Practice CTAF radio calls

This is practice for the calls you make at an airport with no operating tower. You say the position report out loud, in the shape AIM 4-1-9 prints. Nobody is clearing you to land. The call is how the other airplanes know you are on downwind.

AIM 4-1-9 says an airport without an operating tower may have a flight service station, a UNICOM, or no aeronautical station at all. There are three ways to pass your intentions and to get airport information: an FSS, a UNICOM operator, or a self-announce broadcast. The common traffic advisory frequency, the CTAF, is the frequency designated for those advisory calls. It may be a UNICOM, a MULTICOM, an FSS frequency, or a tower frequency, and it is published. When a part-time tower is closed, and there is no FSS on the field or the FSS is closed, you self-announce on the CTAF.

UNICOM and the CTAF

UNICOM is not a clearance. The Pilot/Controller Glossary says it is a nongovernment communication facility which may provide airport information at certain airports. AIM 4-1-9 says the same thing: a nongovernment air and ground station which may provide airport information at a public-use airport where there is no tower or FSS. On request, that station may give weather, wind direction, the recommended runway, or other information. If that UNICOM frequency is the CTAF, the publications say so.

You still make the traffic calls on the CTAF when a person answers on UNICOM. AIM 4-1-9 says to name that station in each transmission, to report about 10 miles out with altitude, aircraft type, identification, and location, to say whether you are landing or overflying, and to ask for wind and the runway in use. Then report downwind, base, and final, and report leaving the runway. The example starts as a UNICOM call for wind, then becomes a traffic call: airport name, call sign, entering downwind, base, or final for a numbered runway, full stop or touch and go, and the airport name again.

Where there is no tower, FSS, or UNICOM, AIM 4-1-9 says to self-announce on MULTICOM 122.900. AIM 4-1-11 lists 122.900 for those airports. 122.950 is UNICOM at an airport with a control tower or an FSS, and wind direction and runway information may not be available on it. Confirm the CTAF in the Chart Supplement, on the approach and departure charts, or with any FSS.

Self-announce is the broadcast of your position, your intended flight, or a ground operation on the CTAF. It is the method at an airport that does not have an FSS on the field, and it is the backup when you cannot reach FSS on the CTAF. Pilots stating traffic in the area, please advise is not a recognized self-announce phrase and should not be used under any condition.

The position report

Inbound, AIM 4-1-9 says to monitor and communicate on the CTAF from 10 miles out to landing. Departing, monitor from startup, through taxi, until 10 miles out, unless a rule or a local procedure says otherwise. All traffic inside 10 miles of a non-towered airport, or of a part-time tower while the tower is closed, should be on the CTAF when entering the pattern.

The recommended broadcast puts the airport name at the beginning and the end, because a nearby airport may be on the same frequency. Use the runway number. Do not say active runway. The inbound example is the airport name, then traffic, the call sign, position, altitude, descending or entering downwind, base, or final, the runway, full stop or touch and go, and the airport name again. A separate call says you are clear of the runway. The outbound example is taxiing to a numbered runway, then departing that runway, then either remaining in the pattern or departing the pattern in a direction and a climb.

Straight-in arrivals get an earlier call and no special right of way. The AIM discourages a VFR straight-in because of the midair risk. If you still fly one, self-announce about 8 to 10 miles out and coordinate with the other traffic. A straight-in, IFR or VFR, does not have priority over airplanes in the pattern, and the AIM says you must comply with 14 CFR 91.113(g).

At a Class G airport with no operating tower, 14 CFR 91.126(b) says a powered airplane makes all turns to the left approaching to land, unless approved signals or markings say the turns are to the right. The radio call does not change the pattern direction. It tells the pattern you are there.

AIM 4-1-9 says to announce a practice approach at these points. Departing the final approach fix, inbound, on a nonprecision approach, or departing the outer marker or the fix used in lieu of the outer marker, inbound, on a precision approach. Established on the final approach segment, or immediately upon being released by ATC. Upon completion or termination of the approach, and upon executing the missed approach procedure. When you are on an IFR clearance and ATC approves a change to the advisory frequency, AIM 4-1-10 says to make an expeditious change to the CTAF and use the recommended traffic advisory procedures. The void time from a non-tower field is on the IFR clearance page.

UNICOM can recommend a runway. It does not clear you onto one. The towered solo call, including when 14 CFR 91.126(d) requires the tower, is on the student pilot page. Runway numbers are on the phraseology page.

Practice it out loud

WilcoAI is a simulated controller. Hold push-to-talk, speak the readback, and release. The score is correctness, clarity, and speed. The debrief shows what you got right, what you missed, what to watch out for, and the transcript. Quick Drill categories are ground, tower, departure, approach, and emergency. Student pilots rehearse VFR pattern calls and towered-field comms before they key the mic solo or fly the checkride. One Daily Challenge attempt a day is free, about 60 to 90 seconds, with a streak and badges. No account. Set a callsign and aircraft once. iPhone and iPad, iOS 26 or later. The session needs internet. The section text is in RegBrief. The oral is Checkride.bot.

Training aid only. Not for flight use. Never act on simulated clearances.