Communications
CTAF/UNICOM
Airports (in the United States) lacking a tower are sometimes served by a UNICOM radio. The UNICOM frequency gives pilots a common channel to communicate their intentions to other pilots in the vicinity of an uncontrolled airport.
It is generally required that pilots of aircraft having radio equipment permitting two-way communications should contact the Airport UNICOM to obtain advisory information and announce their intentions when within ten (10) miles of the Airport. Pilots are also encouraged to maintain a listening watch on the frequency when operating within a ten mile radius of the Airport. All departing aircraft shall announce on the UNICOM their intention and runway to be used for departure.
On initial contact, pilots report altitude, aircraft type and identification, and location relative to the airport and state their intention, to land or overfly.
Pilots give a status report on downwind, base and final approach.
FlightGear UNICOM
FlightGear does not fully implement UNICOM entirely. UNICOM works best in multiplayer, where you actually have listeners.
- To access UNICOM, press the dash key (-) to enter the radio chat menu. Press the number that corresponds to '[XXX TRAFFIC]'
(where 'XXX' corresponds to the airport you are closest), then choose your message.
Air Traffic Control
Flightgear has a basic ATC system in place. There are two kinds of ATC in FlightGear:
- Multiplayer: A person chooses to fly an ATC-aircraft in multiplayer. He/She can be many types of control. Covered further in Air traffic control and Howto: Be a controller.
- AI Control/AI Traffic: By default, AI Traffic exists in Multiplayer and Local sessions. More often than not, you can see AI Traffic and AI Tower communicate with each other in colourful messages.
To communicate with ATC, you can press the dash key: (-). It will bring up a menu. Use the number keys (not the Number Pad!) to select your message.
In multiplayer, you can also press the underscore character (_/Shift+-) to type your own message. You can also chat with others, too!
Other helpful ATC links:
ATIS
The Automatic Terminal Information Service is broadcasted from most airports. Look up the ATIS frequency of an airport and set it to COM1. You will hear a faint broadcast about active runways, conditions, and airport info. Sometimes, in a multiplayer session with a person as ATC, he/she will send out an ATIS on Multiplayer Chat.
Transponder
Wikipedia: Transponder
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