ATC radio calls, phase by phase

Every call below is one PilotSpeak lets you practice out loud. Guides with the exact words, the readback and the FAA paragraph behind them are linked; the rest are on the way.

New to the radio? Start with How to Talk to ATC: the four parts of every call, how to say numbers and what to read back.

On the Ground

• VFR Out of the Charlie
• Copying a Full IFR Clearance
• How to Call Ground for Taxi
• Asking for Progressive Taxi
• How to Read Back a Hold Short Instruction
• Crossing an Active Runway
• Off the Runway and Parked

Getting Airborne

• Line Up and Wait
• Cleared for Takeoff, Closed Traffic
• Leaving the Pattern on Departure
• Checking In With Departure
• How to Request Flight Following

Enroute

• Opening a VFR Flight Plan
• Asking for a New Altitude
• Handed Off to the Next Sector
• In Sight, or Negative Contact
• Cutting Through the Charlie
• Passing Along a PIREP
• Changing Where This Flight Ends
• Letting Flight Following Go

Coming Back In

• How to Make the Initial Call to Tower
• Number Two, Follow the Traffic
• Traffic Pattern Radio Calls with a Tower
• Following Something Heavy
• Land and Hold Short
• Taking It Around

Nobody in the Tower

• Self-Announce on the Way Out
• CTAF Radio Calls at a Non-Towered Airport
• Sorting Out a Straight-In
• Clear of the Runway on CTAF

In the Clouds

• Clearance With a Void Time
• Asking for a Pop-Up
• Copying a Hold
• Cleared for the Approach
• Practice Approaches Under the Hood
• Tower, Inbound on the Approach
• Going Missed
• Cancelling IFR in the Air
• Closing IFR on the Ground

When It Goes Wrong

• Lost Communications: What to Do and Say
• Declaring Minimum Fuel
• Medical Priority to the Nearest Field
• VFR Into the Clouds
• Engine Out, Mayday