When to contact tower while in line for departure

General Discussion Pilot Talk
1

Hello,
I´m very new to Vatsim and this one thing especially is still not clear to me - when do I contact tower when I´m taxiing to a holding point, ground has already handed me off, but there is a line of aircraft ahead of me waiting for departure before the HP ? What do I say to the tower ?
Thank you

2

Hi Jaroslav,

welcome to VATSIM! Great that you are asking questions when you are not sure!

In general you would just call the controller right away. If you are sitting in a queue of aircraft, you can optionally advise the controller that you are ready in sequence or ready in turn: Example tower, Example Airlines 1234 on taxiway ALPHA, ready in sequence.

There are some differences in handoffs as well:

  • contact tower = switch frequency and call the controller
  • monitor tower/standby on tower frequency = switch frequency and wait for the controller to contact you, do not call the ATCO. Obviously, when you are number one at the holding point and you cannot see any traffic affecting you and you have not been contacted by the ATCO, it may be an idea to call him up
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3

Hello Andreas,
that´s just what I wanted to know, I´ll make sure to remember it. Thank you so much for the answer and the extra info!

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4

When you’re first in line at the holding point, contact the tower. Say: “[Callsign], holding short of runway [number], ready for departure.” If you’re unsure or there’s a long line ahead, you can ask the tower for further instructions when you’re close to the holding point.

5

This is plain wrong.

You contact Tower when you are told to do so by the previous controller.
If you only get told to monitor/standby for Tower, you don’t call and wait until they call you.
You don’t switch of your own accord unless the procedures for that airport or country explicitly state so.
If you think you may have been forgotten, ask the controller on the last assigned frequency (i.e. the one you are on) if they still want you with them.

6

Hello,
Welcome to Vatsim
when you’re taxiing to a holding point and ground has handed you off to the tower, but there’s a line of aircraft ahead of you, you should contact the tower as soon as you’re handed off.
Thanks

7

No. As explained above, this is not always correct. Everything has been explained correctly already, please do not share wrong information when the answer has been given.

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8

These bots on the forum just get more annoying each week

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