Reviews for Say Again, Please Guide to Radio Communications

The average rating for Say Again, Please Guide to Radio Communications based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-06-15 00:00:00 Carole Robbins As a student pilot, I can attest to how overwhelming it can be to communicate over the radio. I fly out of a towered airport, so on top of completing my checklist, getting information from ATIS, considering where I will be flying to, trying to remember to keep my right hand on the throttle at all times, I also have to think about how to communicate with ground and tower, repeat back what they say, and then execute what they've approved for me to do. I'm sure it will all become second nature with practice, but the "with practice" part is crucial. Say Again, Please covers the types of radio communication required in different types of airspace. I found the book to be of limited usefulness. The book does not cover full sample communications for different procedures in different airspaces (notably: D, C, and B, where you really need to talk to people to fly around in VFR). There are snippets of things that you might say to tower or ground, with or without responses. Having more sample conversations would be *really useful* for common things like requesting departure from ground, or requesting a takeoff from tower. The book is also really confusing when it comes to class E airspace. It would have been nice if the author said, in big bold text, that VFR flight does not require radio contact in E airspace. Instead, the author spends a ton of time talking about flight following. That's nice, but it made me scratch my head, because I fly in class E frequently (as do most VFR pilots) and only communicate with somebody when I'm a few miles out from class D and want to notify the tower to expect me. It's nice to know that communications are possible, but without caveats, that information was otherwise overwhelming. Another thing that the author mentions is how you start communications by stating whom/who first (with whom you are speaking, who you are), but after you've been addressed by tower/ground/wherever, then you say your deal and put your N number at the end of your communication. He then provides a lot of sample communications, after contact with tower/ground, with the N number at the beginning of the communication. I'm sure this guy knows what he's doing considering he's been a pilot for longer than I've been alive, but without rationale this just served to further confuse me. Otherwise, this book makes a pretty decent reference. I can't say that it has helped to improve my radio communication, but it does help to reinforce the importance of reading charts, the AIM, NOTAMS, the A/FD, listening to liveatc.net, etc. I would not recommend this book to a very beginner student pilot (including myself!), but perhaps to those ready for cross-country flights and beyond in skill level.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-09-30 00:00:00 Stephen Dupuy Really good. Needs minor updates. Keeps referring to the Chart Supplement as the Airport/ Facility Directory. A little annoying that they couldn't make such a simple change. Otherwise the book is excellent. It's really clear and has great examples and references. I also fly in the NW, like the author, so having first hand experience of some of the places and examples he talks about is nice too.