Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers Shift To Text Messaging

Communication via radio protocol seems unnecessarily slow and clumsy, so I’m surprised they didn’t adopt something like this earlier. The new system, Data Comm, will basically allow instant messaging between controllers and pilots, who will no longer have to articulate every letter.

…the nation's air traffic system is gradually shifting to text messages for a majority of flying instructions. That's a big advantage, say government and industry officials, because up until now longer and more complicated instructions like a route change for pilots of planes waiting to take off are communicated verbally, with each word laboriously spelled out in the radio alphabet. For example, HARD becomes "Hotel Alfa Romeo Delta." And it is hard to get it right. Pilots have to write down the directions as the controller reads them—then they read them back, also spelling out each word. If there is a mistake, the controller reads the directions back to the pilot again the same way, and so on.

For messages that have big safety implications, maybe taking it slow and easy wasn't such a bad thing.

Spelling stuff out is rarely the issue. The biggest problems I run in to is bad radios or hard to understand accents. Also typing stuff out constantly seems more laborious and clumsy than talking. I would hope controllers would still maintain radio communications to pass along safety and traffic advisories or actual control instructions that don't have the luxury of not being acknowledged immediately.

So, no texting while flying (for the pilots) will be a thing here soon enough when the time is right.

Sounds great, until auto-correct sends you the wrong coordinates.

It's about time.

Megalith said:

Communication via radio protocol seems unnecessarily slow and clumsy, so I’m surprised they didn’t adopt something like this earlier. The new system, Data Comm, will basically allow instant messaging between controllers and pilots, who will no longer have to articulate every letter.

…the nation's air traffic system is gradually shifting to text messages for a majority of flying instructions. That's a big advantage, say government and industry officials, because up until now longer and more complicated instructions like a route change for pilots of planes waiting to take off are communicated verbally, with each word laboriously spelled out in the radio alphabet. For example, HARD becomes "Hotel Alfa Romeo Delta." And it is hard to get it right. Pilots have to write down the directions as the controller reads them—then they read them back, also spelling out each word. If there is a mistake, the controller reads the directions back to the pilot again the same way, and so on.

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F**k text messages, now they can send EMOJIS!!!

This is Delta 286 Heavy LOL

Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Gamma Iota Jeep Kilo Mike November October Papa Romeo Serria Tango Unicode Xray Yellow Zulu, then there are the substitutions when someone does not not the military version that write brothers came up with the mustangs. Even the article messed up alpha or one from the by spelling it like the car company... Alpha Bet is two sets an Alpha Set and a Beta Set meaning Upper case and lower case.

The hardest thing with the phonetic alphabet is it takes so long to say. If you have to tell you go forward a hundred feet then turn left at the fork then center yourself because the tower looking the airframe sees they are not lined up on the flight line runway... that may take ten minutes to say if they see it on a screen they can look at it and if they don't understand call the tower... nothing says a pilot who is uncertain can not call the tower... that is something you are supposed to do. Meaning when you take the exam before you get your pilots licesen one of the down check questions is if a pilot is uncertain, should he waste the tower's time? The answer is yes, waste the time and possible cause a crash, no, you should know what you are doing if planning on flying, and two other sorta correct answers. The correct answer is if you are uncertain you always call the tower, you may have to wait while they try to explain or they may simply deny you permission to take off or land at their airport but if you are uncertain you required by federal law to ask for help or clarification of anything that might cause a crash.

Fun stuff. Military flight lines are simpler in some ways when you are flying a t-38 you can see gouges in the run ways where people did not know what they were doing... and then you have to watch them fix the plane. Every one you break, that can not be fixed costs about thirty thousand dollars to replace, which come out of the pilots future pay. Or the USAF pays the rest of the cost and you only end up covering the cost of one... They fill the gouges with epoxy if they are off to the sides so no fod is created but those run ways are only for teaching.

B00nie said:

This is Delta 286 Heavy LOL

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