Adlerdriver

Personally, I'd probably be one of those who just waited for the level off and report that - keep it simple. If I'm climbing or descending, pick easy numbers on the way by.

I don't make the rules, I just try to follow them. Rolleyes and discuss saving "bandwidth" if you want. Clarifying bad radio calls or making ATC give someone remedial comm training is going to goober up the radios more than taking the time to make a proper transmission the first time.

Maybe some of this stuff can slide with XYZ center in the US. It doesn't work internationally. Chinese ATC isn't going to understand "for" or "to" in the wrong place and 3-5-"Oh", "Sixteen" or "request lower" isn't going to compute. Maybe if guys developed better habits here, some of them wouldn't embarrass themselves, their company and US pilots in general with every radio call when they decide to fly international.

Somehow most other country's pilots manage to get it right.

galaxy flyer

Adler,

. That!

GF

AAhole

Hey guys, Married to an ATC, so hope this helps.

ATC needs to verify Mode C from facility to facility. So if you go from ATL approach to ATL center, you have to say "altitude leaving, altitude assigned".

If you go from ATL center to ATL center, the last ZTL controller has already verified Mode C, so phraseology is "climbing/descending FLxxx".

The trick is, you have to be vigilant if your controllers are in different buildings. Some controllers may just be having a bad day... Pilots have them too! We've all been there....

Scoop

Speaking of solving radio congestion in ATL - how about a standard point on the taxiway to switch from ground to tower. Works at a lot of other airports, but not ATL. Come to think of it just like RNAV arrivals and departures.

Scoop

swamp

I asked a neighbor who is an ATL center controller about the phraseology of “Leveling”. His text:

Yea, leveling is not an “acceptable” term for altitude reporting. Some controllers dont really care bc if you’re close enough then its pretty obvious, but I got written up once bc I didn’t question a “leveling” report that was about 1000ft from the actual assigned altitude, it was also within Atlanta center, but the guys mode-C was off by like 400ft and he had an RA with another aircraft. So youre never wrong when saying the exact altitude but you technically are always wrong by says “leveling” bc thats nowhere in the book.

tomgoodman

My cousin Boudreaux says “fixin’ ta level”. That expresses his intent without falsely claiming proximity to the assigned altitude.