What do the words of the ATC mean in the radio?

[loscsaba86]

Dear Community,

I am flying the MiG-21 and if I want to land I contact the ATC on radio.
They are answering me nice and the text (what they are telling me) can be seen in the top left corner.

But what do the words and the numbers mean? See my attachment for the better understanding.
Thank you and best regards,

Csaba

[MAXsenna]

2 hours ago, loscsaba86 said:

Dear Community,

I am flying the MiG-21 and if I want to land I contact the ATC on radio.
They are answering me nice and the text (what they are telling me) can be seen in the top left corner.

But what do the words and the numbers mean? See my attachment for the better understanding.
Thank you and best regards,

Csaba

They tell you the heading and distance to the initial point, which is 10 miles from a direct approach to the active runway. 

[WarbossPetross]

9 часов назад, loscsaba86 сказал:

Dear Community,

I am flying the MiG-21 and if I want to land I contact the ATC on radio.
They are answering me nice and the text (what they are telling me) can be seen in the top left corner.

But what do the words and the numbers mean? See my attachment for the better understanding.
Thank you and best regards,

Csaba

184 (your callsign), Volokno (ATC callsign), fly heading 268 (pretty self-explanatory) for 45 (miles, kilometres? Anyway this means distance), QFE 757.47 (the atmospheric pressure at the airfield that you should dial on your baro altimeter so it reads correctly), runway 09 (course upon landing should be 090, the last digit is always zero and skipped. Also that's what the number on the near end of the runway should say), to pattern altitude (doesn't say the actual altitude, that's where you should wait for your clearance to land).

[loscsaba86]

Hmm....I dont know...The number after the "for" is hardly a distance, because I was flying today and if I would have followed the direction and the number provided after "for", I would have overflown the airport runway axis.

What could be the number?

[razo+r]

14 minutes ago, loscsaba86 said:

Hmm....I dont know...The number after the "for" is hardly a distance, because I was flying today and if I would have followed the direction and the number provided after "for", I would have overflown the airport runway axis.

What could be the number?

It is the distance to a point infront the active runway axis some distance away.

Also might be on Km instead of nm depending on the country.

Edited November 17, 2024 by razo+r

[loscsaba86]

Am 17.11.2024 um 22:22 schrieb razo+r:

It is the distance to a point infront the active runway axis some distance away.

Also might be on Km instead of nm depending on the country.

Okay, my basic problem is, that I want to return to home plate just by radiocomm with the airfield, based on their information and navigation.

Therefore:

- i don't know when I have flown the indicated range (let say 45 km)
- it happens nothing if I have flown the indicated range(I tested it once with RSBN: I counted the kilometres and I did not get any updates from the ATC. After I cancelled the inbound and contacted the ATC they started again with the well-known "fly heading XXX for YYY" speech...)
- I could set an AWACS but it is not so nice

[razo+r]

You have various options to count the distance you have flown. One is with radio navigation like you used. RSBN or with a DME, if available. As a backup method, you can also use good old math and a stopwatch. Fly a known speed, like 300kts for example. Divide by 60 and you get 5nm per minute. Or 600kph, divided by 60 and you get 10km per minute. Together with the given distance and a stopwatch, you can calculate how long you have to fly. So for your example, 45 divided by 10 and you have to fly 4 and a half minute to get there. 

ATC "guides" you to that point. Once you have arrived there, it is up to you to commence the approach. ATC will only tell you to contact tower/clear to land once you are closer to the airfield. It will not tell you anything once you have arrived at the initial point. (Or at least that's how I remember it).

But the be 100% honest with you, the current system is almost useless, except for giving you the active runway and perhaps wind. I mean, giving you a vector to that initial point is more or less useless. If you are flying IFR, you'll most likely use other systems or procedures that will take you there safely. Especially in the MiG-21 or older aircraft in general without GNSS, flying to a "random" point in space from your current position where you might not even have a radio station around, you'll probably want to home to a station first and then fly to the point, so the vector given doesn't help, especially if they don't give you continuous and updated vectors, like in DCS currently. And in VMC you can just look on the map/kneeboard and out the windows. And the pressure given is 99% useless too. Majority of aircraft in DCS and operators around the world use QNH and not QFE. There are of course exceptions and especially old aircraft and eastern operators (and one or another western operator) did and are still using QFE. But then again, that's up to you if you want to use it or not...

Edited November 20, 2024 by razo+r