sbonek said:
I think I'm pretty comfortable with the proper way to arrive and depart. Any tips from first experiences into a Class C airport?
Well... I'm based at one, so I'm coming from the opposite point of view. However, IMHO it's fairly simple. On the way in, you'll call Approach, then Tower, then possibly Ground. On the way out, you'll call Clearance Delivery, then Ground, then Tower, then Departure.
Inbound
1. Approach (get the ATIS first).
"Fort Wayne Approach, <type> <tail number> is at <altitude> <location> landing with <ATIS code>." They'll reply with "<type> <tail number>, squawk <code>." Read back the squawk, set it in the transponder, and a moment later you should hear "<type> <tail number>, radar contact <location>, expect <runway>. (or other instructions)"
So, something like this:
P: "Fort Wayne Approach, Skylane 271G is over Warsaw at three thousand five hundred, landing with Hotel."
C: "Skylane 271G, roger, squawk 0426."
P: "Squawk 0426, 271g."
C: "Skylane 271G, radar contact two miles east of Warsaw, make left base runway 5."
P: "Left base runway 5, 271G."
(a bit later)
C: "Skylane 271G, contact tower, 119.1."
P: "Contact tower, 119.1, 271G."
2. Tower
You'll be handed off from Approach, and they already know where you are. Be sure to verify what Approach told you.
"Fort Wayne Tower, <type> <tail>, <approach/runway instructions>."
"<type><tail>, clear to land <runway>."
So, for example:
P: "Fort Wayne Tower, Skylane 271G, left base runway 5."
C: "Skylane 271G, runway 5, cleared to land."
P: "Clear to land runway 5, 271G."
After landing, you may be given taxi instructions right away, if you slow to where you can get off on your own, you can. Wait for instructions before proceeding farther than the other side of the hold short line. You may also stay with the Tower controller rather than being switched to ground, depending on traffic. Something like this:
C: "Skylane 271G, left on Charlie Three, contact ground point niner."
P: "Left on Charlie Three, ground point niner, 271G."
Ground frequencies are always 121.6, 121.7, 121.8, or 121.9 so many controllers will leave off the 121 portion. However, the frequency is in the A/FD so you should know it already. Also, be sure you study the airport diagram before you go as well as having it ready in the plane so you'll have a clue what you're doing before you land. You will NOT have time to look up which way to turn on the landing rollout, and they DO want you off the runway ASAP.
3. Ground
P: "Fort Wayne Ground, Skylane 271G is clear of 5 on charlie 3 going to Mercury Air Center."
C: "271G, right on charlie, taxi to the ramp."
(read back, including any hold short instructions)
Outbound
1. Clearance (get the ATIS first). I'm just going to give examples, 'cuz I gotta run.
P: "Fort Wayne Clearance, Skylane 271G is VFR westbound at four thousand five hundred."
C: "Skylane 271G, maintain VFR at or below three thousand, departure frequency 127.2, squawk 0432."
P: "Maintain VFR at or below 3,000, departure on 127.2, squawk 0432, 271G."
C: "Skylane 271G, readback correct, advise ground when ready to taxi."
2. Ground
P: "Fort Wayne Ground, Skylane 271G is at Mercury Air Center with India, ready to taxi."
C: "271G, taxi to runway 5 via Charlie, hold short of runway 9."
P: "Taxi to 5 via Charlie, hold short of 9, 271G."
(decided to throw that in as an additional example... Hold short of runway 9 in this case until Ground says...)
C: "271G, cleared to cross runway 9."
P: "Cleared across runway 9, 271G." (at this point you can resume taxiing the rest of the way.)
3. Tower
From the hold short line (no need to ask Ground for a frequency change, this one is assumed):
P: "Fort Wayne Tower, Skylane 271G holding short of runway 5, ready for takeoff."
C: "Skylane 271G, hold short for landing traffic." (another twist for ya.)
P: "Hold short, 271G."
C (after landing traffic passes): "Skylane 271G, runway 5, position and hold." (Note that supposedly P&H clearances went away at some places, but they're still in use at MSN, and may be at FWA as well.)
P: "Position and hold runway 5, 271G."
C (after preceding traffic has cleared the runway): "Skylane 271G, fly heading 360, runway 5, cleared for takeoff." (You may or may not get a heading to fly, or it may be runway heading.)
P: "Fly 360, cleared for takeoff runway 5, 271G."
Takeoff roll goes here. Shortly after takeoff, usually around 6-800 AGL, you'll get
C: "Skylane 271G, contact departure."
P: "Contact departure, 271G."
4. Departure
You got this frequency when you called clearance delivery. It's a very good idea to have this in a standby frequency if you have flip-flop radios, or the second radio if you have two non-flip-flops. Tuning radios just after taking off is not a good idea. Be sure before you take off that you've rehearsed this.
P: "Fort Wayne Departure, Skylane 271G, climbing through one thousand five hundred." (You may want to add "360 assigned" so that they know you're on an assigned heading, if you are.)
C: "Skylane 271G, radar contact, turn left on course."
P: "On course, 271G." (On course also implies that a climb to your cruise altitude is OK, and some controllers will add "climb to four thousand five hundred approved" to make that clear.)
Some time later:
C: "Skylane 271G, you're leaving my airspace. Radar services terminated, squawk VFR, frequency change approved."
P: "Squawk VFR, 271G."
And at that point you can go on your merry way.
Some things that may make this easier for you:
1. Do some armchair flying with the above.
2. Have a CFI or a pilot with lots of experience in class C play controller and give you some different scenarios (vectors for sequence or traffic, traffic calls, assign different approaches for you to visualize, etc.)
3. Listen to a live ATC feed on the net. You can try liveatc.net but it looks like most if not all of those are class B except Newark which I think is D.
Jason, are there any Class C's on liveatc.net?
Have fun, and let us know how it goes!