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ATC Jargon question


Bjartie

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"United 111 with Tango ready to go"... What does the "Tango" (or any other letter) mean? I can't find an answer online; hopefully real pilots know.

 

When ATC says the "with Tango" it is referring to the info on the ATIS (don't know if you ever listen to that). It's the weather info that is happening at your airport at that time. If you happen to be at an uncontrolled airport and trying to decide which runway you want for takeoff, you can do a shift+z to check on wind direction or listen to the ATIS broadcast.

 

Example: "With Alpha"

ATIS.JPG

Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer!  ✈️

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Just to expand a bit on what Mr. Zippy said -- the ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) is a recording of the "current" weather conditions at the field, runway in use, and other pertinent info, usually updated every hour, but also updated on unexpected events (T-storm, etc.), and is transmitted on the ATIS frequency for the field. It's very handy for pilots to get the current "information" before talking to ATC, whether on the ground, or in the air approaching the field.

 

"Information Tango" or "Tango is current" are a couple more phrases you might hear. The Tango is the phonetic alphabet version of T, and each successive recording uses the next phonetic letter with, obviously, Zulu changing to Alpha.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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I see lnuss beat me to it, but this maybe adds something so I'll post it.

Every weather report on the airport is accompanied by a Letter. Tango is T (Alpha,

Bravo, Charly, Delta, Echo, etcetera).

 

When an aircraft contacts the tower to come in for landing, they request landing

clearance and mention the letter of the weather report they have recieved. To

make sure it is not misunderstood, they do not say "with T", but instead say; "with

Tango".

 

Makes it more clear, especially since people from different countries would have

different pronounciations for letters. "A" for example sound very different when

said in german, french, or english.

'Alpha' can not be misunderstood.

 

By mentioning "with Tango" the tower will know they have the most recent

weather report. Or, if there was just recently a new report issued, they could

respond and say: "verify you have up to date report Sierra".

 

The tower will also know if there are things missing from the weather report that the pilot should know about. He could for example reply: "Be aware there is cloud forming one mile before threshold of runway 28. (The runway you are landing on.)

 

You won't get such specific replies in fsx with the default weather unfortunately.

The Lettering for the reports goes up the alphabet. So after report Tango, the

next one will be named report 'Uniform'. Then 'Victor' and so on.

 

il88pp

 

 

PS, Be aware that every ATIS weather report also contains the word 'Zulu'. This is seperate. It is part of the time stamp of that ATIS report. You will hear for example 2315Zulu. It means the weather report was generated at that time. That is info for the pilot and not reported back to tower.

It refers to Zulu time. (as opposed to local time.)

 

A new ATIS report is not generated every hour. The last one stays up untill a new report is generated but there are no times set for that.

They will try to generate a new report when the weather has significantly changed. But whether one is actually generated also depends on the weather station being manned, weather measurement equipment working or not, etc.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
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Add:

Lots of ATC Controller / Pilot chatter as well as "terminal information letters" cited here":

http://www.liveatc.net/feedindex.php?type=class-b

Often you'll hear terminal information letters cited at push back requests, tower and ground control or on approach channels.

Ron

 

Live ATC.JPG

RAM: Team T-Force 32GB CPU: RYZEN 7 3700X 8-Core 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Max Boost) Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 super C Drive: M.2 SSD 1.0tb CPU Air Cooler: DEEPCOOL GAMMAX GTE V2, PSU: Bronze 600W, Flight Stick: Thrustmaster T.16000M FCS, W10
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The last one stays up untill a new report is generated but there are no times set for that.

 

That explains why the ATIS at KYNL changes only just after sunset and sunrise...Only times the temp really changes much. Drops from 117°F to 97°. Cools off to a pleasant evening.

I AM being facetious, just so y'all know. It IS a miserable place, though.

 

Sorry, I lived there for almost 30 years, and I hated it for almost 30 years. From the day I crested the mountain road from San Diego and started down twords El Centro on my way to Yuma (new duty station), to the day I put it in the review of the U-Haul truck...

Pat☺

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again!

Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D

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