Verified answer

the Federal Aviation Administration

Pilot/Controller Glossary (P/CG)

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/ATpubs...

FAA ORDER

JO 7110.65S

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/ATpubs...

"Say Again, Please: Guide to Radio Communications" by Bob Gardner

http://www.asa2fly.com/Say-Again-Please-Guide-to-R...

Atc Phraseology

If you're on the ATC side of things, you'd be required to know the 7110.65 - that's essentially the controllers "bible". It contains most of the phraseology controllers use. For any pilots, that would be a very useful reference to go through. It's where much of that info in all your other "aviation" books comes from.

Gives rules about everything... like when a controller can use Position & Hold, clear an aircraft to land, and what to say in those and many other situations. It's dry, but a great book!

"Say Again, Please" by Bob Gardner is a superlative guide to ATC communications, written for the average private pilot.

The official guide for air traffic controllers in the U.S. is FAA order 7710.65S, which you can obtain directly from the FAA Web site. It dictates procedures and phraseology for air traffic controllers, but does not regulate pilots. Pilots can pretty much use whatever phraseology they wish, legally, but they are strongly encouraged to stick to the same standard phraseology as that used by ATC. In some countries, pilots are required by law to stick to the same standard.

If you want to practice in a risk-free environment, buy a copy of Flight Simulator, join the free online simulation network VATSIM or IVAO, and use that for practice. Both networks let you communicate by voice with "controllers" who follow actual real-world procedures (and some of them are real-world controllers as well). While the simulation of the aircraft obviously is limited by the capability of a desktop simulator, the simulation of the radio communications is virtually identical to real life—enough so that it can function as an extremely useful training aid.

In the back of the Federal Aviation regulations/Airman Information manual is a complete glossary of ATC terms and communications. You can also go to the FAA website at www.faa.gov and download and search it.

After reading the AIM, the best way is to listen to ATC frequencies to pick up the order and terminology used.

Live ATC.net http://www.liveatc.net/feedindex.php allows you to select an airport, ATC function and listen to the radio traffic.

Those will work, so does plain English.

What Warbird said.

Who you are...

Where you are...

What you want...

The simpler you talk to them, the simpler they talk to you...