Seven four seven. A version number like that only comes round once, so first, a nod to her: the Queen of the Skies. This one is all about the radio.
Two instructions in one call
Say it the way controllers do: "taxi to holding point runway two four left via Alfa, hold short of runway two four right", or "cross runway two four right, taxi to stand two one one". The crew reads the whole call back once, and each instruction keeps its own runway. A crossing given in the taxi clearance is used when the aircraft gets there, so it crosses without stopping to ask.
Conditional clearances
"Behind the landing A320, runway two four left, line up and wait behind." The crew reads it back, waits for that aircraft to go by, then lines up. Crossings work the same way. Name the traffic by its callsign or by its type, and the readback tells you which aircraft the crew is waiting for.
More of the phraseology
- Hold short of a taxiway. "Hold short of Bravo" stops the aircraft short of Bravo until you say continue taxi.
- Vacate via. "Vacate via Kilo", on final or during the landing roll. If the aircraft cannot slow down in time for it, the crew says so and keeps its own exit.
- Pushback approved, facing west, or tail east. Each stand has one way out, and the crew tells you if yours ends the other way.
- Cleared for immediate takeoff, a holding point or an intersection by name, and position and hold for those who learned it that way.
- Cleared to cross, follow, readback correct, affirm and correction all do what they should.
- A runway you cross answers to either end: runway zero six left and runway two four right are the same strip.
Answers, not "say again"
Roger and stand by are answered with silence, as on a real frequency. Say again gets the crew's last call, word for word. Report ready gets a wilco, and expect runway, a frequency change and the QNH are read back. A crew no longer asks for a taxi it has just been given.
The radio manual
Everything you can say to the aircraft, what they do with it and what they say back, is now in one place. Read it at airsideatc.com/manual or download it as a PDF.
Smaller things
- A crossing behind a landing aircraft's roll is no longer counted as a runway incursion.
- Airside now tells us when a shift starts and ends, so we can see which versions are in use. The privacy policy says what that covers.
- Since the last note: light aircraft answer to their registration and to its short form, a helipad next to your stand no longer hides the airport, and the desk tells you what to do when the simulator will not hand over the camera.
What comes next
We are working on an optional AI model for the frequency. It will be a separate download, and whether you take it will always be your choice.