We have been contacted by NATS, the main air navigation service provider in the United Kingdom on an updated instruction that will become effective at Bristol Airport from Monday 6th February 2023.
The following points should be noted:
- Full aircraft and vehicle callsigns shall be used in all RTF runway communications: abbreviated aircraft or vehicle callsigns shall not be used. This does not apply to telephone calls.
- This includes clearances to hold at a runway holding point and any runway clearance issued to cross, enter, line up, backtrack, vacate, take-off, land, issue a late landing clearance or go-around.
- In the event of a pilot or driver reading back an abbreviated callsign to an issued runway clearance, ATCOs are encouraged to apply their own judgement about whether to challenge a pilot or driver to obtain a readback with full callsign.
In summary if your callsign was G-ABCD all communications need to be given with G-ABCD and not abbreviated to G-CD as has been previously.
It is always worth refreshing knowledge on Radio Communication phraseology on the CAA website:
- SafetySense Leaflet 22 – http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/20130121SSL22.pdf
- Supplement to CAP 413 – A Guide to UK Phraseology for General Aviation Pilots