.