I haven’t taken lessons in probably 40 years steady, have done a lesson or two here and there. My problem is I have a speech problem, I stutter. How difficult will it be when I do solo for FBO’s or towers to understand me and how much of a problem will it be for them, me and other pilots?
There are study apps for pilot communications. I find that practice helps me overcome stress/stutter problems. Your instructor should be able to work you through what is required on a normal day and give you some help for unusual situations.
Check out this
https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/students/presolo/special/new-pilots-guide-to-atc-communication
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, is the moto. The first two are more important than the last one. Remember that there are deaf pilots out there. The last one is not unimportant, it is just that the first two are more important.
“Say again” and “Unable” are your friends.
I saw that the latest FAA safety magazine has an article on communications.
https://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/
Thanks so much for your help
Not sure if I’m late to the party…however here is my 2cents.
1 cent: I strongly recommend VATSIM or PilotEdge. I have heard alot about both but have not had a need to try them yet. Both platforms have some form of individuals volunteering as ATCs for Sim pilots. Find a way to join one of them, and practice your calls. If possible try ATC side of things and if you have a sim, get on the pilot side of things too. It does not matter what you flying in GA, its mostly "xyz ground, N1234 ready to taxi to active with information “__”! or N1234 ready for departure or departure in sequence if there are other aircrafts in runup area…take it slow!!
2cents: Listen to LiveATC (for a Class Delta Airspace…like Addision KADS or Dentor KDO…both habe flights schools giving you many opportunities to try GA traffic calls) and repeat the ATC instructions and if possible record your voice with handheld minirecorder and get used to your voice reading back the instructions…take it real slowwww!
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Unrelated but an interesting story.
I used to enjoy flying with VATSIM or IVAOSIM many years ago when I still used to fly simulators regularly. My sim of choice back then was Aerowinx PS1.3 (now PS X) and I made sure that I always called in with the ‘heavy’ suffix and told the controller what sim I was flying because it actually had an accurate flight model and a lot of the controllers didn’t really know how to handle it. They’d give an instruction which was pretty much impossible for a 744 to obey and “Unable” was a common response.
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