Hey everyone!
While listening to LA Center (helps me fall asleep) I noticed that some pilots say “Speedbird 1638 with you, information Bravo”
I Googled it and found that it has to do with ATIS (which will be implemented in a future, not specified update).
So just to clarify: Alpha is ‘I know the weather’, Bravo is ‘I sorta know the weather’ and so on.
Is this right? Can someone help? Thanks!
No, it’s the ATIS version, as they update the ATIS every hour.
Okay. So Alpha would be the most recent hour, Bravo would me second most recent, and so on?
The ATIS is updated once per hour or so, and the version is lettered from A-Z. The pilots are letting the controller know which cycle they have information for.
Negative, the most recent one will be the on latest. Alpha for example will be the one issued at the first hour.
So information Zulu would be most recent?
Every time the ATIS is updated, then the letter is changed. The pilot then reads back the letter they heard to the Air traffic controller to verify that they have the latest information :) There is no order. It’s basically a two way verification for the pilot and controller. The code is randomly generated if I’m not mistaken.
Depends, when issuing ATIS they cycle through A-Z, therefore giving it a name. Alpha, Bravo, etc. are just names of the ATIS version.
Here is an ATIS sample:
Notice the: “Advise you have information sierra”. When contacting a controller, you would advise them that you have information sierra, which would mean you are aware of the current weather conditions or any NOTAMS. In this case, you would be letting the controller know that you are aware of the 3000 ft ceiling and that the ILS for 01R is out of use.
I think they cycle through A to Z.
Oh okay. That makes sense.
example:
ATIS: “DULLES INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION SIERRA. 1300 ZULU WEATHER MEASURED CEILING THREE THOUSAND OVERCAST. VISIBILITY THREE, SMOKE. … ADVISE YOU HAVE INFORMATION SIERRA.”
Pilot: switches frequency Speedbird 1638 with you, information Sierra.
Thanks everyone! I think I get it now.
Information Zulu would be the most recent if they’re on hour 26 of the cycle. It all depends. It could be Information Zulu, Alpha, Golf, November, or any other letter. The letter of the cycle is dependant on the hour of the cycle, just like time. Hour 5 of the day is 5am, Hour 5 of the ATIS is Echo. Same concept, just letters instead of numbers.
Hope that clears it up
Lots of incorrect and incomplete information here.
Let me lay down how it is.
ATIS- Automatic Terminal Information Service
Will begin and end with a letter.
The letter is used for ATC/pilot verification of most current weather/information.
You can have 15-20 ATIS’s recorded in an hour. Each will get a new letter.
The letter DOES NOT CORRESPOND to the time of the day. So alpha is not used because it’s 0100z on Monday and Zulu isn’t used solely because it’s 2300z Monday.
“Have the numbers”, does not require ATIS verification.
“Don’t have current ATIS”, requires numbers given to pilot and PIREPS, inform pilot that “xx ATIS is current”
This entire post is 100% false, made up nonsense.
Please, do me a favor. Stop posting information that you do not know.
Making up stuff does not help this community.
This is incorrect, there is an order, you go in order of the alphabet, you don’t jump around choosing whatever letter you feel like.
What about this is false? I got my information directly from a commercial pilot.
Pretty sure I said 100% of it was false.
How many times has your “commercial pilot” insider recorded an ATIS?
I’ve recorded probably close to 10,000…
Do yourself a favor and read what I posted.
You will learn things, it’s my 100% money back guarantee.
I have no idea. I usually ask the captain something whenever I’m on a flight (every couple weeks or so), and I didn’t ask him that question. Maybe there’s differences between Transport Canada and the FAA when it comes to ATIS messages? Again I don’t know. Constructive feedback and maybe correcting me would be more useful than just telling me I’m “wrong”. I feel my information is pretty reliable considering I got it from someone who’s paid to know this stuff, but feel free to correct me if you’re an expert in the field. I’m not a pilot, I only know what I’m told.
Can I just ask how you were listening to it.
There are multiple websites to tune into ATC frequencies.