Lee started the day with a recap of the appropriate parts of CAP 413 and CAP 452 (ROCC). He commenced with the abbreviations (phonetic alphabet, numbers etc) and some definitions and when to use them; such as “Confirm” to request verification of Clearances, instructions, actions and information. We continued to run through the basics of the Readability Scale, Transmitting Technique and Time.
After a break, we went on to Aeronautical station callsigns and the type of service provided by each e.g. Tower means they provide an ATC service, Radio an AGCS… Now it was time for some theory, luckily for me I had covered this before when doing an amateur radio exam, this is not as bad as it may sound to some! VHF Propagation and interference, VHF under normal atmospheric conditions travels in a line of sight. To calculate it you use the following formula D = 1.23 √h where D is the distance in Nautical Miles, h is the height in feet above the ground. So for 3,000ft, the transmission will travel 67.3 nm.
Next, we covered QFE, QNH and QNE followed by Aircraft call sign abbreviations, when and how to abbreviate them, category of messages and their priorities, Unit of measurement, emergencies and how to handle them as an AGCS station, the role of D&D and their location.
After all of the above we moved on to RT, when and what an AGCS can say and many examples were given, we covered relaying clearances, aircraft and vehicle messages and examples of handling an emergency call on frequency.
Lee provided lunch which put to shame the many courses I have been on with other much larger companies.
Hello, I’m a Flexwing pilot (NPPL(A) & FRTOL) with 800 hours. Would you please let me know when I can attend your next available ROCC course.