Communications (VFR and IFR)
Communications tests standard radiotelephony for VFR and IFR flight, readback requirements, distress and urgency procedures, and the correct use of radio, transponder and datalink in UAE airspace.
Standard words and phraseology
- ROGER means received; WILCO means will comply; AFFIRM, NEGATIVE, STANDBY, DISREGARD, SAY AGAIN, CORRECTION and I SAY AGAIN have precise meanings and should not be improvised.
- Use ICAO phonetics for letters and individual digits. Altitudes are given in full, for example one thousand five hundred feet; flight levels are stated as flight level three five zero.
- Take-off is used only in the take-off clearance; at other times say departure. VHF is line-of-sight, so range depends on altitude.
Readback
- Read back route clearances, altitudes and flight levels, headings, speeds, frequencies, SSR codes and the runway in use. A wrong or missing readback is a communication error, not an ATC error.
Emergencies and failure
- MAYDAY three times for distress, PAN PAN three times for urgency; the emergency frequency is 121.5.
- Transponder: 7700 distress, 7600 radio failure, 7500 unlawful interference.
- Lost communications: continue according to the flight plan, squawk 7600, transmit blind, and land at a suitable aerodrome; try to re-establish contact on other frequencies or through another station.
Worked example
Clearance: UAE123, climb flight level 290, squawk four five two one. Correct readback: climb flight level two nine zero, squawk four five two one, UAE123. Saying two nine thousand is wrong because FL290 is a flight level, and omitting the squawk is an incomplete readback. If ATC then says correction, maintain flight level two eight zero, the readback must repeat the corrected level in full.
Traps
- Omitting the squawk or frequency from a readback.
- Using take-off outside the take-off clearance.
- Confusing 7600 with 7700, or transmitting a distress call on the wrong frequency.