Got Mic Fright?

[Laurie]

I am suggesting a little contest like ones that have been posted here before. The prize is a Comm 1 IFR radio simulator software package complete with the headset. This is brand new, never opened. I received it free from Comm 1 as a promo when I received my Master CFI Designation a couple years back, and have never used it. It seems to be a very helpful tool and I would like to see it be used by someone who could benefit from it. It certainly isn't doing anything collecting dust in my office and I am not moving it again.

Please respond here or by PM if you would like to have this fine aviation product. The stipulation is that when you are done with it, you pass it along to someone else who could use it until the information provided by it is no longer current or helpful.

Just tell me why you, or even someone you know, would like to have it. I'll even pay for the shipping.

Deadline: March 30

Laurie

 

[KennyFlys]

I'm only frightened of the possible response should I accidently call a female controller "Sir." I did this once. It was a lesson well-learned!

I like your idea here, though!

 

[jesse]

I'm only frightened of the possible response should I accidently call a female controller "Sir." I did this once. It was a lesson well-learned!

I like your idea here, though!

I called a female controller something MUCH worse than Sir. She was a bit on the grumpy side chewing pilots out and I didn't realize my mic was stuck. My heart fell when my eyes saw the transmit light on considering how I knew what I had just said 20 seconds before that to my passenger.

 

[tonycondon]

I'm only frightened of the possible response should I accidently call a female controller "Sir." I did this once. It was a lesson well-learned!

I like your idea here, though!

no worries, i heard a controller call a female pilot Sir one time, now that was funny!

Laurie - excellent idea and generous offer. Also - Congrats on Master CFI, thats a major accomplishment.

 

[deafsound]

I'm only frightened of the possible response should I accidently call a female controller "Sir." I did this once. It was a lesson well-learned!

I like your idea here, though!

What might be worse is the male controller I called ma'am.
oops

 

[AdamZ]

Always looking to improve any skill including Radio.

 

[ausrere]

I'm only frightened of the possible response should I accidently call a female controller "Sir." I did this once. It was a lesson well-learned!

I like your idea here, though!

If I had a dollar for every time I've been called "sir" when I was in uniform, I could have bought the Comm 1 package many times over. And I don't think I LOOK like a sir either. It was usually followed by "Uh... oops, sorry. Please don't take me to jail now."

I don't think I have mic fright, but my biggest obstacle is remembering to use "aviation speak" when in a plane, and not "police speak". I've had to repeat a request more than once when in a plane and I accidentally say "Received" to acknowledge something the controller said, instead of repeating it back. They think I'm saying "Repeat". "Received" was the preferred way to acknowledge the dispatcher since we moved away from 10 codes. And the two different phonetic alphabets still screw me up.

 

[Everskyward]

i heard a controller call a female pilot Sir one time, now that was funny!

Just today a female controller called me "sir" and when I responded she apologized all over herself!

 

[KennyFlys]

If I had a dollar for every time I've been called "sir" when I was in uniform, I could have bought the Comm 1 package many times over. And I don't think I LOOK like a sir either. It was usually followed by "Uh... oops, sorry. Please don't take me to jail now."

Lisa, just to clarify... that's NOT you in your avatar, right?

don't think I have mic fright, but my biggest obstacle is remembering to use "aviation speak" when in a plane, and not "police speak". I've had to repeat a request more than once when in a plane and I accidentally say "Received" to acknowledge something the controller said, instead of repeating it back. They think I'm saying "Repeat". "Received" was the preferred way to acknowledge the dispatcher since we moved away from 10 codes. And the two different phonetic alphabets still screw me up.

As a courier, I tend to repeat numbers straight forward just as when I'm flying. When I call in, I simply say my driver number... "Four-One" which is really short for 741. If he gives me an address I'll ask for in advance of waiting for Nextel to do what it's paid for, I'll just repeat the street number and suite number as if I'm repeating a heading and altitude. Although, sometime when he gives me a suite number I should repeat it back as, "Flight Level..."

I'm in the position to call in problem drivers a couple times a month or so. When I give the police operator the tag number, I'll use aviation phonetics. Once, I was calling out "Kilo" and she couldn't get it. "It's an alphabet letter, not a bag of dope!"

 

[ausrere]

Lisa, just to clarify... that's NOT you in your avatar, right?

lol. No, but I had one just like him when I was in uniform...and trust me, they called HIM sir too!

I'm in the position to call in problem drivers a couple times a month or so. When I give the police operator the tag number, I'll use aviation phonetics. Once, I was calling out "Kilo" and she couldn't get it. "It's an alphabet letter, not a bag of dope!"

I can imagine it would confuse her. On the flip side of that, I've called in drunks when off duty in my POV and not bothered to ID myself as an officer. When I get to reading off the LP#, i.e "Adam, Boy, Charles, 1, 2, 3", I usually get the response, "What department do you work for?" I guess your average citizen doesn't speak in the phonetic alphabet, especially the LE one.

And.. sorry to high jack your tread Laurie ... I'm a long way from IFR, so I couldn't really justify throwing my name in the hat. But it's cool that you're doing this. Hopefully, when some day I get to that point, who ever gets it will be ready to pass it on.

 

[Laurie]

Keep the PM's coming! I am really wanting to get this simulator in the mail....

No problem with the hijack either. When a controller calls me sir, and it happens frequently, I just respond with a 'yes ma'am'. They usually don't do it again.

 

[Ghery]

"Received" was the preferred way to acknowledge the dispatcher since we moved away from 10 codes.

Got tired of being mistaken for CBers?



Ducks and runs....

 

[ausrere]

Got tired of being mistaken for CBers?



Ducks and runs....

10-4 Good Buddy!

But seriously, we got tired of not being able to communicate with neighboring cities because everyone used different ones. And FEMA has recommended clear plain language radio communications instead of proprietary codes for LE/EMS/FIRE services since 9-11. If I'm not mistaken, agencies will forfeit eligibility for some federal funding if they don't go to plain language radio procedures by the end of this year, or next...I forget when. We were doing it as far back as 1989 though.

 

[ScottM]

10-4 Good Buddy!

But seriously, we got tired of not being able to communicate with neighboring cities because everyone used different ones. And FEMA has recommended clear plain language radio communications instead of proprietary codes for LE/EMS/FIRE services since 9-11. If I'm not mistaken, agencies will forfeit eligibility for some federal funding if they don't go to plain language radio procedures by the end of this year, or next...I forget when. We were doing it as far back as 1989 though.

When I took all those ICS course last year they were talking about exactly that. I am glad to see it is really getting implemented as it seemed that police and fire were the last two to not got to plane language and ever other department would have its own 10-codes.

Wasn't there a movie were two cops we talking and they were saying things like "what do you call a 10-50 in your town? we call that a 10-31. Oh that a 10-21 in our town" It was an in joke.

 

[ausrere]

Wasn't there a movie were two cops we talking and they were saying things like "what do you call a 10-50 in your town? we call that a 10-31. Oh that a 10-21 in our town" It was an in joke.

I don't know the movie, but that's just about the way it went sometimes. I hated signal codes and 10 codes. There were just too many to keep up with. In one city in the DFW area, a Signal 1 was a major accident, in another area agency, a Signal 1 was a barking dog call.. big difference in how you respond to those. One would call up the other and ask for assistance on a Signal 1, and not get the response they were expecting!

 

[SkyHog]

While certainly not as important as police work, the techs at Comcast certainly had a good reason to use 10-codes in some instances.

When a tech was with a customer, and they received a radio call, their answer was always "Go ahead, 10-77." Which meant I'm with a customer.

The hijinks they played on each other with the radios was amazingly funny, but when you heard 10-77, you were as professional as can be.

 

[ausrere]

While certainly not as important as police work, the techs at Comcast certainly had a good reason to use 10-codes in some instances.

When a tech was with a customer, and they received a radio call, their answer was always "Go ahead, 10-77." Which meant I'm with a customer.

The hijinks they played on each other with the radios was amazingly funny, but when you heard 10-77, you were as professional as can be.

I should clarify.. there are still a few situations where codes are used. Just like you describe. PD's have a code that asks if the officer is clear to recieve information, which basically means is the bad guy/gal standing next to you, because I'm about to tell you he/she is armed/wanted/mental etc. (Some just ask if you are clear to receive...which gives you a clue that they want to make sure your alone when you hear this) They also use response codes..like Code 3, which means all emergency equipment (lights, sirens, etc) although I think it's still used because "Responding with all my lights and sirens activated" takes to dang much air time..besides, Code 3 is pretty universal.

Of course a huge portion of what we used to do over the radio is now done over computers in the cars.

 

[KennyFlys]

Of course a huge portion of what we used to do over the radio is now done over computers in the cars.

The same has plagued the courier industry. We still use voice along with text for pickup and delivery data. But, one company has told driver NOT to call dispatch. If they need to talk with dispatch, they text a "T" and then dispatch calls them back... usually ten minutes later. How's that for speed in providing customer service???

 

[flyingcheesehead]

10-4 Good Buddy!

This is the sign of someone who's seen a lot of CB comms on TV shows and movies, and hasn't actually been on a CB in years... I'm pretty sure Ghery's not a "good buddy," but as long as he doesn't know what it means either...

 

[gkainz]

This is the sign of someone who's seen a lot of CB comms on TV shows and movies, and hasn't actually been on a CB in years... I'm pretty sure Ghery's not a "good buddy," but as long as he doesn't know what it means either...

Well, that would be me, then... haven't been on a CB since license and call letters were required ... 'bout the same time that Sonny and Will (Claude Akins and Frank Converse) where "Movin' On"

KLA-1321 out...

 

[ausrere]

This is the sign of someone who's seen a lot of CB comms on TV shows and movies, and hasn't actually been on a CB in years... I'm pretty sure Ghery's not a "good buddy," but as long as he doesn't know what it means either...

Do they even still use CB Radios? I can remember as a kid listening to my Dad talk on one when we went on vacation..had a really cool running tourist guide like commentary from a trucker traveling through Colorado and Nevada one time in the late 70's. For two days he pointed out historical sights and geology to us as we traveled behind him. It made a long trip seem a little shorter. No portable DVD players and Games like they have now.

I did have one in one of my units for a while, and I'd listen to the truckers share "smokey" reports about me as I sat running radar. I never actually used one though... the lingo always used to sound a little silly to me.

 

[drafttek]

We use CB's while four-wheeling. I've always had one in my Jeep. It comes in handy keeping everyone together.
"That Hummer is stuck again. Get a Jeep over here to pull him out."

 

[KennyFlys]

We use CB's while four-wheeling. I've always had one in my Jeep. It comes in handy keeping everyone together.
"That Hummer is stuck again. Get a Jeep over here to pull him out."

Don't you know Hummers should not be used for off-road... They should be used only for running idiot drivers off the road.

 

[ScottM]

Don't you know Hummers should not be used for off-road... They should be used only for running idiot drivers off the road.

I thought they were only good for soccer moms to run to the store for milk.

 

[p8cleared2land]

Ahem...Cessna20CT here...stutter...uh...I sent you a PM. Cough.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Do they even still use CB Radios?

Sure do.

I did have one in one of my units for a while, and I'd listen to the truckers share "smokey" reports about me as I sat running radar. I never actually used one though... the lingo always used to sound a little silly to me.

"Hey Eastbound skateboard, ya got it on? What'd ya leave behind?"

"Full-grown lookin' at ya back at the 92, coop's rollin' ya across, and ya got a brake check at the 66. Meat wagon just left though, might be cleaned up when ya get there."

"10-4, 'preciate that. All I seen back to the buckeye's a plain wrapper rollin' your front door at the 150."

 

[Ghery]

Sure do.



"Hey Eastbound skateboard, ya got it on? What'd ya leave behind?"

"Full-grown lookin' at ya back at the 92, coop's rollin' ya across, and ya got a brake check at the 66. Meat wagon just left though, might be cleaned up when ya get there."

"10-4, 'preciate that. All I seen back to the buckeye's a plain wrapper rollin' your front door at the 150."

Watched "Smokey and the Bandit" recently, have you?

As noted earlier, CB is still the radio of choice for offroading. No licence required and the radios are cheap (comparatively). Don't have one mounted in my Jeep, just a dual band ham rig, but when I go off roading with a group I carry a handheld CB radio (and it's pushing 20 years old). It's adequate for the purpose.

And, "good buddy" has changed or morphed its meaning? Probably in a way that I don't want to know.

 

[Ghery]

Well, that would be me, then... haven't been on a CB since license and call letters were required ... 'bout the same time that Sonny and Will (Claude Akins and Frank Converse) where "Movin' On"

KLA-1321 out...

KAHN-6891 was mine. Oh, that was a loooong time ago.

 

[KennyFlys]

KAHN-6891 was mine. Oh, that was a loooong time ago.

KBD-8747 was under my dad's name so many years ago. I tried to retain it just for the namesake but failed to do so.

 

[Tristar]

I have the Com1 sim. I'm not sure its the greatest for people who have been in the aviation industry long but its awesome for beginniers. Possibly benificial to CFIs who are trying to teach thier students or students trying to correct thier CFIs? Hehe If I wasn't afraid it'd get stollen, I'd bring a lot of my learning "toys" to the flight center, especialy when I become a CFI.

 

[AdamZ]

Lord knows why I remember mine from the 1970s KALT-3274

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Watched "Smokey and the Bandit" recently, have you?

No, I just hear that stuff every day. And, BTW, last thing I saw was a full-grown lookin' at you 10 miles past the cash box. Coops are closed too.

And, "good buddy" has changed or morphed its meaning? Probably in a way that I don't want to know.

Yep.

 

[Laurie]

Ok, the deadline is officially in 2 hours, but I'm calling the contest over. Doug Fortier, aka drafttek will be receiving the software. It was a tough decision, so much so that I wanted to go out and buy a few more and send them to everyone! I hated choosing only one, so I enlisted the help of a couple of anonymous judges who voted unanimously for Doug's entry. He's currently working on the IFR, flight and ground, so is the most suited candidate.

Thanks everyone for your entries, I wish I could send you all one!

 

[KennyFlys]

Boooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!


Just kidding... I know it had to be a tough call. Congratulations to the Doug... Best wishes on completion and have fun!

 

[drafttek]

This was so unexpected. First I'd like to thank the Academy...

But really, thanks Laurie. This will be a real help. And I'll be sure to pass it on, as that recipient will also be required to pass it on. Maybe every user could sign the inside cover. See how far it goes. I knew my ineptitude would pay off some day!

 

[Laurie]

I'm glad it'll get some use! It shipped today priority mail so you should have it early next week. Have fun with it!

 

[AdamZ]

Laurie the softwear will not work for Doug. He Lives in Tauton Mass. Who the heck but a Bahstan Approach Controllah wood undahsaand him. I mean whats he gonna say ? Bahstan Approach this is Pipah N1234G its wicked bummpy up heah at 4000 if we could get Highya it would be wicked awesome.

 

[p8cleared2land]

Yeah. What Adam said.

Congrats, draftek!

 

[ScottM]

I have the Com1 sim. I'm not sure its the greatest for people who have been in the aviation industry long but its awesome for beginniers. Possibly benificial to CFIs who are trying to teach thier students or students trying to correct thier CFIs? Hehe If I wasn't afraid it'd get stollen, I'd bring a lot of my learning "toys" to the flight center, especialy when I become a CFI.

I agree. I never really suffered from mic fright, it was more that I did not know what to say. Commm1 was a great way of figuring all that out.

 

[drafttek]

I mean whats he gonna say ? Bahstan Approach this is Pipah N1234G its wicked bummpy up heah at 4000 if we could get Highya it would be wicked awesome.

Oh, that's wicked pis-sah. Ya guy, you must'a done some time in Bahstin then. And just for the reckid, nobody heah sounds like the Kennedys. Their accent is the result of inbreeding.