Tower 101: Tutoring a Young New FG Pilot
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:53 pm
I had the most delightful experience after the USA Tour on 21 Nov 15. Everyone else had let the Tour Mumble room when I heard this young French boy's voice ask me if I could help him learn him how to "go park" his airplane at the terminal. He immediately apologized for his English not being very good. I asked him if he could explain a little more what he meant? It took us a couple of minutes to work it out and what he actually needed was how to speak to the tower in English so he could get from the gate to the runway.
We spent the next half an hour, with me typing in the Mumble chat each of the English phrases he needed to be able to say to the tower, from requesting pushback and engine startup, then with each stage all the way out to the runway and being given clearance to take off. He was very polite and as we went through the sequence I could hear the excitement in his voice as we practiced. He must have thanked me five times at the end. (Later, I realized I had forgotten to instruct him about filing flight plans, but the tower is going to routinely ask him for that information. What he needed was what to do next).
It's impossible not to feel good about helping tutor a young new FlightGear pilot and I'm looking forward to encountering him in the future at some airport!
We spent the next half an hour, with me typing in the Mumble chat each of the English phrases he needed to be able to say to the tower, from requesting pushback and engine startup, then with each stage all the way out to the runway and being given clearance to take off. He was very polite and as we went through the sequence I could hear the excitement in his voice as we practiced. He must have thanked me five times at the end. (Later, I realized I had forgotten to instruct him about filing flight plans, but the tower is going to routinely ask him for that information. What he needed was what to do next).
It's impossible not to feel good about helping tutor a young new FlightGear pilot and I'm looking forward to encountering him in the future at some airport!
