Training Tip: 'Thanks for the help'

Pilots forgetting to squawk altitude as part of their departure procedures was a common occurrence. The controller’s matter-of-fact way of flagging the omission implied no judgment or reprimand—just a gentle nudge.

Recently there was plenty of public attention trained on air traffic controllers as part of the federal government-employee population hit in the pocketbook by the monthlong partial government shutdown. That situation placed deserving emphasis on ATC’s safety function, but outside the aviation community, it’s little known that controllers play another role: helping student pilots become part of the real world of aviation.

Many student pilots start out thinking only that ATC is a force to reckon with. They’re surprised to discover that ATC can be an ally who enhances the flight training experience.

The structured language pilots must learn to communicate precisely and effectively with ATC may reinforce that foreboding initial impression. Within that structure, however, the relationship can thrive. In an hour of practicing takeoffs and landings at a towered airport, for example, a new pilot experiences vastly varying sequencing instructions as the flight becomes part of the local traffic flow. Participating in this intricate operation is exhilarating and confidence-building for student pilots; surely a controller working a trainer (or two) in closed traffic while also managing arrivals and departures feels pride and satisfaction at practicing their special craft.

Many of our local pilots owe their skill in crosswind takeoffs and landings partly to tower controllers who obligingly cleared us for “the option” to take advantage of the home airport’s 11,400-foot-long runway to make repeated passes along the centerline, slow-flying a foot off the ground, for intensive sessions immersing flight trainees in crosswind techniques.

Controllers shepherd first solo students from the ramp to the traffic pattern and back. Terminal radar approach control facility controllers watch student pilots in the practice area and cheerfully accommodate practice instrument approaches. The facility dispatches staffers to speak on procedures at local aviation events.

It’s understood that the ATC services we incorporate in training come on a workload-permitting basis, but I struggle to recall an occasion when an instructional request was denied.That’s why we always manage to slip a “Thanks for the help” into the day’s final radio call, structured language notwithstanding.