Worried about talking on the radio

[David MacRay]

Bill probably does’t need to listen to more controllers, he probably just needs to fly more often.

I’m trying to say, we definitely would be fine on the radio flying at least once a week. Unless you are NORDO or somewhere without any ATC or traffic.

I have never been particularly worried about having a “pilot voice”, I simply want to be clear and communicate my intentions.

Maybe if I flew once a week, other parts of my flying would get better too.

[Colonel]

How you get good is to fly a couple times a day, every day until you have 1000TT in a short period of time (eg 1.5 years).
A pilot that gets 1000 hours in ten years is not going to be as good as if he had done it in a compressed time period. Sorry,
that's the way your brain works. Don't shit on me for your limitations.

Remember what Shiny said though. Priorities. Keeping it on the centerline during a gusty crosswind landing is 10000x more important than radio drawl.

I’ve never given a crap about how I sound on the radio and ATC always treats me very well. Generally they let us get away with murder. Ottawa Tower had no problem with formation special VFR and wild “gear checks”. ABQ Tower had no problem with a vertical formation descent after clearing the front range. I don’t even have to ask for an early turn any more at my home airport - Tower always issues it with the takeoff clearance without me asking.

[Squaretail]

I’m trying to say, we definitely would be fine on the radio flying at least once a week.

What I’m saying is that you’re probably fine already and shouldn’t worry about it. I mean there is a lot of guys who make me cringe with how much they blab, but only say one in a thousand people need to be really slapped upside the head to correct what they are doing. I mean there was one German sounding lady on frequency once who insisted on making a position report every two minutes until it sparked the annoyance of everyone within transmission distance to try to correct her, but of course because she was essentially hot-mike jamming the frequency none of the critique got through. Actually make that one in a hundred people. It’s gotten pretty bad out there. I will note that these people ain’t bothered at all by how bad they are, so why should reasonable people be worried?

[Colonel]

that these people ain’t bothered at all by how bad they are

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability

the bottom quartile of performers tend to see themselves as being part of the top two quartiles

poor performers have not yet acquired the ability to distinguish between good and bad performances.
They tend to overrate themselves because they do not see the qualitative difference between their performances and the performances of others.
This has also been termed the "dual-burden account" since the lack of skill is paired with ignorance

I remember one year, the Geneseo NY airshow people chose a random freq for air boss. But
what they didn't know, is that once you climbed up a bit, on that freq you could hear unlimited
wankers in Toronto making endless and useless radio calls. Couldn't hear them on the ground,
but everyone that flew in the airshow got to hear the Toronto wankers bleat endlessly.

[David MacRay]

Fair enough I believe there are two separate and different things being discussed here.

1. People fixated on drawls, pilots voice, what have you and forgetting to fly the plane they’re riding in.

2. Bill Burr and I saying we don’t enjoy making errors or omissions on radio calls after not flying for a while.

I understand it’s not a big deal, apart from the emotional damage I do to the young instructors.

Press the talky button,
“Calgary terminal, this is Piper Warrior Gulf Victor Delta Hotel, climbing to five thousand.” Release button.

Instant regret as I realize, I forgot to say where I was.

Meanwhile the babysitter is getting ready to lecture me and terminal asks, “Victor Delta Hotel, what’s your position?”

Press talky button,
“Sorry, we’re north east of Springbank about 3 miles, going to Olds Didsbury.”

It didn’t matter that I sounded awesome and my voice was spectacular like it is every time. That’s a given.

I even said less, you guys like that right?

Of course I want to maintain my heading and altitude, then set up a nice approach later. But I’m still embarrassed for a moment when I botch a simple radio call.

It’s like dropping a steak and the dog grabs it. Life goes on, it’s just annoying.

[Colonel]

Don't get it. People cut me off in traffic and try to kill me on my motorcycle every day, and they don't give a shit.

Why do pilots care about radio calls? I can think of 10,000 things more important.

[David MacRay]

Exactly. If several random pilots didn’t mess up radio calls, the controller may not have been distracted later and cut you off on your litre bike.

Efficient communication is best for everyone’s safety.

[Colonel]

Priorities.

Let’s say you’re flying along in an all glass 172 and you turn the master off. Glass panel blank, nordo. Can you then proceed to a suitable airport and land uneventfully?

Same scenario and you turn off the fuel to simulate and engine failure. Can you then fly to an airport and land?

You don’t need all that crap in the dash to fly a fixed gear single in good weather.

Priorities. And still, pilots think avionics are more important than anything else?

[David MacRay]

Good questions. Only one way to find out.

If the airport is not in gliding range may I turn the fuel back on for the second game?

[Colonel]

Pilots - other than weirdos like me - love huge avionics stacks.

I think they are useless for VFR and deadly for IFR in little airplanes.

Let me explain. We know you don’t need anything more than your phone to navigate VFR.

For IFR, GA pilots today are doomed to certain death if they can’t program all that crap, because they can’t hand fly a departure or an approach.

Without an autopilot, GA pilots are dead in cloud.

Would you like me to list recent accidents?